Upcycled Dollhouse

27 Sep Upcycled Dollhouse

As you might have guessed, I made B a dollhouse for her 3rd birthday. I began with a $2 wooden CD rack from Goodwill and gave it a makeover. I love the Plan Toys modern dollhouses, so I used that as inspiration for the design. I’m also really inspired by the simple, brilliant toy designs at Made By Joel. You should check out his blog for other cool dollhouses.

Here’s the wooden rack before I started:

I cleaned it up and painted the roof and walls, then pulled together some craft paper and felt to make flooring/carpets. I used one sheet of paper and made a template for all the flooring on the bottom level:

For the top floor, I just laid one large sheet of craft paper and folded/cut it to fit. I attached all the floors and sealed them using Mod Podge.

To decorate the interior walls and give the house a bit more dimension, I grabbed my IKEA catalog and clipped some images, then pasted them to the wood with Mod Podge. So, when you peer inside, it looks like the house has closets, bookshelves and some artwork hanging on the walls!

I fashioned some little furniture with cardboard and scrap fabric and some bottle caps.

Like all well-loved homes, this one will remain a work in progress. I’m curious which of her toys B will move in (her Little People maybe?). We might need to get her some of the Plan Toys dolls–they’re the perfect size.