How to build a DIY Dollhouse

Come view our adorable DIY dollhouse build using the Vermont Farmhouse Jr dollhouse kit!

First, we started out by picking out our dollhouse plans. If you are making one from scratch you can find plans over on Etsy or you can buy a dollhouse kit that comes with everything you need (besides glue) from Hobby Lobby like we did.

After scanning the aisle, we decided on the Vermont Farmhouse Jr dollhouse. This dollhouse is made of wood and features a three-story layout with lovely window panes and faux shutters, exterior paneling, a patio with rails, a front door, and shingled roof with decorative trim.

The dollhouse has 7 rooms. It includes two rooms on the bottom and middle floor along with a staircase, and three smaller rooms on the top floor. You can customize the entire dollhouse as you please.

When choosing what the rooms would be, we let our daughters decide. They decided on a kitchen and living room on the bottom, a childs room and a bathroom on the middle floor, and a nursery and laundry room on the top floor (choosing to leave one of the room dividers out).

Where to find furniture for your DIY Dollhouse?

You can find DIY dollhouse furniture at Dollar tree, hobby lobby and online dollhouse shops such as https://www.prettylittleminis.com/.

Dollar tree has wooden dollhouse furniture already assembled in the toys section and Hobby Lobby has an entire section dedicated to Dollhouse furniture, food and dolls!

I could scan the aisle looking at miniature home decor for hours. At times, I would ask myself if this dollhouse was for me, or my kids. Haha! It is incredibly cheaper to design and furnish a Doll house (as you could imagine) and honestly, a lot more fun!

How to make DIY dollhouse furniture

We chose to make a lot of our own dollhouse furniture. Most of what we used came from the Dollar tree craft section and hobby lobby.

I would scan the house trying to source tiny items such as lids to turn into mini plants, baskets, etc. We actually used a lid to a bottle of tic tacs to make a laundry basket and a glitter bottle lid wrapped with twine to make a planter stand. My tip, use your imagination!

We made a couch and cushions using dollar tree craft wood planks with foam board wrapped with fabric for the cushions and used craft glue to attach them.

This was truly such a DIY project. Rugs were made of fabric cut into a rectangle, doormats cut out of a sheet of cork (found at dollar tree!) Using a fine point marker, we wrote various saying such as ‘welcome’ or ‘come play’s greet our dollhouse visitors 🙂

How long does it take to build a DIY Dollhouse?

From start to finish, I would say the dollhouse took a month to a month in half to fully assemble, paint and furnish. You could likely finish quicker, but Your back will appreciate you later for taking your time.

I wanted to be precise and do it all right the first time. “If you don’t have time to do it right, when will you ever have time to do it over?” – John Wooden. OUCH! There was no way I was doing this over!

Why build a DIY dollhouse?

We chose to build our own dollhouse for a few reasons.

Create a family heirloom to pass to future generations.
Aestetics. We wanted a dollhouse that would look adorable sitting in our girls room vs a plastic barbie dream house that would take up tons of room (which we don’t have! Check out our 900 sqft home here)
Create memories of building the dollhouse with our kids. My oldest helped assemble and choose paint colors. It is a memory we have together forever!

Paint color details

We used Sherwin Williams paint samples to Paint the exterior and walls of the Dollhouse, we used two colors, white and pink. Although, we decided not to stain the shingles and opted to leave them the original pine color, I have seen others stain these!

My girls and I had SO much fun building this DIY dollhouse and know you will too!

Thanks for visiting my blog today and always, friend! If you have any questions, please leave a comment below and I’d be happy to answer. Make sure to follow along with more DIY projects over on PINTEREST, FACEBOOK and INSTAGRAM!