The most popular dollhouse scale is 1:12 which can also be written as 1/12 and is also known as the tradition dollhouse scale. With this scale, an object which is 12 inches in real life, is represented as 1 inch in a dollhouse. A door measuring 6 feet in real life, would be 6 inches in a 1:12 dollhouse.
The 1:12 scale for dollhouses is popular for several reasons:
- it’s an easy scale to understand, as 1 inch in miniature is 12 inches in real life
- it’s large enough so small details can still be seen (and made!)
- as it’s so popular, items in this scale are readily available
How big is a 1:12 scale dollhouse?
The main downside of the 1:12 inch scale is that the dollhouses can be really large. I have a six room Georgian-style dollhouse in the 1:12 scale and it’s nearly 3 feet tall and 2.5 feet wide. Depending on the style and era, high ceilings and large rooms can make many 1:12 scale dollhouses unsuitable for a lot of homes. This is why some collectors prefer the more space-saving 1:48 scale, which is a popular choice for box rooms, such as the miniature dollhouse room kits from Rolife.
As the 1:12 scale is (relatively) large, it means that it can be difficult to find accessories such as cars, animals and even people in this scale. Often, toy cars and animals in particular are built on a much smaller scale, for example many die cast cars are 1:64 scale. People are easier to come by but the main options are generic-looking ‘realistic’ 1:12 scale dolls or wooden doll families which are more suitable for children to play with.
Another aspect to consider is the depth of the rooms, the rooms in my current Georgian-style dollhouse are not as deep as the previous dollhouse, which was an Ashburton from Streets Ahead. The Ashburton had very deep rooms, which made it a little tricky to work with at times, as they were dark and a bit hard to reach. In fact, the Ashburton is a small-size 1:12 scale dollhouse which was a bit of a nightmare to furnish. You can read more about the troubles I had with the scale of this dollhouse in my blog post Dollhouse scale: what it means and how to work it out.
Below is a picture of the gloomy kitchen in the Ashburton dollhouse.
Is 1:12 scale dollhouse suitable for kids?
The 1:12 scale is popular with miniaturists and toy manufacturers. Older children will enjoy the small scale of 1:12 and the intricate detail. But younger children might find some of the furniture and accessories a but fiddly.
When looking for items in this scale which are suitable for kids, choose ranges made specifically for children, such as Sylvanian Families (Calico Critters in the USA) which are almost 1:12 scale, but are more like 1:16 as the furniture legs are generally shorter than 1:12 to accommodate the animal families.
As a mum of two whose kids have grown up around dollhouses, I know that children’s enthusiasm can mean they are sometimes quite rough with more delicate items specifically made for adult dollhouse enthusiasts.
If your children like the realism of dollhouses and accessories made for adults, you can often pick these up cheaply in antique shops or charity shops. We have an IKEA dollhouse with a mismatch furniture I’ve collected from various places second hand. None of it matches, but the kids don’t mind, and I keep the fancier furniture for my dollhouses!
What toy ranges are 1:12 scale?
You can see from the table below that the most popular dollhouse scale is 1:12 as so many toy manufacturers use this scale for their products. Bear in mind that some of the figures listed in the 1:12 sections listed below may not be the perfect fit for a 1:12 dollhouse, but for children, they’ll be near enough!
| 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, LOL OMG Fashion dolls and other 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* |
* Lego Friends dolls are approx 1:38 scale – you can find more about the scale of Lego figures in this excellent article.
Why is 1:12 dollhouse scale known as traditional scale?
The 1:12 scale has a royal connection, it was the scale chosen for the famous Queen Mary Dollhouse. This epic dollhouse was made in 1921 for Queen Mary as a gift from the nation. It was designed by the leading British architect Sir Edward Lutyens and has been on display in Windsor Castle for 90 years. This very old and much-loved dollhouse is the reason why so many dollhouses are still made in the 1:12 scale.