Dollhouse Decorating!

Using decorator fabric to make dollhouse bed covers and spreads

2011-07-02T14:53:00.000-07:00

Often window covering places or interior decorators have old fabric sample books that they throw out when new ones come. If you can get some of these, they have great dollhouse-sized swatches. In these pictures 3 different fabric swatches were used to make bedspreads for wooden dollhouse beds. Simply cut out the swatches and fray check the edges. Since these particular ones were very stiff fabric, I chose to glue the ends down to the bed (can you see the rubber bands used to keep it in place until it dried?).

How to make your own grass mat for a doll house...

2011-07-02T14:41:00.000-07:00

If you have access to some old window covering books, usually there is one book devoted to "natural" type window blinds. They contain samples using things like woven grass and bamboo. Find one that suits the color and style you are after, and put gobs (LOTS) of glue down each of the far ends of the sample. After about a day when it is dry, cut along the middle of that glue line and, presto, you have a "grass mat", "bamboo rug", or whatever else you want to call them :) Here's a picture of a "jungle themed" room with a woven grass and bamboo throw carpet.

How to put a small bit of wallpaper in your dollhouse...

2011-07-02T14:24:00.000-07:00

In an earlier post I told how I put full walls of wall paper in a wooden doll house. This post will tell how I do smaller bits of wallpaper... for example, a painted top and wallpapered bottom. This method also works for installing borders. Remember things look better in "thirds" rather than "halves". (for example, paint 2/3 of the wall and wallpaper 1/3... or wallpaper 2/3 and paint 1/3...)

1. Measure and cut your wallpaper
2. Always have your wallpaper go continuously around a corner... don't have it stop at a corner or a dark "gap" will show when you're all done. To make this easier, crease/fold the wallpaper piece where the corner will end up.
3. Use an old magazine and lay a piece(s) of your wallpaper upside down on it.
4. Smear tacky glue all over the back of it, paying special attention to the edges.
5. Quickly go wash and dry your hands, or keep a wet rag handy to wipe the glue off your fingers before pressing the wallpaper into place.
6. Turn the magazine page, and you have another fresh surface for gluing the next piece!

A quick, cheap doll house waste basket...

2011-07-02T12:52:00.000-07:00

Use an old cap (from toothpaste, hairspray, etc.) for a quick dollhouse garbage pail!

A completed playable lighted wooden doll house...

2011-07-02T12:38:00.000-07:00

We received a request for a playable lighted wooden dollhouse decorated in earth tones, orange, gold and black... Here are some pictures for you to get ideas from... in case those are the color tones your child (or you!) likes too!

How to make a quick dollhouse picture frame using a tissue box pattern...

2011-07-02T12:13:00.000-07:00

If you have ever seen this pattern on a box of tissues, it works great for some quick doll house picture frames! Just trim out a square and cut a picture to fit in the center, glue, and you're done!

How to make your own dollhouse mantel clock...

2011-07-02T12:00:00.000-07:00

Making your own doll house mantle clock is quick and easy...

1. Find a piece of trim that has a profile you like.

2. Cut off a small chunk about 1/2 inch deep.

3. Do an image search to find the type of clock face you want and print it. I took this picture myself, so you are free to use it (personal use only, no resale).

4. Paint or stain your clock and let dry.

5. Glue on the clock face.

6. You can stop here, or for a more playable dollhouse mantel clock, spray it with clear acrylic sealer.

For instructions on how to make a grandfather clock for your dollhouse, please see our earlier post.

Making a mini rose garden tutorial by Cassy V.

2011-07-02T11:41:00.000-07:00

Thank you to Cassy V. for the following tutorial!

Supplies:
* Popsicle sticks
* white paint (optional)
* moss (you can buy it at craft stores)
* ribbon (any color)
* posterboard

1. Cut the rounded end off approximately 30 popsicle sticks.

2. If you're going to paint them, paint them now.

3. Cut 6 of them in half, and put another 12 aside.

4. Cut a square of posterboard so it's the length of one full popsicle stick and the width of one half.

5. Lay 6 full ones in a row, so that their long sides are touching and glue them so they form a little wall.

6. Do the same with another 6 full ones. Then do again with 6 halves. Then do one last time with the last 6 halves.

7. Now you have 4 little walls for your box. Set them up standing around the poster board square and glue them there.

8. Take the remaining popsicle sticks and glue them together the way the lattice work behind the roses in this picture is set up. (You may want to cut the ends of these sticks at a diagonal for a cleaner look)

9. Glue the diagonal design so it becomes the back "wall" of your garden box.

10. Fill the box with moss and weave some of the moss up your diagonal wall.

11. Use this: http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Silk,-Satin-or-Ribbon-Roses tutorial to use your ribbon to make the roses.

12. Glue the roses onto the moss in the box and climbing up the wall.

You're done! This would make a nice movable outdoor dollhouse decoration, or done on an even smaller scale, a window-box.

How to make your own doll house floor lamp

2010-10-16T16:15:00.000-07:00

Making your own dollhouse floor lamp is quick and easy:

1. Cut a small diameter rod to the height you want your lamp to be.

2. Cut 2 small disks from a large wooden dowel or rod

3. Punch a hole in the center of each of these disks the same diameter as your small rod. (A drill press works best, but you can do it however works for you.)

4. Insert the long narrow dowel into the holes, secure in place with glue

5. Paint it!

6. Glue a small bit of ribbon trim around one end.

7. Add any embellishments to "dress up" your light.

That's it! Have fun!

How to make your own dollhouse pie

2010-09-28T14:16:00.000-07:00

Making your own doll house pies is a lot easier than you might think. You need a bottle cap, some craft foam and a small hole punch (or tiny beads or used air soft rifle pellets), glue and water, a scrap of thin brown paper.
Here are step by step instructions with pictures:

1. Take an old bottle cap (you can also buy them at a craft store for a few cents), fill it with tiny beads or small punches of craft foam to see how much filling you need:

2. Dump the loose pie filling into a small container, add glue and stir.

3. Dump the pie filling into the bottle cap(s) and wait for it to dry. Here's a before and after picture of the wet / dry pie filling:

4. Next, make the crust... turn a pie upside down on thin brown paper and trace around it. Cut out the circle.

5. Cut the brown paper circle into thin strips.

6. Mix a little water and glue together - make it fairly runny, like the consistency of milk. Put the strips in the glue mixture and stir them around, being sure they get coated on all sides.

7. Lay the strips across the top of the pies in a criss-cross lattice pattern. (Note: I use a toothpick or end of a paint brush to help get the strips in place. Otherwise they start sticking to both hands and you end up really frustrated.)

8. Wait for the pies to "bake" (dry!) and you're done!

Free printable dollhouse wallpaper

2010-02-04T10:32:00.000-08:00

Here is some more "print your own" free doll house wallpaper... same pattern, just different colors. As always, personal use only please, thanks!

A couple of small "studio" dollhouses for you to look at...

2010-01-28T03:00:00.000-08:00

I made these a couple of months ago... Strawberry Shortcake and her friends, the Calico Critters, Littlest PetShop animals, etc. like living in these small doll houses! They are a fun "quick" project and are small enough to pack away when not in use.

How to make your own dollhouse daybed!

2010-01-21T17:04:00.000-08:00

You can create your own doll house day bed by following the directions in our no-sew doll house sofa post. Just use a larger block for the base. For back shape ideas you can look at pictures of real day beds. Here are pictures of a couple I did with different kinds of fun feet!

Use a knitting loom to make doll house blankets or bed spreads...

2010-01-12T14:31:00.000-08:00

Using a knitting loom (this one was done with the Knifty Knitter brand) you can knit a small swatch and very quickly have a dollhouse bedspread or blanket. If you've never used a Knifty Knitter before, I highly recommend them! They're good for all kinds of projects. You don't have to know anything about knitting or crocheting to use them... you just wind yarn over and over, always taking the bottom loop off the peg!

Don't throw out those holiday cards, candy wrappers, or old calendars - yet!

2010-01-08T14:40:00.000-08:00

You can make some quick, cheap gilt (gold) doll house picture frames by saving foil candy wrappers! Cut out a picture (a small rectangle from a holiday card works well, or else one of the small pictures from the back of an calendar or calendar envelope). Glue the picture in the middle of the wrapper, and fold the edges up until the picture is framed! That's it! Here are step by step pictures:

eat the chocolate :)

smooth out the foil

glue the picture to the center of the foil and start folding in the edges... you can cut a little from the long side like you see in the picture so that you don't end up with so much "bulk" at the corners.

Keep folding in the sides...

Use a tiny bit of glue to secure each corner.

You're done and ready to hang the pictures in your dollhouse!

Painting dollhouse tables and chairs

2009-12-12T12:27:00.000-08:00

Any of you who can actually paint will look at these pictures and know that I cannot :) But there's something unstressful about painting patterns... if any of you have a habit of doodling while you're on the phone or waiting on hold, you can definitely paint on doll house furniture! Here are pictures of some of my doll house table and chair doodlings... maybe it will inspire you to try too! One thing nice about paint, if you don't like it, just wait until it's dry, paint over it, and try again! Use a tiny brush.

Another dollhouse stove picture...

2009-12-11T12:18:00.000-08:00

Here is a picture of another wooden doll house stove. Unlike the other wooden stoves I've done, this one has all painted on faucet handles, door pulls, and stove burners. These particular ones were not meant to look "real", so I used pink!

How to protect your work surface...

2009-12-10T12:16:00.000-08:00

Newspaper, cardboard, wax paper... all work well for protecting your work surface, but the thing I like best is cling wrap (saran wrap). Our table has a heavy plastic cover on it, so the cling wrap sticks to it and stays nicely in place. Just overlap several lengths of it, depending on how big of a project you're painting. Clean up is easy too... just roll it off and the table is clean underneath. Here's a picture... the paint is on the cling wrap, not the table cover!

Give your dollhouse (or real house) some fine art... compliments of Benjamin Art Design

2009-12-04T18:46:00.000-08:00

These are brought to you by special permission, THANK YOU Ray Benjamin! I have made them miniature sized here for you to use in your doll house, but you can purchase the originals. They even ship internationally, so if you really like one of the pictures you can check their website (www.benjaminartdesign.com) to see if it is still available. These are watercolors:

These pictures are drawings and a watercolor by Ray's daughter's, also used by special permission... THANK YOU!!

Remember, all of these special miniature doll house prints are for PERSONAL USE ONLY. To buy the original, see the website mentioned above.

For ideas on hanging pictures see our earlier post.

Print your own miniature framed pictures for your doll house

2009-12-02T20:20:00.000-08:00

Here are some miniature framed pictures you can print yourself for your dollhouse (you can print them smaller if these are too large for what you need). Plus I'll put two gif files in for those of you who would like to have an empty frame to insert your own picture in. Personal use only, please. Thanks! For ideas on hanging pictures see our earlier post.

How to make your own chunky wooden dollhouse people...

2009-12-02T10:18:00.000-08:00

If you would like to make a nice, realistic looking doll house doll or family, look at this post in Casey's Minis. However, if your goal is just to make some playable people for children, these homemade wooden dolls have always been the most popular when we have kids visiting. Maybe it's the fact that they're heavy and don't tip over, or maybe it's the fact they make a nice "clunk clunk" as they march around the house... whatever it is, quirky though they be, they have always been the people of choice for playing "dollhouse"!

* Start with one of these:

* If you do not want arms, skip this step and the next step, but if you do, drill a hole through the body.
* Take some yarn the color you want the arms to be and braid it together with some pipe cleaner... thread it through the hole and you've got moveable, poseable arms. (I doubled the ends of the pipe cleaner over so that there wouldn't be a sharp metal point in their "hands".) Tie a piece of string tightly around the end of the arm to keep it from unraveling.
* Take small fabric scraps and glue around the figure. I used a black permanent marker to draw a "gap" on the man and boy's bottom half to make it look more like pants.
* Paint or draw a face on the head.
* Glue yarn on the head for hair. If you want a girl with braids or pony tail, cover the entire head with yarn, then make braids separately and glue them on.

Another "studio" dollhouse...

2009-11-20T14:18:00.000-08:00

Here's a picture of another miniature one room + attic doll house for you to look at for ideas... The attic is scrap booking paper with a ribbon border where the two scrapbooking papers meet. The main room is wallpaper I created and is available for free from an earlier post. The attic carpet is cream colored fleece. The main room carpet is some "plush" material from Wal-Mart.

Make your own miniature dollhouse fringe rug...

2009-11-18T20:23:00.000-08:00

Making a homemade fringe rug for your doll house is quite simple if you have a scrap of the right kind of fabric... it needs to be a fabric that frays really easy. This velvet material in the picture works really well. Here are the step by step instructions:
* Cut out the square or rectangular shape you want
* "Fray" two ends of the rug by pulling out the fabric threads
* When it looks how you want it to, take Fray Check (available in the sewing section of stores) and Fray Check all 4 sides.
* Let dry... that's it!

An idea for a doll house roof...

2009-11-18T20:16:00.000-08:00

Ideas for dollhouse roofs are not something I've written about... but here are a couple of ideas for a smooth painted roof:

Paint the roof all one color, use masking tape to tape off part of it in whatever design you want... I chose plain stripes for this house, but you can do a criss-cross pattern or squares, etc.

Another idea is to use foam stamps... paint your roof, daub paint on your foam stamps and press on the house roof. Here's an example of a whimsical design...

Making your own homemade dollhouse Inn Tables, Coffee Tables, or night stands....

2009-11-17T20:10:00.000-08:00

Last spring when we were trimming trees in the yard, there were a couple of relatively straight branches from the cherry tree that were too pretty of wood to throw out! So we let them dry out for a few months, and then I cut them up, my husband drilled holes through the centers, I cut dowels, and with a couple of taps of the hammer you have some quick (and cheap) miniature inn tables, coffee tables, or nightstands. They can be varnished to keep the rustic look, or the bark easily peels off and then they can be painted... or you can glue fabric over and around them to create a table cloth covered bedside table. Note: If you do this, be very careful when cutting the branches into disks. The saw can "grab" the branch and whip it on you, so only select "straight" parts of branches.