Making a house out of cardboard is almost like a childhood right of passage. I made one when I was little, my daughter brought one back from school the other day. Cardboard houses look great, but they’re all the better if you can open them up and play with them.
In this post, I’m going to show you some sensational cardboard dollhouses, shoebox rooms and mini houses that you and your kids can customise, decorate and play with for hours on end.
The types of cardboard houses you can make range from flatpack kits, such as those used for model railways, through to home made cereal box dollhouses to full-scale multi-storey dollhouses. For the purpose of this blog post, I’ll be looking at the DIY cardboard houses.
Before we get started, I wanted to answer some common questions about making a mini house out of cardboard.
The techniques below apply to a multitude of different cardboard houses so they’re a good starting point:
What do you need to make a house out of cardboard?
This depends on the type of house you’re making but for most sizes and styles you’ll need:
- ruler and pencil
- a cardboard box or two – either a thin cereal box style cardboard or the thicker brown corrugated cardboard
- craft knife and scissors
- masking tape or coloured duct tape (coloured duct tape is new to me but it looks totally awesome!)
- PVA glue or a glue stick
- something to decorate the house with such as paint, paper or scrapbook paper
- figures and furniture to put in the house
If you have all of the above, you’ll be well on your way to crafting a cardboard house masterpiece. Really though, as long as you have a box, knife or scissors and some glue, you’ll be able to make something with your kids for them to play with.
I made the below Paw Patrol car park complete with garage, pup snack dispenser, bedroom and bridge out of various boxes in our recycling bin and some masking tape and Evan played with it for two days straight!
How do you paint a cardboard house?
Cardboard can easily warp if it gets wet. Water can also weaken the fibres in cardboard, which isn’t ideal for a cardboard house as it’ll need to withstand wear and tear of being played with. This means you’ll need to avoid waterbased paints when painted your mini cardboard house.
The best method for painting a cardboard house is to:
- Seal the cardboard with two coats of gesso – gesso is a very thin white acrylic paint which dries hard and acts as a primer on porous surfaces like cardboard. You’ll need to apply a coat, let it dry for 24 hours and then apply another coat.
- Once the gesso is dry, use thin layers of acrylic paint to paint your cardboard mini house. Make sure you use a dry brush to apply the paint and don’t apply the paint directly from the tube to the cardboard as this will make the cardboard too wet. It’s likely you’ll need a couple of layers of acrylic paint to cover up the white gesso, so leave two hours between applying each layer to build up the colour you want.
If you want to speed up the decorating process then you can just apply acrylic paint directly onto the cardboard. Just be aware that it may make the cardboard weaker if you’ve not sealed it before painting. There was no way my two kids would wait hours for the gesso to dry so we skipped that part and went straight onto the decorating!
Just a note on glue too – some PVA glues are very watery and can warp thin cardboard or cause your craft paper to bubble if you’re using it as wallpaper. To avoid this, it’s best to go for glue stick glue rather than PVA glue to attach wallpaper.
So now you know the basics, it’s time to get down to the business of making cardboard houses for your favourite character toys. We’ve made some ourselves and I’ve done some research to find a whole bunch of future projects we plan to try. so see below for some of the best mini cardboard house tutorials online.
3 Ways to make a simple cardboard dollhouse
Using cereal boxes is a good place to start if you’re new to cardboard crafting as the cardboard isn’t as thick as corrugated cardboard boxes so it’s easier to cut and fold. It’s also easier to paint too. In this section, I wanted to take a closer look at a few ways of making simple cardboard dollhouses out of cereal boxes.
1. A simple cereal box DIY cardboard house
This video shows you how to make an elegant cardboard house out of a cereal box. This is great if you don’t have any thicker corrugated cardboard as you can just use a cereal box out of the cupboard. Thinner cardboard, like cereal boxes, are ideal if you’re crafting with younger kids as the material is much easier to work with.
All you need to make this cardboard house is:
- a cereal box
- scissors and a craft knife
- acrylic paint and brushes
- a ruler
- more cardboard for making the floors
If you don’t want things to get messy with paint, you could just use coloured or patterned card and then glue this to the walls for wallpaper instead of painting them.
It’s the detail of this cereal box dollhouse that makes it so lovely as the crafter has included a window, complete with a curtain, and has painted beautiful wallpaper and furniture onto the walls. She’s even used fabric samples as carpet! If you’d like to find out more about wallpapering your own DIY dollhouse, read my post How To Wallpaper A Dollhouse: Tips For Easy Decorating.
2. A portable foldable cereal box cardboard house
I find that sometimes when both my kids are playing with our Sylvanian dollhouse they’re constantly jostling for room, or they struggle to play with it on the floor and see what they’re doing, unless they lay on their tummies.
Traditional dollhouses can be restrictive, which is why this DIY foldable dollhouse is so clever. This cardboard house doesn’t have a roof, so kids can play with it from the top and it’s portable so you can take it anywhere and have an instant play scene for their figures.
All you need to get started with this crafty creation is:
- two cereal boxes
- duct tape – this works better than Sellotape as it’s stronger
- coloured paper or acrylic paint to decorate the walls
- scissors
- a ruler
- a glue stick
- white paper and pens to draw your furniture on (or you can download the printables from this tutorial here)
The scale of this cardboard house is ideal for Sylvanian Family characters, Playmobil figures and any other characters on the 1:12 to 1:24 scales, just make sure you measure the doors at the right height (see the table below!). The complete tutorial for this foldable cardboard dollhouse is here.
We made this foldable cardboard dollhouse ourselves and to be honest it took me a while to get my head around the folding part and where to cut the doors. At one point we very nearly had a door in the floor!
Once we’d make the cardboard structure, we used scrapbooking paper for wallpaper and carpets. We were staying in my mum’s bubble at the time and although she has lots of craft supplies, her glue sticks had completely dried up. This meant I had to use PVA glue to stick the scrapbooking paper down. The results weren’t great as the glue was so wet it caused the paper to wrinkle and the cardboard to warp. But for a morning’s crafting on a cold day, it was pretty fun to make and the kids love playing with it.
If you want to make a portable dollhouse in a box that you can also store dollhouse furniture in, then check out this tutorial for an adorable portable DIY cardboard dollhouse.
3. A pastel coloured cereal box house – not so easy!
OK, so this is pushing it with ‘simple’ crafts as it’s a more complex design, but it looks like fun to make and is beautiful! Unlike the first two cereal box houses, you can’t open this one up to play inside, but you could create a whole town and your kids’ toy characters can hang out on the porches. In fact if you did create lots of houses, you could introduce toy cars and accessories such as traffic lights into the play space as well.
It’s also super easy to customise this house, the crafter has used paper flowers to decorate the outside but you could add any embellishment you like!
You’ll need the following to build this beautiful, modern cardboard house:
- 3 cereal boxes
- coloured paper
- lolly sticks
- glue
- tooth picks or kebab sticks
Now we’ve looked at thinner cardboard houses, it’s time to move onto the tougher stuff and check out what creations can be made out of corrugated cardboard.
3 Ways to make a dollhouse out of a cardboard box
If you’re reading this and we’re still in the pandemic (let’s hope not!), you’re likely to have a lot of cardboard in your house from deliveries. We’ve made everything from rocket ships to Paw Patrol lookout tower out of our excess cardboard boxes and the next thing on the list to try is a dollhouse.
Dollhouses made of cardboard boxes tend to be sturdier than those made of shoeboxes or cereal boxes, but they are a bit trickier to make as they can be difficult to fold, cut and stick together.
Below are some ideas to get you started on making a house out of corrugated cardboard.
1. Cardboard box house with rooms, stairs and furniture
This is the ultimate desirable residence for any dollhouse character. The crafter has made his into a shop, which is such a cool idea, but if you prefer you could design it as a house instead.
To make the cardboard structure of the house you’ll need the following:
- a cardboard box
- a craft knife
- glue
- masking tape
There’s some lovely details in this cardboard house, including round windows, stairs, chimney pots, doorways, furniture and full on interior design! But, if you prefer to keep it simple, you could make the basic structure and use existing dollhouse furniture to furnish your miniature mansion.
2. Super simple cardboard house
I love the simplicity of this cardboard house. It’s made from a slightly thinner corrugated cardboard box (it looks like this cardboard box had a fan in it), so the next time you buy a new electrical product recycle the box into a mini cardboard house!
All you need to make this house is cardboard, a craft knife and glue. The little garden is adorable and would look lovely filled with paper or cardboard plants.
3. DIY cardboard mansion
This brightly coloured mini mansion will bring a smile to any child’s face. It’s a trickier tutorial so will take a little longer to complete but it will be well worth it when your children’s toy characters have a beautiful new pad to kick back in.
It looks very similar to Peppa Pig’s house so would be the ideal place for Peppa Pig figures to live.
How do you make a doll room out of cardboard?
If you don’t want to make an entire dollhouse out of cardboard, you can just make a doll room. This works particularly well for larger dolls such as Barbie, as a full scale Barbie house would be quite challenging to make and take up a lot of room.
To make a doll room out of cardboard, firstly choose a suitable box, we made a bedroom for Barbie’s little sister Chelsea out of an Easter egg box. Firstly, I cut the front panel off the box so it made a flap which became the bedroom floor. I recycled the inside of a Barbie Easter egg box into a couple of very funky chairs for Chelsea to relax in. The bed was made out of the side of a cereal box and the shelves were made out of the flaps of a cereal box.
My daughter Joni was meant to decorate it but she was too busy playing with it to get started!
There are literally hundreds of different ways to make a doll room out of cardboard – many of which involve shoeboxes as they’re already the perfect shape for a room. I found a few fun ones to try online.
Portable shoebox doll room
When you see the end result of this tutorial, it’s hard to believe the crafter has made the room out of a shoebox as the attention to detail is incredible. She unfolds the shoebox so it can be decorated more easily and adds textured walls, glazed windows, baseboards and a little door complete with a handle! There’s also some great tips for making mini coat hooks and storage boxes too.
As the shoe box has a lid that’s attached, the whole thing can be transported anywhere! This shoebox room is the ideal size for Barbies.
Shoebox apartment tutorial
If you want a home for your kids’ smaller characters then this teeny apartment fits into a shoebox. The scale isn’t clear but I imagine Playmobil sized characters would look right at home in here.
The video below includes tutorials on how to make all the furniture too in this fun, brightly coloured apartment. It’s a great way to really let loose with interior design and use up scrapbook or wrapping paper to make dazzling wall and floor coverings.
Where to find DIY cardboard dollhouse plans, templates and downloads
The good thing about making a house out of cardboard is that you’re only limited by your imagination as it costs very little money and you can do it quickly, so if it doesn’t go to plan, you’ve not lost anything! But, if you prefer to follow a plan rather than experiment, you can find lots of pre-designed templates for cardboard dollhouses online. Some of them are free to download or cost a few pounds and they range from complete plans for a dollhouse to pop up rooms that kids can play with anywhere.
Below are some of the best cardboard dollhouse plans for easy, fuss free building.
- Smollhouse Foldaway Dollhouse – These PDF pop up dollhouse rooms are beautifully illustrated and include four rooms that can be folded out to instantly turn any space into a dollhouse.
- Haunted Dollhouse – Download the template to create this spooky two storey dollhouse that slots together. You don’t have to make it scary, but I think the haunted theme is pretty fun.
- Christmas Tree Dollhouse – If you’re feeling festive then give this Christmas tree shaped three storey dollhouse a try. It’s the perfect way to keep kids entertained in the run up to Christmas and looks lovely decorated in festive colours.
- Recycled Cardboard Dollhouse – This large dollhouse is simple to make and slots together to create multiple rooms and floors to keep kids entertained for hours.
- Slotted Cardboard Dino House – Dinosaurs need a home too, so if you want to make a mansion for your children’s dino collection, then this beautiful cardboard house has a downloadable template that makes it super easy to construct.
- Printable Dollhouse Windows, Doors and Accessories – Once you’ve decided on the type of dollhouse you want to make, you could give it the finishing touches with these charming printables. There’s windows, doors, roof tiles and outside decor to make the exterior of your dollhouse look beautiful.
Where to buy cardboard houses kits
If you want a cardboard box dollhouse without the crafty bits, then you can buy ready made dollhouses out of cardboard. Prices range enormously but the ones below will give you an idea of what’s available. These make awesome eco-friendly gifts for kids and adults alike!
- Kid-Eco Dolls House – This large cardboard house is big enough for lots of children to play with it and even decorate it with paint and pens. It’s a super eco-friendly choice as it’s made from 80% recycled cardboard and can be recycled again once your kids have finished playing with it.
- Pop-up Paper House – If you love attention to detail then this beautiful pop-up paper house is filled with jaw-dropping features. The concept of this cardboard creation is a foldable, portable house where rooms can be downloaded individually and used with either a laser-cut house structure or a downloadable house pattern to cut out yourself. The design comes complete with beautiful pop-up cardboard furniture too. But if you prefer to add detail yourself, there’s even a blank version of the house available!
- PaperImaginationShop – This Etsy seller makes beautiful cardboard dollhouses that you can either play with or use as ornaments, they’re so beautiful. The dollhouses take a few minutes to construct and would make a lovely gift for crafters or kids.
How do you measure the scale of a cardboard house?
If you’re making a cardboard house for kids to play with their character toys in, then it’s a good idea to make it roughly to the scale of their characters so the toys can fit in the house correctly.
The 1:12 scale is probably the most common scale for dollhouses, so it would be a great scale to go for when making a cardboard house. A 1:12 scale means that one foot in real life would be shrunk to one inch in a dollhouse. Therefore, if you’re aiming for a 1:12 scale cardboard house, you could make sure the doors were 6.5 inches tall, as they’re roughly 6.5 feet tall in real life.
Below is a handy table for sizing up your cardboard house. If you look in the end column for the character brand you have, you can then find the approximate scale and door size to use in your cardboard house:
| Scale | Size in real life (foot) | Size in miniature (inches) | Also known as | Doorway size approx. | Suitable figures |
| 1:6 | 12 | 24 | Play scale | 14 inches | Barbie, fashion dolls of similar size |
| 1:12 | 12 | 12 | Once inch scale | 6.5 inches | Sylvanian Families (Calico Critters), Hape dollhouse figures, Melissa and Doug dollhouse figures, Jupiter Workshops (Argos) figures, BigJigs figures, Peppa Pig figures |
| 1:18 | 12 | 10 | 2/3 scale | 4.5 inches | Lundby dollhouse figures |
| 1:24 | 12 | 6 | Half inch scale | 3.5 inches | Playmobil figures |
| 1:48 | 12 | 3 | Quarter scale | 1.7 inches | Lego mini figures* |
Using cardboard is a free, eco-friendly and hugely imaginative way of creating a room or entire house for dolls and figures. Why not try one of the above tutorials today, or use them as inspiration to craft your own creation.