How to Make Doll Houses Out of Card Board Boxes

Cardboard boxes can become a fantasy world in miniature.

Doll houses have been among the most popular toys for hundreds of years, and not just for children. Many adults are avid doll house collectors willing to pay hundreds of dollars for antique doll houses. Doll house furniture is available from specialist manufacturers; is is often a perfect replica of the real thing with painstaking attention to detail. More modest dollhouses are easy to make out of cardboard boxes and represent an ideal introduction into the world of miniature interior design.

Things You'll Need

• Corrugated cardboard boxes
• Pencil
• Ruler
• Craft knife
• Scissors
• Packing tape
• Paint or spray paint (optional)

Instructions

Make Floors

1. Seal the cardboard box closed with packing tape and lay the box down so that the sealed sides are at the top and bottom. Cut away one long side of the box by drawing a square half an inch in from all the edges. This opening will be at the back of the house to allow access to the interior for decorating and positioning the furniture. Either cut the whole square out for a permanent access hole, or make a hinged flap by cutting along the top and bottom, then scoring the top edge so the back wall can be closed when furniture and dolls are inside.

2. Draw three squares to form the windows and the door on the side opposite the access opening. Cut out the window squares completely, but cut the door only on the top, bottom and one of the long sides. Score the other long side and fold the flap outward to make an opening and closing door.

3. Add a second story by taping another cardboard box of the same size on top of the first box. Leave one of the box's end flaps open to form the roof. Cut another access hole in the back, and cut squares for windows. Omit the door.

Make the Roof

1. Make slanted cuts along the corners of the small side flaps on both sides of the top cardboard box. Tape the long flaps to the slanted small flaps so that a sloping roof is formed. The very top of the roof will still be open at this stage.

2. Seal the hole in the top of the roof by cutting one of the pieces of cardboard saved from the access openings to fit the opening in the roof. Tape this onto the top of the sloping roof to seal the house.

3. Decorate the outside of the house by painting a single color or by drawing on bricks for the walls and tiles on the roof.

Tips & Warnings

• A chimney can be added by scoring and folding a small sheet of cardboard into four sections, then taping it closed and gluing or taping it to the roof.

• Instead of painting the outside of the house, use stone-effect spray paint to create more realistic walls.

• If using a spray paint to decorate the house, make sure the area is well ventilated to avoid breathing in fumes.

References

• Artists Helping Children: How to Make Cardboard Doll Houses from Boxes
• Dollhouse Collectables: Antique Dollhouse, A Passionate Hobby

Resources

• Let's Build a Doll House
• A History of Dollhouses and Furnishings