How I Created Our Home's Mini-Me
2 Days
Easy
When we were little, my mom created several dollhouses for my sister and me. She bought them unfinished, and then meticulously decorated and furnished them, using real carpet, tile, and linoleum remnants on the floors, and using fabric to create wallpaper for the walls. Those dollhouses were our prized possessions and I always envisioned creating a similar dollhouse for my own daughter someday.
Since I have two sons, I kind of assumed that there wouldn't be any dollhouses in my future, so imagine my surprise when - just a couple of weeks before Christmas - my little boys told me a dollhouse was "the only thing they wanted!!" Both boys love looking at photos of our house on my blog, so I decided to personalize the dollhouse to look just like our home - but with Christmas just around the corner, it had to be quick and easy.
I started with an off-the-shelf, primary colored dollhouse like this one...
Since I have two sons, I kind of assumed that there wouldn't be any dollhouses in my future, so imagine my surprise when - just a couple of weeks before Christmas - my little boys told me a dollhouse was "the only thing they wanted!!" Both boys love looking at photos of our house on my blog, so I decided to personalize the dollhouse to look just like our home - but with Christmas just around the corner, it had to be quick and easy.
I started with an off-the-shelf, primary colored dollhouse like this one...
Then I started making easy changes using stain, paint, contact paper, and sticker paper. I even managed to create 7 dollhouse rugs that look just like the rugs in under 30 minutes.
The real question, or course, is how did I do in my goal to make the dollhouse look like our home?! Check out the full blog post (at the link below) for the details of each and every change I made, and side by side comparisons of each room in our home and the dollhouse, including for more detailed close up shots of each space!
It's been over a year since I created this dollhouse for my boys, and they still play with it weekly! I'm so glad they love it!!
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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2 of 33 comments
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What a wonderful idea! A dollhouse like that is a perfect opportunity to verbalize what actually goes on in the home and exercising the wildest imagination about what MIGHT go on in the home. I'm sure it is an excellent play and learning opportunity - as witnessed by it's continued use!
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such and awesome job. I especially love your enthusiasm for making a doll house for boys. Toys like this help make good future daddies. And they're invaluable for role playing and discovering what's on their minds as you listen to their conversations between the 'family members'. I just love every aspect of this.
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