Make a Doll House

There's something special about miniature versions of life-sized buildings. Doll houses have the power to light up the imaginations of little girls and adults alike. Making a doll house is a satisfying project that you can keep embellishing for years. See Step 1 below for instructions on how to make a beautiful house for your dolls.

Steps

Using Traditional Materials

This is a traditional style dollhouse. The instructions can easily be shifted to accommodate any size of doll and house and only basic skills and tools are needed to make this house.

  1. Get your materials. A hard material like wood would be best.
  2. Cut two pieces of wood to be the same size. These will be the sides of your house.
  3. Measure how big in width you want the bottom of the doll house to be. Put the two already cut sides aside until you've got the size you want.
  4. Put the major sides together. Put the bottom and top on the two sides together by nailing one piece into the other. Do this on both sides so that you have a box shape with no face or backing.
  5. Cut your face out of the wood. Lay the box with the open face down on a piece of plywood. Trace and cut out the resulting shape and nail it into place as well. You can install L brackets at this point in order to make the house stronger.
  6. Cut a shelf piece to the width of the interior. Put this in the middle of the box. Be sure that there is a little hole in this shelf where you can put a ladder so the dolls can get up and down the stairs. Brace up the shelf using a supporting wall below, support "beams" cut from other pieces of wood, or several more L brackets.
  7. Decorate the walls. Put mack-tack in the inside of the house as wall-paper. You may be able to use extra kitchen tiles for the floor if they are thin.
  8. Add lights, if you want them. If you need some extra light in the house, cut holes in the back part in the box using a drill with a wide bit. Buy a short string of Christmas tree lights and put the lights through the holes. You may need an extension cord for this though.
  9. Enjoy! Start putting your doll furniture in the house and enjoy playing with your dolls in their beautiful house!

Using a Shoebox

This method is the easiest for kids to do themselves. This type of dollhouse is best for very small dolls, lest than 7" tall or so.

  1. Get several larger shoe boxes. Get at least 2 or three of the larger, squarish shoe boxes. If they are all the same or about the same size, that is best.
  2. Orient the boxes. Cut off or remove the lids and turn the shoe boxes on their long sides. The panel large panel that was once the bottom of the shoebox is now the back wall of a room, and the long side panel makes up the floor.
  3. Decorate or paint the rooms. Decorate or paint the inside of the boxes to make them look like the interior of a room. You can use thin scrap wood or carpet to make the floor. Paper, paint, or your child's drawings can make the wallpaper. Ribbon can make the trim for the room. Just follow your imagination!
  4. Glue the rooms together. Once you have the inside of the rooms done, glue the sides of the rooms together so that they form a house. The house can have more than one level or it can be flat, and it can be as big as you find boxes for.
  5. Make a roof. You can have a flat roof, in which case you don't have to do anything more, or you can build an extra roof by folding a piece of cardboard into a peak and taping it in place.
  6. Decorate the outside. Once the boxes are all put together, you can decorate the outside of the dollhouse to make it look more like a house too. You can paint it, cut out windows or doors, or even glue on extras like window shutters!
  7. Enjoy your dollhouse. When you're happy with how it looks, you're done! Enjoy!

Using Wood

This style of dollhouse is great for 12" dolls, like Barbies. The final product includes four rooms on a single level, and is easy to put on a lazy susan.

  1. Make a trip to your local hardware store. You'll need a couple of pieces of wood and some basic tools and supplies for this dollhouse (Barbie-sized, but easily customized). The tools are common ones that you will likely already have, but your local hardware store may do tool rentals if you don't. Just ask! The supplied you'll need are:
    • 4 pieces of 1x8 lumber (at least 24" long each), or an 8' long board if buying a single piece
    • 4 pieces of 12"x12" medium weight chipboard or similar material (you might need to go to an art store to find this)
    • A drill with a 1/4" bit
    • A hand, table, or jigsaw to make basic cuts in the wood
    • 1/4" dowels (either a single stick or 8 single pieces)
    • Sandpaper
    • Wood glue
    • Paint and other materials to create the finished look
  2. Cut your lumber. There are four starting pieces pieces, though two will later be split and cut further. For now, cut all four to 24" in length.
  3. Drill the attachment points. Line up all four pieces and, using a measuring tape and pen, mark holes at 3" and 6" from both ends along the narrow 3/4" strip of the sides (only one side will need the holes). Be very sure that all the holes line up with each other. Each piece of wood should then have four marks. Drill a hole in the center of the side at each of the marks you made, using a 1/4" bit.
  4. Trim the pieces. Leaving two of the pieces at 24", take the remaining to boards, cut them in half, and then trim an extra 3/8" from the inside edges. You should now have two boards that are 24" long and four boards that are 11 5/8" long.
  5. Join the boards. Put some wood glue and a dowel in each of the holes on the 24" pieces, one hole at a time. Let the glue set and dry and then glue the holes on one of the shorter pieces at a time. Fit the shorter pieces onto the dowels of the larger pieces, so that the trimmed edge is at the center of the larger piece. This should leave you with two final pieces of wood with a 3/4" gap at the center of one half of each board and a total width of 14 and 1/2". Sandpaper the edges smooth.
  6. Fit the walls together. These two pieces of wood fit together at these center gaps like a puzzle, the gap pointing up on one piece and down on the other. When together, they form the walls of four connected rooms. This means that you can take them apart whenever you need to and store the dollhouse away or take it with you when you travel.
  7. Add finishing details. Paint or wallpaper the walls, cut doorways, or finish it in any other way you want to. Just remember to keep the directions of the wall straight and to not paint or glue anything in a way which permanently joins the two board together.
  8. Connect your chipboard. The chipboard will make up the floor for the dollhouse, with each 12x12 square being one of the four rooms. Paint or otherwise finish one side of each of the 4 pieces to match what you want the four rooms to be (bathroom, bedroom, kitchen, etc). When they are dry, arrange them into the order you want them (they must for a large square), then turn them over and tape them together on one side only.
    • This will allow you to fold up and store the entire dollhouse out of the way.
  9. Enjoy your dollhouse! Put the walls on the chip board floor and star filling the house with furniture. Your child can turn the house and enjoy each room individually, and the whole thing can be folded up and put away when it's time to clean up.

Using a Bookshelf

This house is designed for 18" dolls, like American Girl dolls. It requires much less carpentry than other methods and is easy to put together in just two or three hours.

  1. Buy a deep bookshelf. Find a wooden bookshelf with deep shelves. A shorter shelf, roughly 3 1/2' or 4' bookshelf is preferable. A larger shelf will need to be secured against a wall to be safe to play with.
  2. Adjust the shelves. Adjust the shelves at the correct height to create "rooms" which are about 20" tall. If you got a double-wide bookshelf at the suggested height, this should give your dollhouse 4 rooms.
    • If the shelves cannot be adjusted to the desired height, you can add extra peg holes for the correct height or brace the shelf at the desired height with L brackets.
  3. Add windows if you want them. Use a jigsaw to cut windows from the back or sides of the bookshelf if you really want a window. Sand down any cut edges to avoid injuries for your child.
  4. Consider adding a roof. You can fashion a roof to go on top of the bookshelf by using the Pythagorean theorem and cutting two wooden boards joined with a 45 degree mitered edge at the center so that they form a peak.
  5. Decorate the floors. Use extra floor tiles, carpeting squares, or any other material you want to make the floors of the rooms look how you want them to look.
  6. Decorate the walls. Add wallpaper, paint, or tile to make the walls of each room match the floors and complete the look for that room. Get your child to help!
  7. Enjoy! Once everything is dry and ready to go, you can add in your furniture and enjoy your new dollhouse!

Tips

  • Colored or patterned paper can be used to make simple wallpaper. Simply glue it on the walls of your doll house, taking care to smooth out wrinkles and to fit cleanly where it meets at each wall corner.
  • Don't do this alone if you're a kid; you could get in deep trouble with your parents and plus you wouldn't want to hurt yourself.
  • Maybe grandparents or babysitters could build it with you, but if you do it with a babysitter , ask your parents first.
  • Always remember to do furniture plans last.
  • Remember to measure the dolls you want to put in the dollhouse. You don't want to work so hard and then realize your dolls don't even fit!
  • Have fun and be creative, you might surprise yourself!
  • Always ask a parent to go to a hardware or craft store.

Warnings

  • Be careful with all tools used in making these dollhouses.
  • Always have adult supervision.

Things You'll Need

  • Wood
  • Nail and hammer or nail gun
  • Macktak or old wallpaper
  • Dollar store night lights (optional)
  • Saw or jack knife (only for thin wood)
  • Small ladder (such as one from a bird cage)
  • Glue (only if you get wallpaper)

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