Every dollhouse needs a bed, but knowing what size bed to choose isn’t always easy, even if you know the scale of your dollhouse.
The most popular dollhouse scale is 1:12, and a double bed in this scale would measure approximately:
- 4.75 inches wide
- 3.5 inches high (to the top of the bedframe)
- 6.5 inches long
Dollhouse furniture is made by different manufacturers, so even dollhouse beds in the same scale can have different measurements.
On this page, we look into the different types of dollhouse beds available, and the sizes you can expect them to be.
What size are 1:12 scale dollhouse beds?
Double dollhouse beds in the 1:12 scale measure:
- 4.75 inches wide
- 3.5 inches high
- 6.5 inches long
The measurement that’s most likely to vary is the height of the bed frame, in the image below, the bed on the left has a frame that measures 3.5 inches at the highest point, and the height of the bed on the right measures 3.75 inches. These differences are so small they’re not going to be noticeable, especially when it comes to the height, and this will vary depending on the style of bed.
Single beds in the 1:12 scale measure:
- 3.2 inches wide
- 2.4 inches high
- 5.5 inches long
Again, the height in particular may vary depending on style. Another thing to look out for is whether it’s a regular single dollhouse bed, or a children’s dollhouse bed. Just like in real life, children’s beds tend to be smaller than adult single beds.
I found the metal frame bed in the image below in an antique shop, it’s definitely vintage and I think it’s a children’s bed due to the design and it’s smaller than the 1:12 single bed on the left of the image.
The children’s 1:12 scale bed in the image below measures:
- 2.75 inches wide
- 2.1 inches high
- 4.75 inches long
Cots and cribs will be a similar size to children’s’ beds, in real life some cribs can be changed into a toddler bed, so if your crib is a similar size to the measurements above, it’ll be 1:12 scale.
Below, from left to right, is a single adult bed in 1:12 scale, a children’s’ bed in 1:12 scale and a Sylvanian Families bed in 1:16 scale.
I bought the crib below from a charity shop and it’s not only similar in measurement to the children’s bed, but it also looks about right next to a double bed. This is the larger upstairs room of the IKEA dollhouse.
Sometimes, especially when you’ve bought furniture from antique shops or charity shops, the only way to tell if it’s the right scale is to go by sight!
You can find out more about determining dollhouse scale in the blog post Dollhouse Scale: What it means and how to work it out.
What other scale dollhouse beds are available?
Dollhouse beds are available in all scales, and sometimes they don’t fit into any scale!
Dollhouse beds in 1:24 scale
1:24 scale is also know as 1/2 scale or half inch scale, this is because half a foot of a real life object is half an inch of a dollhouse object in this scale. This means that 1:24 is half the size of 1:12 scale, or there about and, again, the scale can differ depending on the manufacturer.
A typical 1:24 double size bed will measure:
- 3.34 inches long
- 2.75 inches wide
Dollhouse beds in 1:16 scale
Sylvanian Families (Calico Critters in the USA) and Tri-ang (a vintage British brand) dollhouses are 1:16 scale, this means a single bed (I couldn’t find any double beds!) in this scale will measure:
- 4.6 inches long
- 2.5 inches wide
- 2.5 inches high
Beds this size are only slightly smaller than 1:12 scale so there is some flexibility for using a 1:16 scale bed as a small single in a 1:12 dollhouse.
Dollhouse beds of unknown scales
If you’re buying furniture second-hand, then determining the scale isn’t always easy.
I got a box of dollhouse furniture from Facebook Marketplace which came from the supermarket chain Lidl. I’ve tried to find out what scale it is and a couple of website say it’s 1:12, but look how much smaller the bed is compared to one I bought new, which was listed as 1:12 scale.
In the image below, two allegedly 1:12 scale beds are in the same room of an IKEA dollhouse. The bed on the left is from Dollhouse Emporium and the bed on the right is from Lidl.
As well as the variations in furniture sizes within each scale, there’s variations in the size of dollhouses too!
Previously, I had a dollhouse which was 1:12 scale but the dimensions were so small, that a 1:12 scale bed filled the entire bedroom. As you can see below, there wasn’t much room available for other furniture!
Buying dollhouse furniture second-hand is a great way to see what size furniture works best in your dollhouse, even if you know the scale of your dollhouse.
You can try the measurements above to get a rough idea of the scale of a bed, but sometimes it’s best to go with sight. This is because the scale of dollhouses vary a lot, particularly if they’re scratch built.
So there’s no quick answer to the question, what size is a dollhouse bed! Trial and error is the way forward for finding the exact size scale and style of bed for your dollhouse.
