How to Build a Cardboard House

Children's bedrooms can quickly become disaster areas. A cardboard house can serve as a play area and storage for all the toys that might otherwise clutter the room. Here's how to make a cardboard house for toy storage.

Things You'll Need

• Large cardboard appliance box
• Duct Tape
• Pencil or black marker
• Left over house paint
• Wallpaper samples
• Leftover fabric from sewing and craft projects
• String
• 16 buttons
• A throw rug
• Play house toys, kitchen utensils, dishes
• Small table and chairs
• Shoe boxes
• Cardboard tubes

Instructions

Make a Cardboard Playhouse

1. Stand box upright and open top flaps. Bring the two longer flaps together to make a peak. Tape with duct tape.

2. Pull one of the short flaps up to meet the other two flaps. Using a pencil or black marker, trace the peak of the roof on the flap and then cut away the excess so that you have a nice triangle roof corner at that end. Tape with duct tape. Repeat for the other flap. You should now have a box with a peaked roof, closed at both ends. For an example picture of the roof template, see the resource section below: Roof Template.

3. Once your roof is taped in place, Decide where to put your door, and how many windows you want. You can cut a standard rectangle shaped door, or be fancy and try an arched doorway. Leave one side of your door uncut so that it can be opened and closed as needed, or cut it away entirely for an "always open" house.

4. Cut out your windows, once you have chosen a style: square, arched, rectangular, or even shuttered. For a shuttered window, draw a square on the outside of the house, wherever you want your window to be. Make a dotted line down the center and across the top and bottom. Do not cut the two sides. These will be folded back to make your shutters.

5. Paint your house with leftover house paint, or other acrylic paint. Use brushes or a paint sprayer, whichever you prefer. Be sure to have adequate ventilation, or paint the house outside. If you can smell paint fumes, you do not have adequate ventilation. Use a drop cloth to prevent overspray or drips from ruining anything.

6. Decorate your house as you wish. Use wallpaper samples, crayons, markers and paint. Make curtains using fabric scraps, and put a rag rug and a small table and chairs in the play house.

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish
• Build a Playhouse for Your Toddler
• Playhouse Plans
• Roof Peak Template See Images 2,3, and 5