Collapsible Dollhouse

I thought I would share something that took a good chunk of my time prior to Christmas.  My granddaughter wanted a dollhouse for Christmas.  They live about 900 miles away and don't have enough room in the car to bring home a full-sized doll house, so after spotting this great idea I decided to make something similar.  Instead of using three-ringed binders for the structure, I went with thrifted double album covers.  I got them for 10¢ each.

 

I needed four double album covers for the project, and a couple of single covers as well.  The first thing I did was to place white duct tape down the outside and inside spine of each double cover, making sure to fold the tape over the top edges.  I then placed two covers together and taped along the top and right edges.  I left the bottom edge untaped for the time being.  I did this with all four covers so that, when finished, they were all connected together and would create four rooms when standing up and open (see one of the following pictures.) 

The next step (which is an addition to the original idea) was to add a floor to each room.  I did this by taking apart the single covers, cutting them down slightly, and taping them to the bottom of each double cover.  I taped them along the top edge (of the floor) to the front and the back.  After taping, I folded the floor up and closed the cover to make sure it was going to fit okay.  If the fit was okay, I finished taping around the rest of the floor edges.  I did the same to each "room" of the doll house.

When I was all finished taping, it looked like this with all the edges covered with duct tape.

The next step was to decide on what scrapbooking paper I was going to use for the walls and floors of each room.  I adhered them all with mod podge, letting each room dry before moving onto the next.

The finished doll house folds like this when its not being played with.

Before I go further, I thought I would mention that I entertained the idea of cutting 12 x 12 squares of masonite for the doll house, which would make it pretty sturdy.  I opted for the album covers because they were recycled and lightweight.  But, they do warp a little when applying mod podge to them.  So do what you want with that little bit of information!

Anyway, now for an overall tour of the house before I get into more of the furniture details.

The bathroom and bedroom.

The bedroom and living room.

The living room and kitchen.

The kitchen and bathroom.

The bathroom started with these thrifted pieces...a tub-shaped soap dish, a small ceramic dish, and a candle holder.  I didn't have to do anything to the tub.  I spray painted the candle holder white and glued the dish on top to create the sink.  I used E-6000 for all of the furniture gluing.

I used a vintage crocheted pot holder for a rug.  All of the images were found on the internet, resized, printed, cut, and mod podged into place.

The family room was created from an old wooden box, two candle holders, and an acrylic dessert cup. (I didn't end up using the wooden piece...probably because I couldn't find it at the time!)  The lamp was easy.  All I had to do was turn the dessert cup upside down and glue it to the top of the candle stick.  The ottoman was just a matter of gathering a circle of scrap leather around some batting and gluing in place.  The couches were a bit trickier.  I removed the hinges, ran the front edge of the lid through the table saw to barely cut of the front edge.  I had to run the base of the box through the table saw to make it the same height as the lid, then cut off the front edge and put a new bottom on it.  Once they were the same size, I glued some decorative wood pieces to the bottom for feet.  I completed them by making little cushions and pillows.

The drapes, plasma tv, fireplace, basket, and plants are all images from internet.

The bedroom began with a wire napkin holder, picture frame, and air freshener.  I sprayed the bed pieces white.  I then drilled holes through the wooden frame and wired it to the head of the bed.  (I actually turned the napkin holder upside down.)  I removed the board of the picture frame, drilled small holes spaced alternately, then covered it with batting and green fabric.  I then pushed white brads through the fabric and holes and secured them to the back.  This created a tufted look for the headboard.

I removed the air freshener liquid from the lamp, made a mattress, pillows, and cover for the bed, and mod podged some coordinating paper to a cute little trunk.  I pulled a thrifted doily from my stash to use as a rug.  Once again, the images were from the internet.

The kitchen was a lot of fun.  The furniture was pretty easy.  It consisted of four wooden salt and pepper shakers (two not shown), a pedestal candle base, and a ceramic trivet.  I glued the trivet to the candle base to create the table.  If you're worried about it breaking, you could use a cute lid from a metal canister instead.  I cut the tops off of the shakers.  Originally, I was going to make a padded cover for them, but went super simple by gluing a canning lid to the top of each and adding a scalloped paper medallion to the top with mod podge.

The fun part was finding all the cute images to glue to the walls.  Another thrifted doily makes a cute rug.

An aerial view of the kitchen gives you an idea of how the house stands when its open.

This project did take quite a bit of time (especially waiting for the mod podge to dry) but it was fun.  Everything but the canning lids, scrapbook paper, duct tape, and air freshener lamp was thrifted.

And, the best part is that my granddaughter loved it!

I like to link to these great parties!

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UPDATE 11/4/13:  I just received the latest issue of Romantic Country magazine which I'm happy to say includes the following article!!