There is a joy in dollhouses and all things tiny that, for many people, doesn’t end with childhood. There’s something about the mindfulness of making tiny things, and the sense of achievement that comes with finishing a miniature project, that means many adults choose dollhouses as a hobby.
If you’re new to the world of dollhouses, this guide will help you get started and find out what you need to invest in and the skills you could learn when building your perfect miniature house.
Benefits of dollhouses for adults
I ran a Facebook Poll on the dollhouse enthusiasts group Doll House Projects to find out what it is about dollhouses that engages grown ups as well as kids. Over 200 people answered the poll and the results showed that the satisfaction of renovating or building miniatures is the main reason why adults love dollhouses. Although many people said they found it difficult to choose just one reason!
| Satisfaction of building/renovating something | 45% |
| Mindfulness of crafting/collecting | 29% |
| Childhood nostalgia | 20% |
| Opportunity to do some miniature interior design | 5% |
| To sell on and make money | 0.5% |
| To create something for kids to play with | 0.5% |
People in the group shared their passion for dollhouses and the reasons they love it in more detail in the comments. These reasons ranged from enjoying the little achievements of each stage of a project, to creating a miniature home in place of a real home to call their own, to being able to control a tiny environment, through to people continuing a childhood hobby.
Group member Carol Miller said, “I have three houses from different eras. I love the research into furniture and decoration for each era and love making things where possible. I’m working on quilts at the moment for my Victorian/Georgian house.”
The attention to detail in Carol’s house is stunning, and it’s one of many incredible houses that has been created by the adult dollhouse enthusiasts who kindly shared their images with me.
Dollhouse hobbyist Corrie Thorn created the jaw-dropping house below in recognition of the 75th anniversary of the end of WW2. Like many people who love dollhouses, Corrie incorporated personal touches into the house, “In the apartment is a Canadian army duffle bag and a hat sitting on the chair. The service number stencilled on the duffle bag is my father’s WW2 service number.”
Corrie’s love of dollhouses covers every aspect of the design and build, “You get to explore so many fields working with miniatures. You build with your hands, plan and research with your mind and you get to share your work with others who enjoy the hobby.”
Building a dollhouse from scratch is an immense achievement and for many adult dollhouse enthusiasts, it can turn into an expensive one! The incredible dollhouse below was built from scratch to a 1:12 scale by Brenda Dee Cook and she’s christened it Casa Money Pit! Brenda chose dollhouses as a hobby as it allows her to use a variety of creative skill sets, as well as problem solving skills.
She said, “I like to control my environment, so it’s a perfect hobby to help me escape and de-stress when the world outside is chaotic. Also, I’ve been collecting miniatures for decades and needed a house to put them in, so I built one!”
The attention to detail on Brenda’s dollhouse is breathtaking and so much thought has gone into every inch of this house, it’s no wonder she found escapism in creating it.
Dollhouses for adults: Where to start?
My interest in dollhouses started during the pandemic. I wanted to do something creative with my then five-year-old daughter, so I found a dollhouse in desperate need of renovating. She lost interest fairly quickly (as young children do!) but I was hooked on all things tiny and I wanted to show other grown-ups that dollhouses are definitely not just for kids.
Below you’ll find everything you need to know to get started with adult dollhouse projects.
Dollhouse size and scale
The majority of dollhouses are a 1:12 scale, this means every 12 inches in real life is the same as one inch in a dollhouse. Starting with a 1:12 scale dollhouse will mean you can easily find furniture, accessories and dolls to go in it. Most dollhouse wallpaper and carpet patterns are a 1:12 scale too, which will make finding them for your renovation projects much easier. You can find out more about decorating the inside of a dollhouse here.
Dollhouses range from being a ‘one up one down’, to huge sprawling mansions. My advice would be to choose a dollhouse with at least two floors and four rooms so you have plenty of rooms to be creative with. Pinterest and dollhouse groups on Facebook are excellent places to gain inspiration for the style, size and scope of dollhouses.
You’ll also need to consider the space you have in your house (your real house, that is, not your dollhouse!). If you’re short on space, then go for a room kit, rather than a dollhouse kit. Room kits are kits that contain everything you need to build and furnish miniature room.
One of the most popular brands for room kits is Rolife by Robotime – these are adorable rooms with themes ranging from coffee shops, to libraries, to sewing rooms and kitchens. The kits cost around £25 – £50 and most are less than 25cm squared when constructed but bear in mind they’re on a 1:24 scale so are extremely small. You can view some of the Rolife box room range here on Amazon and below is an example of the dessert counter room kit.
I’ve written in depth about DIY room kits here, including information on alternative brands to Rolife.
If you have more space, then investing in a dollhouse kit will give you a large blank canvas to work on, once you’ve built the dollhouse of course! There’s a huge range of styles and sizes available for dollhouse kits, but the classic choice for a wooden dollhouse kit would be The Ashburton Ready to Assemble Dolls House, which is very similar to my own dollhouse. It measures 38 x 53.01 x 62 cm so is a decent size to customise without being too fiddly.
How much work is needed to build or renovate a dollhouse
There are three main options for adult dollhouses, ranging from a huge amount of work, to enjoying just the finishing touches.
1. Building a dollhouse from scratch
Also known as ‘scratch built’ dollhouses, dollhouses made from scratch take a lot of work but can be extremely satisfying. You’ll need some basic joinery skills, as well as access to tools and materials to make your own dollhouse. I plan to write more about this in future, but as an overview, you’ll need the following materials and tools as a minimum to make your own dollhouse.
Wood
Hardwood makes beautiful looking dollhouses but it can be expensive and heavy. Softwood is lighter and easier to come by, but it’s not very strong, although this may not matter if children aren’t playing with it!
According to my ever-helpful father-in-law Neil, the best wood for a dollhouse is light ply – this is usually made from sheets of poplar which have been laminated together. Light ply is light (obviously!) and easy to cut, making it an excellent choice to work with if you’re new to woodwork. You can buy light ply from specialist model suppliers such as Elite Models.
Tools
Whatever style of house you’re building, you’ll need a mitre saw (to make angled cuts), a jigsaw, wood glue and a nail gun or hammer and nails. Mitre saws and jigsaws can be expensive, so unless you’re planning on doing a lot of woodwork, it might be best to hire them for the project.
The video below features an excellent tutorial for making a simple dollhouse out of plywood and is a great place to start if you want to find out more about what’s involved in dollhouse contstruction.
2. Building a dollhouse from a kit
There are two main types of dollhouse kits: full dollhouse kits and dollhouse room kits. Full dollhouse kits are usually made of plywood and contain all the pieces you need to make the shell of a house plus windows, doors and railings, they don’t usually contain any accessories. Dollhouse room kits are usually made from balsa wood and contain everything you need to make and fill the room, including lights, furniture and accessories.
The video below will give you an idea of the work involved in making a miniature dollhouse. In this tutorial, the crafter has made the Cutebee dollhouse kit, available from Amazon. You can read more about building a dollhouse room kit and the brands available here.
Although dollhouse kits come with everything you need, many people choose to customise them with their own choices of wallpaper, furniture and accessories. My friend Fiona, who is partially responsible for my love of miniatures, customises her Rolife room kits in some incredibly creative ways. Below is her take on the Joy’s Peninsula Living Room kit, available from Amazon, which she’s customised as a vampire hunter’s room.
3. Buying a finished dollhouse
5% of people I surveyed loved dollhouses because they wanted to show their flair and creativity in miniature interior design. Choosing wallpaper and flooring, and making or buying furniture are some of the most exciting aspects of dollhouses as a hobby. I have to admit that this was the part of renovating my dollhouse which I loved the best.
You can buy new dollhouses from most toy shops or from online retailers like Amazon. IKEA sell a lovely dollhouse ripe for renovation and it’s regularly featured on Pinterest boards for DIY dollhouse makeovers.
Ready-made dollhouses are easy to find second hand from charity shops, Facebook Marketplace, Freecycle or antique shops. It doesn’t matter what the dollhouse looks like, as part of the fun is to strip it back to the wood and unleash your creativity! I’ve seen plenty of bright pink dollhouses for sale in charity shops that are crying out for a renovation. In the video below, the crafter transforms a pink and purple dollhouse into a modern home design masterpiece!
It might seem as though buying a ready-made dollhouse to decorate is the easiest option (and in some ways it is) but I know from experience, it can take a lot of time and money to get the end results you want. I’ve written lots of guides about renovating dollhouses, so take a look below to see what I did right (and wrong!) when I renovated my dollhouse.
How To Decorate A Dollhouse: Complete house makeover guide
What Paint Is Best For A Wooden Dollhouse?
What To Use For Dollhouse Flooring: 6 DIY Hacks
For more handy dollhouse renovation tips, check out my blog’s DIY dollhouse category here.
What style or era of dollhouse to choose
The bonus of building or renovating a dollhouse is that you can choose the style of home you’ve always wanted, just in miniature!
Popular eras of dollhouses include Victorian and 1950s-70s styles, such as this example from the vintage Gee Bee Toys dollhouse range below. Read on to see more of the dollhouse styles I’ve come across in our local antiques centres.
Below is a 1930s (I think!) style dollhouse, complete with giant dog on the roof.
Below is a scratch built dollhouse in a Georgian (possibly!) style.
A Tudor style dollhouse.
An I’ve-no-idea-style scratch built dollhouse!
Personally, I prefer modern style dollhouses, mainly because they allow me to indulge in my ultimate interior design fantasies at a fraction of the cost! If you have a dollhouse without a front, such as the IKEA Flisat dollhouse, the outside style obviously won’t matter as much.
My dollhouse has a Victorian style exterior but I painted it pastel pink, and even though I’m not 100% happy with it (find out what went wrong here), my six-year-old loves it!
Dollhouse decoration, furniture and accessories
Once you have made or bought your dollhouse, you can really make it your own with some interior design.
Now’s the time to decide how many hours you want to spend on your dollhouse hobby. Some people make everything from scratch, from designing and printing their own wallpaper, to making their own furniture. I made my own dollhouse wallpaper for my dollhouse kitchen and bedroom, you can see how I made it and download some of my designs here.
I found that the most time consuming element of renovating my dollhouse was actually painting it. Deciding on the colours, preparing the wood, testing the paint and so on took way longer than I thought and I must have spent over £30 on paint for the inside alone! You can find out more about what paint I used and which worked best in the blog post What Paint Is Best For A Wooden Dollhouse?
My dollhouse had been at the back of someone’s garage for years so I stripped it back to the wood, mainly to get rid of the smell of damp. I stripped the carpets, as you can see in the video below, and removed the wallpaper so I had a blank canvas to work on.
There are loads of dollhouse suppliers which sell everything you need to complete the inside of your house – I regularly use Melody Jane and Minimum World for flooring and wallpaper, but I have found the furniture tends to be for retro dollhouses. For modern dollhouse furniture, try Pretty Little Minis which sells absolutely beautiful modern furniture and accessories.
Making and decorating dollhouses is a wonderful hobby if you enjoy crafting, creating, mindfulness, and a challenge from time-to-time!
