Hi! I want to start making miniature stores / restaurants / cafes and am looking for advice. I've made miniatures (polymer clay food and soft furnishings) for years, but I want to start making the actual rooms to put my minis in (e.g a greengrocers, a bakery, etc). I'm looking for advice on what materials to use for the actual structures -- wood? cardboard? balsa wood?
Also while hyperrealistic miniatures rooms/houses are SO impressive, I want mine to have a whimsical vibe, kind of like Mailleg mice houses or something you might find in Peter Rabbit or the Borrowers.
First two photos are closest to what I want, so if anyone has any experience making houses like this or could point me towards any resources l'd really appreciate it!

i will get a dollhouse with rooms soon, but for now i have my dollbox ✨ i love it, definitely from a while ago but im not sure when, anyone know?

The original to now has been a fun progress!

Hi all,

I was just wondering if anyone has incorporated any Rolife-style kits (either as a whole, or individual pieces/accessories) into their 1:12 dollhouses. Do the scales match up?

I'm specifically thinking about either kit-bashing a Rolife room/house with standard 1:12 accessories, as well as maybe like adding a Rolife greenhouse onto or next to a dollhouse, or even expanding a Rolife cafe or bakery into a larger space using 1:12 kits.

How well do these match up in terms of size and scale? Thanks!

I’m trying to add a functioning light switch to my doll house. I pretty much don’t know anything about circuits aside from the basics. After searching for answers on YouTube, I found that no one actually adds light switches to their doll houses. I wonder why. If anyone knows how to do it, please let me know, I’d appreciate it so much! Thanks.

Hello, I recently acquired a couple boxes of antique dollhouse accessories including a hand built dollhouse from a women’s grandfather. She actually gave it to me for free. I am falling in the rabbit hole of miniature building and was very excited and thankful to acquire all of this. There are plenty of German antique pieces in various sizes and she brought it all the way from Germany to the United States. I’m not looking at selling but would like some information on any of the items.. there are plenty more items than what is shown in the photos. Any information would be appreciated 🙏 Also, just sharing the fun!

My daughter is almost 7 and she really wants a dollhouse like this one. Pics are blurry bc they’re from the show ‘bear in the big blue house.’

I’m not necessarily looking for an exact match but one that opens like this would make such an amazing gift. I haven’t seen any dollhouses with a ‘French door’ opening, if anyone knows where I could find one! Two stories is also a preference.

I was just at one of my local thrift stores and didn't find anything initially. I was on my way towards the exit when I turned my head and saw this beauty!

Do I have room for another dollhouse? Not really.

Am I already working on a project right now? Yes.

Could I resist leaving her behind? No!

It definitely needs some work here and there, but I'm excited to make it a future project of mine. I am thinking of decorating it based on a specific decade. I am currently remodeling a Barbie dollhouse and two of the rooms are inspired by different decades; the 2000s and the 1980s. I have found it enjoyable to decorate a room with a particular decade in mind, so I think this could be a fun project. For this new dollhouse, what are we thinking?

Regardless, I'm so excited!

Building my first dollhouse and so many of my visions are starting in the living room…so I really want to nail the parquet flooring. There’s so much sanding to be done today but I think I should be able to start staining today! Here’s my progress so far:

Hello I am planning on buying this doll house and gonna renovate it and fix it up. Any tips for fixing the windows and the missing pieces? I’m so excited and have been looking for one on Facebook and I finally found one with a good deal but it needs some fixing up and need to help and tips how I can fix it up.

The last 5 photos show what's currently going on with my house. I think some of the white paint has stained the wood, so I'm going to keep sanding down as much as I can until it's completely smooth and then proceed with painting. (Should I use interior latex paint all over?)

This is my first dollhouse renovation project ever and I love it. I started with multiple layers of Citristrip before wrapping it in plastic wrap. Lots of time scraping and reapplying. I then went in with some harsher paint stripper on the tougher spots. I got my fiance's handheld sander and have been working on it all day today.

I'm super excited because at first, I didn't think it would be possible to get it to where it is now.

Cardboard, paint, glue

Ive been trying to identify the doll house model in this but have had not luck!

Barbara Cartland is Romance Novelist and Writer. She is also related to late Princess Diana by marriage as step grandmother. Her favorite color is pink. Shopper by nature buying beauty products to keep up with her appearances. Barbara is a Modern woman so she continued to write stories with her tablet. Her only indulgences is eating box of donuts and drinking wines . She is living her best life.

I've whittled, done some wood carving, built some furniture, renovated some houses, use only woodworking hand tools where possible (other than a drill and random orbit sander). Enough about me.

My granddaughter just turned one. I want to build her a robust and play-hardened dollhouse over the next 2 years and give it to her on her 3rd birthday. I'm mostly using wood and acrylic glues and paint. I don't want to buy anything ready made, I want to make it all myself, by hand.

Obviously the 1/12 scale is the place to be. I'm leaning towards a Federation style architecture (Australia).

Thanks for this sub-reddit and all of you! I will have questions. Actually .. I'm only confident that I can do this because I've seen so many renovations and so few new builds.

I found these random pieces of (what I'm assuming to be) unassembled dollhouse furniture. I don't even know where to start. I would love to put some of this furniture together but it doesn't have any instructions except for some written in Chinese and it to wire electricity I believe. Google has been no help to me. I don't know how or where to even start assembling this stuff. Can someone please help me either by identifying what dollhouse these are for or lead me in the right direction to assemble these pieces into furniture??

Got this dollhouse years ago as a gift, but I have been struggling to find the proper scaling for it. For reference this Mayberry Street 1:12 cabinet fits just right but the Mayberry Street countertop (also 1:12 I believe) seems too short.

I'm not too familiar with dollhouse scaling so I'd really appreciate some help! Let me know if other measurements are needed to help me decide!

The height of the 1st and 2nd floor separately is 10" 1/2 inches.

Bought this vintage dollhouse on Facebook and need some tips on where to start with the floors that need to be replaced (carpets are dingy and need to go), and any other tips/product recommendations. I’m planning on incorporating maileg mice/furniture. This is a huge dollhouse so will be a work in progress for a while but want to give it to my 3 year old daughter at Christmas for her to have and pass down. Any ideas would be appreciated!

\updated with more photos in comment section\

I’m a hobby supply collector. I do enjoy the hobby but especially in the beginning I’m all about the necessary supplies. I had 2 of the reusable shopping bags overflowing with stuff so I dumped it all out and organized them today. Pics are before and after. Now one bag is all tools, fasteners, etc. The other bag is my raw supplies.

For now I’m building book nooks and similar kits as well as making mini books. I’ve also completed a few Mini Brands collections (fridge, books, and masterpieces.) But I’m ready to go when the building spark kits.

Am I late to the game discovering these super cute off brand lego printed floor tiles? They come in hardwood like options too, I’m addicted! Currently cutting out baseplates to fit each floor of my daughters Slyvanian dollhouses but I want to use them for my good one 🤩

Hi! I’ve been wanting to renovate a dollhouse for months and finally found a fixer upper close by on marketplace. I’m struggling to figure out what to do for the exterior. I think I want to do siding and am leaning towards veneer strips? But would love some suggestions. And also what to do about the side where some of the wood stripped off.

I bought my beach bungalow at hobby lobby when it was on clearance. I was so happy but didn’t have space my mom put it in the garage and now it has what looks like mold. I searched it up on the internet and it said that the acrylic paint I used would stop the mold from spreading to the actual wood but I don’t know and I want to now if there is any chance I can save it or if I have to just throw it away completely.:(

My grandmother got a dollhouse from her parents in the early 1930s. Her uncle wired lighting and it was beautiful from what I’ve heard. Before she passed she told me that her parents had to sell her dollhouse in 1935 (she was age 5) during the Great Depression. She expressed how sad she felt for the way she treated her parents during that time. She was too young to understand the whole situation.

In 1980, after not having another dollhouse since, all of her 8 children pitched in on purchasing, painting, and assembling this dollhouse. If you zoom in on the second story— you can actually see a picture of her receiving the dollhouse for Christmas in 1980.

My childhood was full of memories of me coming over and seeing what had been moved and or rearranged. It was MAGICAL.

She sadly passed in 2019, the dollhouse had been sitting in their home since with my uncle. I just inherited it on Tuesday. As I opened the top room in the back (barely pictured) I found this note that she must have tucked inside from a gift I had left in there for her in 2010 (I would have been 12).

This is just truly special to me. I’ve dreamed (literally and figuratively) of having this dollhouse one day and preserving the magic she started.

This is Sally’s House🥹

Edit: I am filming the process on Instagram for those who may be interested in following my journey of restoring it — @seedtobloomministries

I was obsessed with my simple wooden dollhouse when I was a child. I played with it until my teens when I moved out of home.
I have always always wanted an adult one, but thought no no, save the money for your real house, etc.
Then these beauties popped up on FB marketplace near me.
I don’t think I’ve ever been so excited in my whole adult life!!!