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Dollhouse Furniture and Decoration

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Date: 08/24/2004 Topics: Craft Tips > Dollmaking | Readers Request > Crafts  
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Can anyone give me any creative, frugal tips for making my own doll furniture, etc.? I am decorating a miniature house and also a Barbie sized house for my daughter. I was hoping to make durable furnishings for the Barbie house for her to play with while she is little and can make the more fragile items for the miniature house to keep for when she is older. The websites I have found cater to serious collectors or they are selling kits. I am not a wood worker, but would welcome any simple hints people may have.

Thanks for such a great website, I visit daily!

God Bless!

Lee-Ann from Canada
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By marie Barera (1) Profile Contact
Hello, I make minature room boxes and dollhouses from scratch. I live in Kelowna, B.C.. I started out about 5 yrs ago and I literally haunted dollar stores. There you can find miniature ceramic dolls in the toy section, as well as many other things. To make wood look floors, try buying from the dollar store wooden tongue depressers and cut off the rounded ends and measure them and cut them. Use a hot glue gun and place them end to end and you will have a real wood floor! Visit thrift shops for all your fabric needs be it bolts of cloth or clothes you can cut up for your curtains. Leather purses cut up are good for hope chests etc. email me if you need more info. Happy miniaturing!

Posted on 01/06/2009 | Report Spam or Abuse


By Peggy (Guest Post)
I created Barbie rooms and furniture for my daughter, and then we began making them together. Check out my website for instructions: http://campcolombo.shutterfly.com/
under the "Things I do in my free time" tab.
Once you get going, you see furniture in every thing you have around the house!

Posted on 11/15/2008 | Report Spam or Abuse


By noyb (Guest Post)
Get a friend or family member to help you or look up on google. I did that for my daughter, when she was 6 now she is 12.

Posted on 10/05/2008 | Report Spam or Abuse


By Rushell (Guest Post)
When I was a little girl.. my grandfather made me some barbie furniture.. it was really neat!!! he used a couple pieces of wood ( 1"x4").. about 7 or 8 inches long and nailed the in a "L" shape then took a little bit of stuffing that you would make pillows with and some really pretty fabric.. any color, any print.. you could even do as you would decorate your own house.. but anyway.. he stapled the fabric to the wood and cotton stuffing.. then he took 4 penny nails( the ones with the little round heads on them and nailed them in the bottom of the furniture to make the " legs". He made me a couch and a chair.. I'm planning on building my 5 year old a house for her barbies and I'm going to make all of her furniture.. right down to the kitchen sink! I hope it turns out the way I plan!! wish me luck!!! I would love to take pictures and post on here when I'm done too!!

Posted on 09/04/2008 | Report Spam or Abuse


By tllawson (Guest Post)
I just saw a website in msn groups that seems to have a treasure trove of plastic canvas fashion doll furniture and accessories. http://groups.msn.com/cheeksbarbiefurniture/pictures
I hope this is helpful.

Posted on 04/12/2008 | Report Spam or Abuse


By (Guest Post)
I need Webkinz furniture. Can anyone help?

Posted on 03/25/2008 | Report Spam or Abuse


By louise. cohoon (Guest Post)
Hi lee Ann. Yes, I have a great idea that I used for decorating a doll house for younger children that didn't cost anything. Go to http://www.printmini.com and choose which patterns you want and print them out for free. Then I placed the pattern on card board, traced it and bend it in places. it was suppose to bend on pattern and glued the pattern on top of the card board. Lots of stuff her and other places also if you do a search for printable doll house furniture. Hope this helps. it was so much fun doing this too.

Posted on 10/20/2007 | Report Spam or Abuse


By VictoriaStarlight (Guest Post)
There is a book called Tiny Treasures by Pleasant Company Publications which shows one how to make detailed miniatures from everyday items. It is out of print now, but well worth a Ebay search. One can use the projects for 1'' or Barbie scale.

Posted on 09/14/2007 | Report Spam or Abuse


By (Guest Post)
help! i don't have many materials but i would like to build barbie furnishings

Posted on 02/17/2007 | Report Spam or Abuse


By (Guest Post)
These probably wouldn't work for Barbies unless you used them as children rooms for Shelleys or other young barbies. I normally use these for pinky:st dolls so if you have dolls around this size this site is perfect.

http://paper.sanwasupply.co.jp/craft/dollhouse/index.html

They are printable rooms but very good qualitie. I'm sorry that the site is in japanese but if you pick the room you want then the first PDF file is the room printables and the second PDF is the instructions in pictures so it is easy enough to follow, I hope to have helped :D.

Posted on 01/14/2007 | Report Spam or Abuse


By Sandra (Guest Post)
I LOVE seeing all of these "creative" uses for ordinary things! When I was grwoing up in the 70s, my sister and I used to use Pepsi cardboard boxes set next to each other or piled on top of each other for the Barbie house. (You could use any box you have as long as it's tall enough for Barbie. Our grandmother used to save tops from bottles, shaving cream cans...whatever would spark our imaginations to make furniture! I'm doing the same for my girls. I think it's more fun and creative than going to Toys R Us and buying a house and furniture. One idea I have for you all is the plastic tops that are removed from the Glade scent jars before you put them into the plug ins. The little plastic lids look like lamps. My girls have them in EVERY room of their house!

Posted on 12/28/2006 | Report Spam or Abuse


By D.D. (Guest Post)
Thanks, everybody, for all the good tips and leads.

Right now I'm creating "FoundHaus," a dollhouse made from found or donated objects. I'm creating this art piece to demonstrate how we can express creativity through recycling and how we don't need to buy lots of new stuff to entertain ourselves - whether adults or children.

If you have suggestions on everyday objects that might be useful in "FoundHaus" or if you have items to donate to it, please let me know. I plan to submit "FoundHaus" to found-art competitions and accompanying signage will list and thank all donors.

To give you an idea of the scale of "FoundHaus," its kitchen will feature little tasting spoons given out at ice-cream shops.

Best wishes,
D.D.
*/ dariadster AT gmail . com /*

Posted on 12/26/2006 | Report Spam or Abuse


By nathan (Guest Post)
where i live, theres a place called arts and scraps.they sell tile samples,foam and a heck of a lot of stuff but you could probably make couches out of packing foam

Posted on 12/23/2005 | Report Spam or Abuse


By (Guest Post)
if theres a micheals near you they sell lots of crafts!for sewing theres cushions to stick your needles into there was one of a plyscale sofa

Posted on 12/23/2005 | Report Spam or Abuse


By nathan (Guest Post)
where i live, theres a place called arts and scraps.they sell tile samples,foam and a heck of a lot of stuff but you could probably make couches out of packing foam

Posted on 12/23/2005 | Report Spam or Abuse


By grannylegs2000 at yahoo.com (Guest Post)
I need Barbie furniture in plastic canvas=======school house====anything I nothing just getting started. Thanks much

grannylegs2000 @ yahoo.com (remove spaces)

Posted on 09/08/2005 | Report Spam or Abuse


By Daniela (Guest Post)
Well you can also find s lot of ideas for dollhouse building on my homepage http://www.d-r-n.com
just look under hobbys and you will find it...

Posted on 08/23/2005 | Report Spam or Abuse


By debbie (Guest Post)
i would like patterns for a Barbie school house out of plastic canvas.

Posted on 12/20/2004 | Report Spam or Abuse


By QueenBeeCrafts (225) Profile Contact
I found a great pattern from the fabric store for sofas and beds and such for Barbie - you use boxes as the base, and cover them with fabric. It is fun - and something that can be "redecorated" with new fabrics for a "trading spaces" project. Scrap denim works great for sofas as well, and it is durable. A CD with some doweling for legs can make a nice table - just need a scrap of fabric to cover it.

Posted on 08/27/2004 | Report Spam or Abuse


By Alph (202) Contact
Years ago I built a fairly small doll house for my daughter, along with most of the furnishings. I bought a few wooden dowels of various sizes and found some thin wood from fruit crates (or something; a wooden cigar box would have worked fine). Then with an electric drill secured on its side to a table via a 'C' clamp, I chucked up table legs, chair legs, bed posts, etc. cut from the dowels. Using an X-acto knife to cut and shape the pieces the drill made a serviceable lathe. This made for a nice kitchen table and chairs. The horizontal braces for the chairs were cut from the center of round toothpicks. The frames for a couch and chair were made with pieces of the larger dowels which were then covered with some nice scrap velvet I'd scrounged. There was also enough of the velvet to use for carpet, and some thin cloth with tiny flower prints to use for wall paper. I think I used artists' spray mount for that, but 3-M makes a great spray adhesive available in auto parts places which I'd try now.

If you have access to a Dremmel it will really come in handy for a lot of this stuff. I did this in the mid-70s and I've wanted one ever since but at the time just had to make do with the drill.

If you can get stuff free (or very cheap) such as popcicle sticks, tongue depressors, cool cloth or thin leather scraps, etc. get it and let your imagination run wild. Don't throw that old leather purse away... you may be able to cut it up and use it for upholstry.

After careful shopping I found good deals on pre-made windows, a staircase, and a bathroom fixture kit (tub, sink, toilet, etc.). Mostly though it's great fun to take nothing and make something out of it; I believe I enjoyed making this stuff more than my daughter enjoyed playing with it.

Posted on 08/27/2004 | Report Spam or Abuse


By FlaKathy (81) Contact
An Internet search turned up the following:

I've found some fabulous printable minis on Jim's Dollhouse Pages. There are dozens of items, including furniture, in several scales including 1:6 Play Scale (used for Barbie) and 1:12 or 1-inch scale (most common dollhouse size). Note that you can print 1" scale items and take them to your local photocopy shop. They should be able to print them at 200% for you.

PlayScale (1:6 Scale) Printables http://www.printmini.com/printables/pp.shtml
1 Inch Scale (1:12 Scale) Printables http://www.printmini.com/printables/p1.shtml

More like this - Miniature Printables Ring homepage (10 sites)
http://ring.miniature.net/cgi-bin/list.pl?ringid=Printables

DIY Projects from Butterfly Dreams for a modern lamp, greeting card supplies, Art Deco mirror, quilt rack, wrapped candies, bathroom mirror, Faberge egg, galvanized tub, garden flag, shoes, lamp, doll's doll and men's folded dress shirt.
http://home.comcast.net/~canada189/DIYProjects.htm

Miniatures at about.com
http://miniatures.about.com/mbody.htm

Projects and DIY's to create your own scale miniatures.
Various projects, tutorials and do-it-yourself tips to help you create scale miniature items you can use to accent your dollhouse or room box. Includes How To Make A Petunia, How To Make Mini Halloween Garland, How To Make A Smoking Jacket, How To Make a Quick and Easy Hat Stand, How To Make Mini Tulips, How To Make Mini Daffodils, How To Make A Butterfly Garden Stake and more.
http://miniatures.about.com/od/projectsdiys/

Rec.Crafts.Dollhouses Workbench http://ares.redsword.com/dollhouse/wkbench.htm

Miniature Net includes Small Stuff Archives with 1000's of tips, tricks, hints and resources for miniature makers. http://smallstuff-digest.com/tips.htm

I hope this helps,
Kathy

Posted on 08/27/2004 | Report Spam or Abuse


By Linda (Guest Post)
Buy a bag of the old fashion wooden clothes pins at the Dollar store. Cut to the right length, they can be used for table legs, lamp bases or bed posts. To make a bed, cut small slits in the 4 corners of a checkbook box or child shoe box lid and stick the clothes pins in the slits so the round part provides the top posts and the split section of the clothes pins provide the legs so the box is raised up off the floor.Now just make a small cushion to fit in the box.

Posted on 08/26/2004 | Report Spam or Abuse


By Nancy. (Guest Post)
This site has lots of printables for dollhouse furniture and decorations. You can print the stuff out, glue it to cardboard and make the furniture that way. Check it out. http://www.printmini.com/printables/

Posted on 08/25/2004 | Report Spam or Abuse


By jorasmom (2) Contact
Here's a link from familyfun that's neat ...

http://familyfun.go.com/arts-and-cr ... ature/famf0200dollhouse/kitchen.html

Another link:

http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/cr_dolls/article/0,1789,HGTV_3242_1375727,00.html

This one's a book you can buy for plastic canvas patterns, but you could probably make your own patterns; just look at her pics for ideas:

http://www.dollcrafts.com/

Check the pattern books at your sewing store ... they often have a section devoted to dolls and accessories patterns. Also, check out the American Girl book on making miniatures ... it has some cute ideas for using household objects and turning them into minis.

I made dollhouse furniture for my daughter using the inexpensive (pressed cardboard) cigar boxes. The wooden ones are hard to get for free since a lot of crafters are willing to pay for them, but many of my local stores are more than happy to get rid of the pressed cardboard boxes. I made beds, dressers, armoires, tables, chairs, sofas and even a vanity using an old compact mirror. For instance, for the bed, I used a whole box as the bedframe and made a mattress with fabric and stuffing scraps that fit inside. I made pillows and bed linens from an old flower print dress of my daughter's, and glued round wooden beads on the bottom for legs. The pieces tyook some experimenting to get them just right, but boy, did they come out looking great! Better than any I'd seen in stores, and I'm no craftsperson.

Good luck!

Posted on 08/24/2004 | Report Spam or Abuse


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