Ideas for DIY dollhouses and furniture
The single-storey doll's house: DIY model
Thanks to the small visor you can always check on the other side.
Materials required
- 📦 2 shoe boxes (approx. 20 × 33 cm)
- 🖨️ A printer
- ✂️ For floor motifs and exterior elements: a tube of glue and a pair of scissors
- 🖌️ For the wallpaper: paper glue and a flat brush to help the wallpaper slide more easily. (warning, this is more technical)
Step 1: cut the doors
Find out where to cut the doors
A box with 2 doors on each side.
A box with just one door on one of the two long sides.
Find the centre of each door and measure 3.5cm on each side.
Cut the 3 doors with scissors
Step 2: assemble the components to be glued
Choosing flooring, tiles, wallpaper and windows
Wallpaper is more difficult to hang and require paper glue to make them slip, so avoid doing this craft with a child under the age of 7...
You can download the designs here or use your own canson or patterned paper, of course...
Print all the information you need
All downloads are the right size for a classic shoebox.
You can print your floors, tiles and windows on self-adhesive paper., so you don't have to glue them! But it doesn't work with wallpaper.
Cut out and stick to floors and walls
You can make most of the collages yourself or with your son/daughter from the age of 4, except for the wallpaper. They really require concentration...
Final step: Assemble the 2 boxes
You can assemble them using glue or paper glue and clothes pegs. as long as it takes.
Furniture? Look at the bottom of the page!
The two-storey doll's house: DIY model
This house is particularly attractive thanks to its ground floor café.
The small visor means you can keep in touch with the person playing on the other side. and offers a mini puppet theatre...
You can download the printable tutorial here.
Materials required
- 📦 2 shoe boxes (approx. 20 × 33 cm)
- 🖨️ A printer
- A cutter, a double decimetre and a cutting board
- 🖌️ Paper glue and a brush
- Clothes pegs to hold together during drying
Step 1: prepare the structure
Cutting out future floors
2 cardboard boxes the right length to fit into shoe boxes and make the floor
Drawing the visor
Draw the visor on the inside so that you can cut it out safely., The bottom against the chopping board...
Cutting out the visor
Cut out the visor, flat on the cutting board if possible, but I'll show you the technique here if you've got a small cutter (careful!)
Step 2: print, cut and paste the designs
Download and print assets
You'll find different facades with different heights depending on the box you have...
Shopping list :
- soils
- windows
- café front
Gluing floor coverings to cardboard boxes
First you'll need to cut your prints to size.
To glue them: tube of glue or paper glue (you can also have them printed as stickers)
Gluing the façade and windows
The simplest and most satisfying part!
If your box differs slightly from the model, that's not a problem: centre the shop and it'll be perfect!
Step 3: Assemble all the components
Glue the 2 boxes together, then the floors: put books on it to dry. All done!
