A beautiful dollhouse is one of the best gifts for a little girl, which will bring a lot of positive emotions. When making it yourself, you will be able to take into account many important points, which will make it even more interesting for the child. It is best to create a dollhouse from plywood, since it has all the properties necessary for the product.
Pros of DIY
The advantages of making a dollhouse with your own hands from plywood include the following:
- A product made according to an individual drawing involves the use of its own dimensions, design and functionality. The main advantage of such a toy is its uniqueness and the ability to take into account the child’s wishes when arranging and decorating rooms, choosing layout and furniture, accessories and decor.
- The house can have the necessary and convenient size, which is selected taking into account the free space in the children's room and the wishes of the child. This can be a tabletop or floor-mounted design.
- You can involve the child in decorating and arranging the interior space even at the stage of drawing development - joint work brings the child together, allows him to reveal the creative potential of the child, teaches him to make independent decisions and bear responsibility for them.
- Working with plywood is a creative and fun process that the whole family can participate in.
If you make it yourself, you can give the house any appearance.
Original author's models of doll houses
The classic model, similar to the one discussed earlier, has two floors and a standard arrangement of rooms. But today there are a huge variety of ideas for arranging and decorating houses.
Two-story house with a terrace
To create such a model, you will need to make changes to the drawing:
- A sketch of the auxiliary room is made for the standard frame.
- The extension itself can be used as a garage, and instead of the second tier, a summer terrace is formed.
The changes, of course, will also affect the process of making blanks. You will need to create:
- Three additional walls with windows and garage doors.
- Shed roof for extension.
- Relief fencing for the terrace.
- Furniture: tables, toy sofa, decorative plants.
Creating this model will require enough time and skill.
Dollhouse inside a wooden stump
This author's idea is distinguished by original material and an interesting approach to work.
A wooden stump is used as a base and frame, the core of which is cut out. I treat internal surfaces with antiseptic solutions, antipyretics and antifungal agents. It is planned to retain several wooden beams to form the floors. Also, according to the design idea, internal lighting is provided along the upper tier. The installation of the furniture row and the arrangement of the premises is carried out individually, depending on the master’s ideas.
Today, the dollhouse has acquired a new status - not only a toy, but also an original decorative element. Thanks to this fact, new manufacturing techniques, interesting design ideas and original models are being developed in art. You can see photos of the most interesting options for dollhouses on sites on practical needlework, and if you wish, you can create them yourself.
Advantages of plywood
Any materials can be used to make a dollhouse yourself, but plywood is used more often, as it has a number of advantages:
- A whole category of toys for children are made of wood, in particular plywood, due to its pleasant to the touch, warm surface.
- The light weight of the material allows you to create large structures that even a child can move from place to place.
- Plywood is a durable material, so structures made from it are reliable and durable.
- The material is affordable, which allows you to make a toy no worse than the one sold in the store, but for much less money.
- Working with plywood is easy, it is easy to process and does not require the use of special tools or professional skills.
- After assembly, the house can be painted or left as is, covered with transparent varnish - the surface of the plywood is smooth, with a pleasant natural pattern and shade.
Plywood has an attractive appearance and natural shade
Note! E0 grade plywood is an environmentally friendly and safe material. This type of material is used in the manufacture of goods for children.
Preparatory work
At the first stage, you will need to decide on the dimensions of the structure. To do this, you should take into account the size of the doll the child is playing with - the toy should fit freely at full height with a margin of a few centimeters to the ceiling. There should also be enough space for arranging toy furniture - a crib, a table with chairs, kitchen furniture.
Houses for Barbie
The number of floors in the house depends on the size of the toys and the height of the child. If the figures do not exceed 20 cm in height, then the house can have up to 3 floors. If the structure is assembled for a standard Barbie doll, then it will not be possible to make more than 2 floors - then it is better to arrange the rooms horizontally.
Floor-mounted 3-storey house for playing with small figures
Having decided on the concept, you can begin to develop the project in more detail by drawing a design drawing to scale on a piece of paper.
Project details
Drawing
The drawing of the details of the house must be done to scale - you can draw it on a sheet of paper or in a special computer program. This will allow you to reflect the dimensions of the product, the number and sizes of parts, and determine the methods and locations of fastenings. Also, at the stage of creating the project, you should decide on the internal layout, shape and design of the house. This stage of preparatory work should not be skipped, as it allows you to determine the required amount of material and the sequence of assembly of the product.
Basic elements of a dollhouse
Note! To make a house, you can use a standard drawing. It is worth remembering that when changing (increasing, decreasing) one size, a proportional change in the remaining sizes follows.
When developing a drawing yourself, you will need to consider the following:
- The shape of the rear wall is a rectangle or pentagon, which allows you to make a gable roof.
- To make the assembly process easier, the base is made slightly wider than the space inside.
- The ceilings of the upper floors should have smaller dimensions than those at the base.
- The main structural elements also include sidewalls, interior partitions and roof parts.
Sketch diagram of the house
Cardboard housing
A budget housing for toys can be made from ordinary cardboard. The material is easy to work with, it can be painted and deformed. Craft materials:
- corrugated cardboard;
- plain and thick colored paper;
- development of parts - windows, doors, roof, stairs;
- glue gun;
- scissors, stationery knife;
- acrylic paints;
- pieces of fabric.
The sketch is applied to a large sheet of cardboard and cut out. If there are only small pieces of paper, then the walls, roof, floor and ceiling are made separately. There is no need to make the front wall, otherwise it will be uncomfortable for the girl to play. They fasten the frame of the future house. Sometimes it is inconvenient to bend the cardboard, then to facilitate the process, small grooves are made at the bend points with a ruler. Be sure to install partitions between rooms in the house. They will not only divide the home into parts, but will also play the role of load-bearing structures.
Windows are cut out in the walls according to the patterns, and doorways are cut out in the partitions. The staircase to the second floor can be made from cardboard folded into an accordion. For supports and railings, use wooden skewers or pieces of thick paper coated with glue. The interior surface of the house is covered with colored paper, decorating the walls, ceiling and floor. It is advisable to also make all furniture from cardboard. To do this, draw drawings of each item, cut out parts from them and fasten them with glue. The interior is complemented with textiles.
If the toy will be located against the wall, then there is no need to make a back cover. The roof can also be stationary - just draw its outline with acrylic or black insulating tape. In a similar way, they decorate a house from office folders. They are covered with fancy wrapping paper, printed furniture is attached to each page. The folder is opened, placed vertically, and the remaining interior items are placed next to it.
Tools and material
Making a plywood house is carried out in several stages. Particular attention should be paid to acquiring the necessary tools and materials.
List of materials and tools:
- Plywood sheets, the number of which is calculated in accordance with the drawing, taking into account the size and number of parts. The resulting value is rounded up. On average, it takes 3 sheets of plywood to make a dollhouse.
- The roof of the house is made of plywood, corrugated or regular cardboard.
- To ensure strong fixation of plywood parts, use quick-drying wood glue.
- For temporary and additional fixation of parts, you can use mounting tape.
- Sandpaper is used to sand parts. Particular attention should be paid to the ends of the elements.
- The parts are cut using an electric jigsaw.
- The parts are fixed when assembling the house using self-tapping screws.
- At the stage of preparing the material for cutting, you will need a ruler, tape measure, and pencil.
Required Tools
After assembling the house, it needs to be decorated. To do this, use scraps and other remnants of finishing materials: wallpaper, film, colored paper, pieces of linoleum, fabric, felt, laminate. Window openings are filled with transparent plastic or plexiglass.
House design
After manufacturing, the frame should be decorated with various materials, and doll accessories should be placed in the rooms. At this stage, no instructions are required; you can decorate the house to your liking. However, some useful tips can help:
- the walls and floor of a wooden house do not have to be painted or covered with decorative elements;
- for swing windows and doors, special small metal door hinges should be used;
- Windows should be decorated with sheets of fabric to create curtains.
You can place your favorite dolls and other toys in the finished house. Making a house from plywood is not difficult, and a child’s joy from owning such a toy is priceless. A beautiful dollhouse will also become a real decoration for a child's room.
Step-by-step instructions for making and assembling a plywood house
The sequence of making a dollhouse from plywood is as follows.
Table 1. Making a dollhouse
| Illustration | Description |
Step 1 | In accordance with the drawing, the dimensions of the parts to be cut are applied to the surface of the plywood. |
Step 2 | Fragments of large size and simple shape are cut out on a machine. |
Step 3 | In accordance with the drawing, the required number of floors is cut out. |
Step 4 | To cut out smaller parts, use a jigsaw |
Step 5 | The junction of two roof elements (slopes) on one side is taped with tape. |
Step 6 | The parts are turned over and the ends are coated with glue at the points of contact. The parts are pressed and installed in the required position. |
Step 7 | Glue the pediment. |
Step 8 | A jigsaw is used to make window and door openings. |
Step 9 | To insert a jigsaw file and start cutting out the window opening, first drill a small hole. |
Step 10 | You will have to drill a hole on all sides of the window opening. |
Step 11 | The inside of window and door openings is sanded using sandpaper. |
Step 12 | For large parts, use a grinding machine. |
Step 13 | Holes for self-tapping screws are drilled using a countersink drill so that the screw head is subsequently recessed into the solid part. |
Step 14 | The parts are painted in the selected colors. |
Step 15 | The house is assembled using ordinary self-tapping screws, the heads of which are subsequently painted to match the color of the part. |
Note! The method of fastening plywood parts depends on its thickness and the size of the elements. When the material is thin and the house itself is not large, the elements can be fixed using wood glue or using special grooves.
Assembling a small house
Video - How to make a plywood dollhouse
How to make a doll house with your own hands from cardboard?
Parts for a doll house can be cut out of thick cardboard, perhaps all from the same boxes of household appliances. Here you definitely need a drawing, for example, like this:
Cardboard house diagram for Barbie.
This house will look like this.
You will need:
- cardboard
- scheme
- pencil and ruler
- glue, tape, electrical tape
- stationery knife
- paints, felt-tip pens, old wallpaper, oilcloth, corrugated paper for decorating the interior and exterior of a house
Three-story toy house made of cardboard.
- The drawing is drawn or found on the Internet and printed. The details of the house are cut out.
- Make markings on cardboard. It is better to cut cardboard parts not with scissors, but with a knife, then their edges will be smooth.
- Sections that will not join together can be trimmed with tape or tape.
- The cut out parts of the house are assembled into grooves or glued together.
- Create the interior decoration of the house. If mom and dad are creative, they can paint the house by hand.
A simple cardboard house.
Cardboard house for toys.
Cardboard house.
A house made of cardboard, assembled into grooves.
Cardboard house for small toys with a drawing.
Features of product decoration
Paint the dollhouse with environmentally friendly paint, such as acrylic. You can get a bright, rich or soft, pastel shade by adding tinting paste to the base composition.
Material for painting plywood
After the house is assembled, you can begin to decorate the interior walls, floors, and arrange plywood doll furniture.
Internal filling of the dollhouse
To make the structure more realistic, it is electrified using autonomous lamps powered by batteries, which are secured with double-sided tape.
Autonomous lamps
Plywood growth house
This design can be used both outdoors and in the apartment. The house is easy to assemble, literally within 5 minutes it can also be easily disassembled into convenient fragments that can be stored in the pantry.
On a hot day, such a house on the site will provide comfortable conditions for playing outdoors.
Play structure for home
In essence, it is an enlarged copy of a dollhouse. Therefore, its production takes place using the same technology.
Table 2. Step-by-step instructions
| Illustration | Description |
Step 1 | First, a drawing is made with details: determining the dimensions, shapes, number of parts, fixation points. |
Step 2 | Patterns of individual fragments are made on a scale of 1:1 and transferred to sheets of plywood. After this the material is cut out. |
Step 3 | The parts are polished. |
Step 4 | If necessary, parts are painted. |
Step 5 | The house is being assembled. |
Particular attention should be paid to the interior decoration of the house. The design may provide for a bench and a folding table, or a shelf on the wall. Furniture can also be portable plastic or wooden.
When operating the house outdoors, it is necessary that the base be dry, so the structure is placed on a podium or dry grass
Plywood is often used in the furniture industry and for the manufacture of a large number of boxes of various sizes and other very beautiful and functional crafts. What plywood products can you make with your own hands? Read in the special article.
Inside the house, you can lay a soft mat or mattress on the floor, on which the child will feel comfortable.
Assembly of the finished structure
The frame of the house is assembled sequentially, focusing on the chosen scheme:
- Install the floor and walls.
- Next, install the ceiling (if provided for by this model).
- Install the roof and additional elements.
Some types of houses do not require such detailed assembly. When installing a tea and toy house, the main emphasis is on the outdoor decor. A minimum of attention remains for finishing the interior floors.
Screws and strong glue are used as fasteners, and for additional strength, metal corners are used along the internal contour.
