Hi all! Tell me, when you give your baby a toy, do you think about where it will live? Believe me, the baby is definitely thinking about this. And all because he projects his life onto them. He plays during the day, just like a toy, but evening comes and the little one has to go to bed. What about his ward? What to do with it? To give your child pleasure, continue playing and teach your little one to be orderly, let's find out today how to make a doll house out of a box with your own hands.
Preparing to create an apartment for a doll
Before you start working, decide what exactly you will create. The box itself already has “walls”. All that remains is to make them look like their place of residence. The size of the house can be different: it can be two-story or one-story, with one or several rooms; furnished with homemade or purchased furniture.
What materials and tools will be needed for the work:
- Cardboard boxes;
- Glue;
- Colored paper;
- Scissors;
- Pencil;
- Ruler.
When everything you need is collected, you can start tinkering.
Choosing the material for the future home
The best gift for a daughter would be a dollhouse that dad makes with his own hands. Before starting work, you should decide what the building will be like. Almost any materials are suitable for its creation, from cardboard boxes to foam plastic. However, it is worth taking care of the durability of the structure so that it does not fail at the most crucial moment.
The most practical and durable house is considered to be a house made of laminate or plywood. It’s more difficult to make, but the effort will pay off in spades, because a product made from such material will be difficult to distinguish from a store-bought one.
The structure of the building itself is a box without a front wall. Inside this box there are small compartments that act as rooms. Sometimes the house is made through, but it would be more practical to equip the building with a rear wall.
For an aesthetic appearance in a “state of rest,” the house is also equipped with a front wall, which is attached using door hinges. Such a house can be closed so that the doll interior does not clutter the girl’s room.
Some craftsmen prefer to make a house on wheels. This design can be moved around the room or apartment. In this case, the front wall is simply necessary so that when moving, the sofa or the occupant of the house itself are not lost.
Plywood, laminate or wood
A house made of laminate will become a real masterpiece, so its creation must be taken seriously. To begin with, you should choose a drawing or draw a diagram yourself.
The diagram of a do-it-yourself plywood dollhouse provides for the dimensions of the walls and the outline of window and door openings. Of course, the parameters of the house can be changed at your discretion, respecting the proportions. You can also add rooms or balconies. It all depends on the wishes of the small customer and the amount of free time.
First house
I recommend practicing in a small one-room house. Then it’s not such a shame to throw it away, and the children quickly get bored with everything. Look how cute and cozy they are, even though they are small. Pictures enlarge by clicking.
But what a cute little house, even without wallpaper it already looks decent, but what if you hang curtains, throw in a couple of pillows, and lay down a carpet? By the way, the easiest way to make a carpet and pillows is from felt. And you don't have to sew! You can simply glue the felt with a moment or a hot gun.
As soon as you get bored, you can build either a castle or a country villa. You already have experience, your hand is full.
“Building” a house
From me a detailed master class with photos. Hope it helps you!
- Let's start by collecting all the boxes to imagine what our model will look like.
- If the boxes are not the same size or you want to complicate the task for yourself and your baby and make holes for windows and doors, then it’s worth making a drawing.
- It is advisable, before firmly connecting all the parts of the house, to prepare each box separately. What needs to be done for this? Cover the walls, floor and ceiling of each “room”. Cut out windows and doors. To cover a cardboard box, wrapping paper, oilcloth, wallpaper, colored paper, fabric, etc. are suitable. A combination of different materials and colors will look nice.
- After all the boxes are ready, you can glue them one to another according to a pre-planned pattern. The easiest way to glue is with hot glue.
- All that remains is to decorate the doll’s apartment, fill it with furniture and beautiful things. To decide how best to do this, consider what kind of doll you are building it for. For example, Barbie loves pink colors. Her style is that of a princess. This should all be reflected in furniture, furnishings, chandeliers, photographs and other details. You can not only make curtains on the windows, but also decorate them with miniature bows, etc. Agree with curtains the house immediately becomes cozy!
- Don't ignore the roof either. It can be covered with fabric or paper. You can even print out a colored roof background and glue it to cardboard. And there are other options: from buttons, from disposable plates, from colored cardboard.
Beautiful tiles are made from cardboard
The little one's help will depend entirely on how interested the parents are and involved them in the process. Therefore, show your creative processes, prepare your baby with a fairy tale or an interesting story. Assign him a certain task or ask him for advice on a craft.
From plywood
Wooden dollhouses are considered expensive and reliable products. Plywood holds its shape and is easily fastened with glue or self-tapping screws.
Laminate has similar properties, which is also often used to create a doll’s apartment.
Assembling a durable structure
To work with plywood, it is enough to use a standard set of tools, and the finished product can be conveniently decorated with wallpaper or fabric.
You will need:
- blank 8 mm thick;
- pen or pencil;
- ruler;
- jigsaw;
- nails measuring 1.2x20 mm;
- glue “Montazh”;
- white paint for facades;
- brush;
- sandpaper of various grain sizes;
- drill.
First of all, you need to create a drawing of the future doll house.
In this drawing all dimensions are in centimeters
Step 1. The drawings should be transferred to a sheet of plywood and cut out using a jigsaw. To simplify the process of assembling the structure, it is advisable to sign all the parts.
Step 2. Mark windows and doorways on individual elements and cut them out. To do this, you first need to drill a few holes in the corners and finish the job with a jigsaw.
Step 3. All workpieces are processed with sandpaper.
Step 4. The elements of the future dollhouse are assembled into a single whole according to the drawing.
Experts recommend first connecting the parts with glue, and then securing each joint with several nails.
Step 5. The product is covered with a layer of white or any other paint.
Furniture
Of course, dolls simply need furniture! And playing with an empty house is not interesting. What can you think of?
Bedroom furniture
Bedroom furniture can be made from paper using the origami technique, glued from cardboard and laid out, but the most comfortable and beautiful option is upholstered furniture made from cardboard, foam rubber and fabric. You can glue everything using regular PVA, although it will take a long time to dry. Instead of foam rubber, you can take padding polyester or batting, or in extreme cases, cotton wool.
Bed MK
Step-by-step photos of production - enlarge when clicked:
Armchairs
Photos enlarge by click
Kitchen
The kitchen can be filled with a refrigerator, stove, countertop, beautiful chandelier and dining table. Cardboard and ice cream sticks are also suitable materials.
If you have a 3D pen, you can make furniture out of plastic.
Cardboard plate
Lockers
Cabinets, shelves, and a refrigerator are simply made from cardboard. Easy to glue with hot glue.
Furniture for kitchen
Furniture - chairs, a table - very beautiful ones made from ice cream sticks. You can cut such sticks with large scissors, but be careful, they can crack in half. You can glue with instant or hot glue.
Little things for the kitchen
You can put a bird in a cage in the kitchen, or put a box of fruit or flowers. Detailed master classes in the photo. Enlarge on click.
Fruits, vegetables, dishes
The easiest way to make fruits, vegetables, and dishes is from plasticine . To prevent the product from getting dirty and losing its shape, it is coated with transparent nail polish.
You can make vegetables from salt dough - they dry out and look like they came from a toy store. Play do is also used to make food, but my play do cracks after it dries. Therefore, I prefer to make salt dough: 1 glass of flour + 1 glass of fine salt + water, knead a very stiff dough.
Also a very good option - air self-hardening plasticine (new material). It is cheap, bright, and when it hardens it is elastic, somewhat similar to hard rubber. We sculpt as from ordinary plasticine and leave to dry overnight.
Decor and arrangement
To create durable and reliable accessories, polymer plasticine is used, which, after baking in the oven, acquires good strength. You can use it to build a bathtub, toilet, dishes, kitchen utensils, flower pots for windows and much more.
The frames are cut out of white cardboard, and the curtains are sewn from pieces of fabric.
Ordinary bamboo sticks are perfect for creating cornices.
Beautiful napkins are used to decorate the interior space, and a chandelier made of beads and thin wire, attached to the ceiling using “liquid nails,” complements the decoration.
Sofas can be hand-sewn from scraps of durable fabric and decorated with miniature decorative pillows. Any safe filler is used for stuffing.
An interesting option for decorating a house for dolls is to print out various elements on a color printer. Pictures depicting the depths of the sea, landscapes with a view of a mountain or coast, glued to transparent plastic, will decorate window openings.
Interesting ideas for a dollhouse
Some toys already come with a house, for example, for Lol dolls it is simply fabulous. You can copy some ideas from it. For example, the fact that the apartment is not limited only by the area of individual rooms, and the lower floor usually protrudes. Or you can even make a courtyard in front of the house with a sun lounger and flowers.
Another interesting idea is a house bag. This option is especially convenient when you are planning a trip with kids. You just need to attach a handle and “shutter doors” that close the house, and the mobile version is ready.
If you like to sew, then a soft house bag made of fabric is ideal.
And one moment. Did you think that your craft is just the beginning? Over time, more and more rooms may appear in which other toys will live.
Create, make your baby happy and be surprised at how talented your little one is! I hope you enjoy spending time with your child and can develop your friendship with him. I suggest you become friends with our site so that you can always be aware of the latest articles! Subscribe and receive messages about what you can read on the site. Don't forget to tell your friends what you learn.
Until next time. Bye bye!
