How to Make People & Furniture for a Shoebox House

A house is not a home until it has residents and something to sit on. Craft your own miniature people and furniture for a shoebox house. Repurposing a shoebox into a dollhouse is a fun and inexpensive project, and you can make it even more challenging by fabricating dolls and furniture. One way to make people is to paint wooden pegs, which are used in woodworking. Build furniture from used packaging materials and scrap fabric.

Things You'll Need

• 3-inch wooden pegs
• Black, red, brown, yellow and blue acrylic paint
• Fine artist paintbrush
• Aspirin box
• Tape
• Scissors
• Brown and purple construction paper
• Ruler
• Paper berry carton
• Glue

Instructions

People

1. Paint two 1/8-inch dots for eyes onto the center of the round part of the 3-inch wooden peg, using black acrylic paint and a fine artist paintbrush. Place them side-by-side and approximately 1/2-inch apart.

2. Paint a 1/4-inch wide heart shaped lips underneath the eyes using red acrylic paint. With the brown acrylic, paint hair around the top and the back of the round part of the peg. Add brown paint on each side of the painted face.

3. Add yellow paint to the top half of the straight part of the wooden peg. This is the shirt for the person.

4. Paint the bottom and the rest of the straight part of the peg with blue acrylic. Let it dry before using it.

5. Repeat Steps 1-4 to form more peg people for the shoebox house. Experiment with different colors of hair and clothing.

Furniture

1. Tape up an old aspirin box to craft a bed. Cut out a headboard and footboard by cutting brown construction paper into two rectangles that are 3-by-6-inches, using your scissors. Depending of the size of your aspirin boxes, adjust the size of your rectangles.

2. Place one rectangle vertically at one end of the aspirin box for the headboard. Glue it into place. Glue the other rectangle at the opposite end of the box for the footboard.

3. Measure the distance between the headboard and the footboard with a ruler. Cut a strip of purple construction paper with this measurement. Wrap it around the box and glue it in place for the sheets of the bed.

4. Cut a paper berry carton in half to form a sofa for the house. Place one half upside down. Squeeze glue on the smooth top. Press the bottom of the other half on top so that the two bottoms meet.

5. Turn the box around so the area where the two sections meet is open toward you. Trim the sides and the top so it looks like a sofa shape, with arms rests and a tall back.

Tips & Warnings

• Create a rug with red construction paper. Cut it into an oval shape and put it on the floor of the shoebox house.

• Keep small boxes and containers for other furniture for the house.

• People and furniture can be constructed from polymer clay, which is a vinyl-based substance. It hardens in a conventional oven after you shape it.

References

• This Little Project: How to make Wooden and Peg People (The Village People)
• Family Fun: The Perfect Dollhouse: The Living Room
• First Palette: Miniature Bedroom