How to Make a Shoebox Dollhouse

Homemade shoebox dollhouses are lightweight and can be mounted on walls for easy play access. With the right supplies, these dollhouses can be elegant and complicated. Follow these steps to make one.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Popsicle sticks
• Glue

House Construction

1. Decide how many rooms you want the dollhouse to have and what order you would like them to be in.

2. Use a box cutter to cut one side off of each box. On the opposite side, cut any windows.

3. Decorate the inside of the boxes. This can be done after you construct the house, but doing it now allows for much easier access.

4. Place the boxes in the order you want the rooms to go to ensure that you are satisfied with the layout. After you are satisfied, you can begin to glue the boxes together.

5. Cut the side off of the discarded box tops.

6. Glue the flat lids to the top of the upper story boxes.

7. Take two of the remaining tops, and lean them against each other over the house. This creates a vaulted ceiling and an attic space above the rooms.

8. Glue and tape the ceiling pieces into place.

Outside Decoration

9. Take the popsicle sticks, and use the box cutter to cut off the round edges.

10. Glue the cut popsicle sticks to the side of the house, lining them up horizontally. This creates a wood siding appearance for the dollhouse.

11. Glue uncut popsicles to the roof in a vertical fashion, allowing them to hang over the bottom.

Tips & Warnings

• Bathrooms can be made smaller than other rooms by taking an extra lid and dividing the room. One part can be the bathroom while another can be a closet or other small space usually found in a home.
• You can decorate the inside of the shoebox dollhouse with many different supplies, including paints and scraps of fabric.
• You can dress up the windows from the outside using vertical popsicle sticks. When glued outside the side edges of the windows, they appear as open shutters.