When I was about six, my Dad made me a dollhouse for Christmas. It was one of the best presents I’ve ever received. Sadly, I don’t know what happened to that house, but it did start a lifelong fascination with all things tiny.
On this page I share my research and experience of the best accessories and DIY materials for creating the cutest dollhouse interiors.
I prefer more modern looking dollhouses and a lot of products available are specifically from the late 19th to early 20th century, which is why I prefer to make my own furniture and decor!
As I like to keep things simple, everything recommended below is for 12:1 scale dollhouses.
Best Dollhouse Wallpaper
Dollhouse wallpaper really sets the scene for your tiny home. The tree main options for dollhouse wallpaper are:
- self-adhesive vinyl wallpaper
- paper wallpaper made specifically for dollhouses
- downloadable and printable wallpaper
Generally, if you’re papering a house with plastic walls, opt for self-adhesive vinyl wallpaper as it will adhere to the wall better.
If you’re papering wooden or card walls, then any of the three options will work.
When I was looking to decorate my miniature library dollhouse, I went for Stick & Go’s No 18 Floral on Stone on Amazon. These are super easy to apply – just cut to size, stick and smooth. They are also ideal for using in kids’ dollhouses as they can withstand a lot more wear and tear than wallpaper made of paper.
Downloadable and printable wallpaper is another option if you don’t want to wait or pay for delivery. But printable wallpaper can be quite expensive when you factor in the cost of printing and ink and unless it’s well sealed, it’s prone to bleeding if it gets wet. I used some printable wallpaper to decorate my daughter’s dollhouse and it worked out just fine, slightly blurry but good enough!
I’ve also created my own wallpaper design in Canva and you can download them here.
Another good place for wallpaper is dollhouse specialists Melody Jane, which has an Amazon store here. It’s a great product at a great price but the only downside is a lot of the designs tend to be more old fashioned so there isn’t a huge range of more modern wallpaper styles which I prefer.
For modern wallpaper, I head to The Shelfie Life on Etsy. They have a huge range of modern printable wallpapers. And although they are downloadable and printable papers, the quality is good enough that they look great, as long as you use your adhesive sparingly.
You can read more about wallpapering a dollhouse with our article How To Wallpaper A Dollhouse: Tips For Easy Decorating.
Best Products for DIY Dollhouse Furniture
You could buy ready made furniture (are there is a section on this below) but to get a truly unique item and a fully enjoyable experience, it’s fun and easy to make your own!
All you need are a few basic materials to get started and you can add to these as you find what works and doesn’t work for you!
Hot Glue Gun
A glue gun ca be used to attach lots of different types of materials from wood to plastic to fabric. They work by melting the glue from the solid glue stick inserted into the gun. Heat from the gun melts the glue so it comes out through the glue gun’s tip as a hot glue. This glue creates a super strong bond between two items, even if they have uneven surfaces.
After much research and deliberating, I chose the Beeway® 20W Mini Glue Gun from Amazon. It heats up fast, the glue flows out smoothly and it provides a really strong adhesion and although it’s called a mini glue gun, it’s actually just regular sized! What really sold it to me though was the carry case. I don’t have a lot of room for crafting and Im terrible at finding things so having a glue gun and accessories which pack away all in one place was a real bonus. And it’s less than 20 quid!
Hot glue is used to reupholster tiny chairs, make tiny furniture, attach mini pictures to dollhouse walls, attach lollipop floors to a dollhouse flor, attach lights to the ceiling, the list is endless!
Using hot glue guns does come with three warnings though:
- As the name suggests, the glue that comes out is HOT and can cause burns. Don’t be tempted to touch the glue for at least a few minutes, by which time it should be cooled.
- Supervise children AT ALL TIMES when using a glue gun. My two were fascinated with ours and wanted to have a go. I only let my older one have a go under close supervision.
- When you take your finger off the glue gun trigger, hot glue may still come out. Remember to place the gun down on a piece of cardboard to prevent any drips form ruining your work surface.
These warnings apply to any glue gun, so if you don’t choose my recommendation above, still bear these warnings in mind!
Lollipop Sticks Or Other Small Pieces Of Wood
My kids east a lot of lollies, but even they can’t keep up with the demand for lollipop sticks when it comes to miniature crafting!
Instead of waiting for my kids to eat 100 lollies, I opted to buy these 2 x 50 Lollipop Craft Sticks off Amazon. I didn’t want to buy more than 100 as again, I don’t have a lot of storage, but if you do, you might find it cheaper to buy a bigger pack, such as the Creation Station 1000 pack.
Lollipop sticks can be used to make miniature chairs and tables, or cut down to make mini parquet flooring, shelves or even beds.
I’d read mixed reviews about working with balsa wood, it seems to splinter easily and ply wood, which doesn’t look great unless it’s painted.
I did loads of research online and the options seemed to be either:
- buying hardwood which required multiple expensive tools such as bandsaws and planers
- buying large quantities of wood like balsa wood or plywood specifically cut for crafting
The issue was that my toolbox contains a right angle ruler, a craft knife, a handsaw, and some sandpaper and that’s it. I didn’t want to spend a tonne of money on expensive tools when dollhouse furniture is just one element of the miniature crafting I do at the moment.
So my solution, as always, was to go for the simple and easy option and buy a box of wood veneer from OakdaleVeneers on Etsy. This is no doubt a more expensive way to do it than e.g. going to a DIY store and asking for off-cuts or buying in bulk, but I liked the mix of wood, sizes and colours, so this is what I went for!
You can use these with dowel rods from any DIY store, or online, to make mini furniture.
Fabric
You may not actually have to buy any fabric offcuts, depending on the amount and style of mini upholstering you intend to do. I made a little bean bags for our miniature library out of one of Evan’s old socks.
But, there are many options available if you do want to buy fabric offcuts. I find Etsy has a great range of more modern fabrics designed for patch working. as with dollhouse wallpaper, bear in mind the scale you’re working to and avoid fabrics with large elements in the designs.
If you want fabric made specifically for a 1:12 scale dollhouse then try The Dollshouse Draper on Etsy. There are hundreds of designs to choose from for every room in the home. The selection even includes mini patchwork fabric and the scale means it’s also suitable for making dollhouse curtains.
Tools
This is a tricky one as many of the tools that get recommended for making dollhouse furniture as very expensive. I don’t use them, so I can’t recommend them here.
My philosophy is to make making miniatures as accessible as possible so many of the tools I use were already in our toolbox. These are:
- a square for angle measuring and alignment
- a craft knife and handsaw for cutting wood
- some medium grain sandpaper
- a miter box for keeping your saw aligned and safe when cutting
- thin nosed pliers for wirework
I actually did need to buy a handsaw and mitre before I got started so I went for these:
Both are a great price and suitable for making miniatures out of wood. There are far more expensive and fancier options (including bandsaws over £200!), but these do me just fine.
So there you have it, the basics you need for making your DIY dollhouse decor perfect – keep coming back to this page for future updates!
