How to Make Furniture From Cardboard Cores

Dollhouse furniture can be made from cardboard core material.

Dollhouse furniture makes the dollhouse much more fun. Unfortunately, fine dollhouse furniture can be very expensive, much like full-sized furniture. Many dollhouse owners choose to make their own furniture using everyday household items like cardboard, stir sticks, foam, batting and left-over fabrics. These items can make sturdy furniture pieces with which your children will have fun playing for a long time to come.

Things You'll Need

• Tape measure
• Cardboard
• Artist knife
• White glue
• 1/2-inch foam
• Dowel
• Small saw
• Bookbinder's tape
• Fabric
• Beads

Instructions

1. Use the scale of your dollhouse and dolls to determine the length of your dollhouse sofa. Most standard home sofas are around 7 feet in length. If your scale was 1 inch, then your doll sofa would be 7 inches long. Cut two pieces of sturdy corrugated cardboard to the length and width you want for your sofa-base.

2. Apply white glue to one side of one sofa base cardboard and place the other cardboard on top to create a double thickness. Place a paperback book on the cardboard while it dries. Cut two pieces of cardboard for the sofa-back. Usually the back is a little wider than the base. Glue your backs together in the same way you did the base.

3. Cut four arm pieces the same width as the sofa base. The arm plus the dowel on top should be less than the height of the sofa-back. Glue your arms together into two sets. After the arms dry, cut dowel wood to the same length and glue the dowels to the top ends of the arms. Place bookbinder's tape over the dowel to help hold it in place. The dowel should be 1/16 inch wider in diameter than the thickness of the arm cardboard. Push the dowel so that it overhangs the outside of the arm.

4. Cut a piece of bookbinder's tape the length of the sofa base. Place the tape sticky-side up on the table. Position the back of the sofa length 1/4 inch over the edge of the tape and press it down. Place the sofa back upright. Align the edges and press the edge of the back into the tape. Fold the remaining tape upward along the back bottom edge of the sofa back. Cut a second piece of tape the same length. Fold the tape in half along its length with the sticky side out. Position the fold at the joint where the seat base and back touch. Hold the back against the base while pressing the tape up the front of the seat back. Use this same technique to attach each outward-facing arm. Keep the curve of the dowel rods to the outside.

5. Cut foam to fit the inside of the seat-back. Paint the inside of the seat-back with white glue and press the foam into the glue.

6. Cut fabric two times the height of the seat-back plus two times the depth of the sofa-base plus 4 inches. Cut the width of the fabric based on the width of the sofa-base plus 1 inch. Fold the fabric under 1/4 inch along the width, and then iron the fabric. Paint the inside of the seat-back foam with white glue. Position the ironed fold over the joint where the seat back and base join. Center the fabric so that 1/2 inch overhangs each side. Tip the sofa on its back and rest a book on the area until the glue dries.

7. Paint the top and back of the sofa with glue. Pull the fabric tight and smooth out any bubbles. Paint the bottom, front and top of the seat-base with glue and stretch the fabric around all sides. Trim and fold the joint edge so that it will overlap the beginning fabric. Add extra glue along the crease. Allow the glue to dry.

8. Apply glue to the side of the seat-back. Fold the top edge down. Fold the back edge toward the front. Trim the fabric if it is too long. Fold the front edge toward the back. Make a second fold to turn the raw edge under. Add more glue over the top of the fabric pieces already glued down. Hold the edge tight to the end until the glue is dry. Repeat this for the second side.

9. Trim off any extra fabric along the arms, seat-back and base using an artist knife after the fabric is glued in place. Cut fabric the depth of the sofa-base plus 1/2 inch for each arm. The length should be long enough to cover the inside, top, outside and bottom of the arm plus 1/2 inch. Fold the width under 1/4 inch, and then iron the fabric. Paint glue over the arm. Press the folded area into the joint between the arm and sofa-base so that it overlaps the existing fabric and makes a clean edge. Wrap the arm making a strong crease where the dowel juts out. Smooth the outside of the arm, fold the remaining fabric to the underside and glue. Repeat for the second arm. Glue and trim the excess fabric at the front and back.

10. Trace the profile of the front of the arm onto chipboard and cut out two pieces. Cut fabric large enough to cover the chipboard and wrap to the underside. Glue the fabric to the chipboard. Make small cuts to ease the fabric around the corners. Glue the chipboard face to the front of each arm.

11. Cut cardboard to fit the size of the sofa cushion. Cut foam the same size. Glue the foam to the cardboard. Cut fabric large enough to wrap the cushion. Glue to the back underside so that the fabric is tidy and covers all of the cardboard. Glue oval wood beads to the underside of the sofa to look like bun feet.

Tips & Warnings

• You can trim the sofa with trims, beads, fringe, pillows and other accessories to make it look more real.

References

• Lets Build A Dollhouse: Let's Build a Dollhouse Sofa