Customising a dollhouse or miniature room is one of the most fun mini projects you can do. And just like in real life, flooring can set the tone of the decor for your tiny home. Whether you prefer the DIY approach or buying off the shelf, these 12 dollhouse flooring ideas are a great way to spark inspiration.
Before we get started, I just wanted to share a super useful tip with you. Cutting flooring to size for a dollhouse can be a fiddly job, so if you’re cutting down fabric or linoleum tile to use in your dollhouse, it’s a good idea to use a template.
A template will give you the exact dimensions of the area you’ll be adding flooring to and means you can more accurately cut the flooring before inserting it.
Click on this link for a super helpful guide to get you started making a dollhouse flooring template.
Once you have your template, you can use this to measure and cut the size of your flooring on a piece of card stock. If you attach your flooring to card stock, rather than directly to the dollhouse floor, it’ll be much easier to remove and replace your flooring when you want a change.
Dollhouse Tile And Stone Flooring Ideas
1. Cut A Full-size Linoleum Tile Into Miniature Squares
This is such an affordable, fuss-free option – all you need to do is buy one linoleum tile and cut it into lots of miniature squares!
Make sure the tile you choose is thin and doesn’t have a pattern on it that would detract from the scale of your dollhouse. Something like a plain faux terracotta tile would be idea.
Simply mark out 1cm squares with a ruler and sharp knife (such as an Xacto knife or Stanley knife) on the top and bottom edges of the tile, carefully lining up the marks on each side. Eventually, you’ll end up with a grid of 1cm by 1cm scored squares.
Then simply stick them to your dollhouse floor! In the video below, the finished result is a beautiful tiled floor that cost less and a dollar to make!
2. Use A Full-size Linoleum Tile Cut To Size
For an even easier alternative to cutting the tile up, simple cut a full-size linoleum tile into the size you need to cover the entire floor of your dollhouse room.
All you need is a tile, a ruler and a sharp knife. Some tiles are self-adhesive so you may not even need glue. Don’t forget to work to the scale you’re using (the less pattern the better!) and check out the top tip on making a flooring template in the intro above.
A grey stone effect tile would work well for this project.
3. Recycle An Egg Carton Into Miniature Stone Flooring
Egg cartons and cardboard drinks carriers have a texture that looks very similar to stone, so make the ideal flooring surface for dollhouse flooring.
Stone floors look great in rustic dollhouses or for outside areas in dioramas. All you need to do is paint the area of floor (or the template) you’re going to cover in grey paint (to represent concrete) and then cut out lots of pieces of cardboard from your egg box or drinks carrier. Be mindful of the scale of your dollhouse and try to match up the size of the tiles with the scale you’re working to.
Next, glue the pieces of cardboard to the floor with PVA glue in whatever pattern you prefer, being careful not to leave too big gaps between the tiles. Don’t worry if some of the tiles have writing printed on them as you’ll be painting over them shortly.
Once all your tiles are glued down, cover the entire area of tiles with a layer of PVA glue to seal them. When this is dry, you can use acrylic paint to paint the tiles in any colour you like.
Use poly acrylic varnish to seal the tiles and add a lovely shine. The next step is to use grout between the tiles so the gaps are the same level as the tiles and everything has a realistic, uniform finish. You can either use your finger to to this, or a plastic spatula.
The final step is to add some grey paint to areas of the grout to create a worn look and then seal the grout with PVA glue.
3. Download And Print A Tiled Floor
If your budget is tight, or if you want to experiment with different patterns and styles for your flooring, then downloading and printing dollhouse flooring is a great option.
As discussed in a previous post about dollhouse wallpaper, the quality of printable flooring depends a lot on the quality of the paper, card, ink and printer you’re using.
There are many places online you can download free flooring, such as a similar one to the one used in this video here or here for some without patterns, you could create your own, as long as you stick to the scale you’re using. I’ve even made some of my own dollhouse flooring designs you can download for free here.
Print the design out onto a piece of card so it’s more structured and easier to work with than paper. If you’re going for a realistic look, then gently score down in lines between the rows of tiles to create groves.
Once you’ve measure the area of floor you want the tiles to fit on, measure this out on a piece of card stock and cut the card stock to size. It’s much easier to attach the tiled card to a piece of card stock, rather than trying to paste it directly onto the dollhouse floor. Applying it directly to the floor can create air pockets and an uneven surface.
Next, glue the tiled card to the card stock with Mod Podge and let it dry. When it’s dry, flip it over and use an Xacto knife to cut the tiled card to size by cutting around the card stock.
You can then seal the tiles with a coat of Mod Podge to protect it.
4. Make A Dollhouse Tile Floor Out Of Polymer Clay
Tutorial coming soon!
5. Use Photo Paper And Ink For Faux Ceramic Tiles
If you’re new to working with dollhouses and want to experiment with flooring then this has to be one of the cheapest and easiest methods.
All you need is a piece of glossy photo paper and a small ink pad.
Simply score lines down and across the paper to create your tiles, choosing a size of tile that matches your dollhouse scale. Once your tiles are scored, take your ink pad and wipe it across the paper in a circular motion. The ink shouldn’t filter into the scored lines (your ‘grout’) but if it does, you can easily fix this after the ink has dried.
Use a white gel pen and a ruler to go over the scored lines so they look like white grouting.
DIY Wooden Dollhouse Flooring
Before we get started, I just wanted to walk you through the style options for wooden dollhouse flooring.
If you want to fit floorboards that are lined up in straight rows, you have two main options:
- Staggered – where the floorboards are usually arranged so that the end of each floorboard corresponds with the centre of the board next to it.
- Straight – where the ends of the floorboards align, or the floorboards are cut to the length of the room.
If you want a style that incorporates lots of corners and shorter pieces of wood, choose a herringbone parquet pattern. This is a super popular style for full size homes and dollhouses, there are lots of variations but parquet flooring generally looks a bit like this:
OK, now onto how you can recreate these floorboard styles in your own dollhouse!
6. Use Wood Veneer Strips To Create Floorboards
This is one of the more straightforward methods of achieving a realistic wooden floor for your dollhouse. A roll of wood veneer will cost around £5-£10 but a roll should cover quite a large area so it’s a good investment.
Firstly, measure the floor area of your dollhouse that you want to cover. Then create a template of your floor by measuring the floor area on a piece of card stock and cutting this out.
Doing it this way, rather than attaching the boards directly to your dollhouse floor, will make it easier to stick the floor on and also make it easier should you want to change the flooring. All you’ll need to do is take out the floor and switch it for another design.
To create the floorboards, simply cut up the strip of veneer into the length you want for your floorboards. Cut a strip of double sided sticky tape as long as your card stock surface and attach the floorboards to the sticky tape, being sure to line up the edges.
Cut off any excess veneer and your floor is ready!
Skip to the 1:45 mark on the video below to see this project in action.
TOP TIP: If you’re not feeling the DIY dollhouse flooring, you can buy paper flooring with a floorboard pattern printed on it – try Amazon sellers for a range of cool designs.
7. Lollipop Stick Dollhouse Flooring
This is a classic choice of flooring in the miniature world! You can purchase a pack of lollipop sticks from your local craft shop and snip the rounded ends off with a sharp pair of scissors, or cut them off with a hacksaw or craft knife. You may need to sand the ends of the sticks down if they splinter a little after cutting.
Next, measure out your flooring area on a piece of card stock, or you can apply the sticks directly to your dollhouse floor if you prefer.
To be sure your lollipop stick floorboards are in a straight line, you can measure out lines on your card or floor so you know your sticks will be glued in straight lines.
Lay the lollipops down where they’ll be glued so you can see where they fit together and sand down or swap any sticks so that they fit to the edges of the board.
Use craft glue (PVA) to attach the sticks to the card or floor. Once they’re in place, you can stain them, paint them, or leave them natural.
7. Parquet Flooring Out Of Coffee Stirrers
Don’t know what to do with your coffee stirrer once you’ve used it? Don’t throw it in the bin, recycle it into a tiny floorboard!
OK, so even if you go to Starbucks every day, you’ll need quite a few to create a floor, so buy a pack online from a drinks retailer or Amazon.
Once you have your stirrers, cut them into one inch pieces – these are a much smaller length than when doing long straight floorboards. In the video below, the crafter has a really good tip for cutting the stirrers – use a craft knife to make a cut on each side of the stirrer and then snap the two pieces apart.
As herringbone parquet floor is laid at an angle, it’s tricker to make than straight floorboards. You’ll need to decide which corner of the room you want your parquet angle to start in. Draw a line from the corner to the edge of the flooring and ‘stack’ the pieces of wood down this line. Skip to 0:25 in the video below for a detailed explanation.
You can fix the wood down with wood glue, being careful not to use too much in case the glue seeps out between the floorboards.
The easiest way to tidy up the edges, is to draw a line down the side of the flooring so it’s inline with your base board. Then use a craft knife to cut off the excess wood so the edge of the floorboards and baseboard are flush.
Finish off with a coat of varnish and you’ll have a super stylish floor for your dollhouse!
TOP TIP: If you prefer, you can buy mini planks from dollhouse specialists, rather than using lollipop sticks or coffee stirrers. Or buy parquet flooring card specially made for dollhouses.
8. Use Card Stock To Create Super Cheap Faux Wooden Dollhouse Flooring
This technique is no doubt the easiest and least expensive way to give your dollhouse flooring a quick makeover. This technique is very similar to the one earlier in the article, where you can make ceramic tiles out of photo paper and an ink pad.
All you need is a piece of brown card, a scoring board, a tool for scoring and a dye-based an ink pad.
TOP TIP: If you don’t have a scoring board and tool, you could make the scored lines by using a ruler and a wooden kebab skewer or the blunt side of a butter knife. Just don’t press too hard!
Score lines down the piece of paper and then wipe the ink stamp up and down the paper in a smooth movement. You can use brown ink, or a mix of brown inks to create the finished look you want.
This is a great technique for a rustic floor, as you can add a distressed look by streaking white paint over the paper.
If you want to use paper or card but don’t want to make the pattern yourself, try downloading a printable wooden dollhouse floor. There are some free printable floors online, including this one from Jennifer’s Printables.
9. Use Laminate Flooring Samples To Create Miniature Floorboards
In the UK, DIY retailers such as B&Q and Homebase sell laminate flooring samples for as little as £1, so this is a super cost-effective way to create a unique finish for your dollhouse floor.
These samples are usually made of HDF (high density fibreboard) and some are scuff and water resistant, so could be a great choice for a kids’ dollhouse.
Just measure the width of the floorboards you require and cut the laminate sample using a ruler and craft knife.
The one thing you will need to look out for is if there are any knot patterns in the wood. The samples are often a portion of the actual plank of laminate flooring. This means that if the sample you get has a knot in it, you’ll have to make sure it doesn’t look too obvious as the flooring won’t look as realistic if it has giant knots in it. This shouldn’t be too much of a problem as you’ll be cutting the laminate into very small pieces but it’s worth bearing in mind!
In the below video, the crafter is using blocks of samples to create a DIY dollhouse floor.
DIY Dollhouse Carpet Ideas
First off, don’t be tempted to use carpet squares of offcuts for normal size carpets for your dollhouse – the pile will be too thick and it will look chunky and uneven in your dollhouse.
There are a number of options you can use for carpet, all of which are super cheap and easy to install.
10. Felt Sheets For Dollhouse Carpet
Felt sheets are super soft and come in a huge range of colours. Although mainly plain, some craft shops sell pattered felt sheets, but you’ll need to see if they fit with the scale of your dollhouse before installing.
11. Upholstery Fabric For Textured Dollhouse Carpet
Upholstery fabric is used on furniture and to make curtains, so any designs or textures will be smaller in size than real carpet. Look for corduroy, suede, velvet and fleece fabric to create textured, luxurious carpets.
Avoid thin fabrics such as cotton, muslin or linen as these won’t look as realistic as some of the thicker, more textured upholstery fabrics.
You can find offcuts or samples of upholstery fabric from your local upholsterer or by searching upholstery fabric remnants on Etsy.
12. Buy Patterned Dollhouse Carpets
If you want to bring a stylish patterned carpet into your dollhouse, then checkout Etsy, there are some fabulous options for patterned carpets.
If you’re unsure how to fit a dollhouse carpet, check out this tutorial for making a dollhouse carpet template.
For more ideas on what you can use for dollhouse flooring, check out my blog post What To Use For Dollhouse Flooring: 6 DIY Hacks, for super cheap but great looking dollhouse flooring.
