Dollhouse Decorating - Part 1
Last time, we made a dollhouse. Now it's time to furnish and accessorize it! This is your opportunity to let your imagination go. You can follow our ideas, or use them as inspiration for your own. We've more or less divided the article into categories, for your convenience; we've also divided this article into two, so that it won't take you forever to read or download it!
YOU WILL NEED:
This list is extremely partial; there are many more supplies mentioned in the body of the article. However, these are basic items that you really need just in order to get started.
Craft glue
Fabric glue (not a must but extremely helpful)
Lots of magazines (to cut out pictures)
Scrap material of all kinds
Toothpicks or small wooden dowels
Needle and thread
Matchboxes or other small boxes
Poster paint and brushes
INSTRUCTIONS:
First we'll go room by room; then we'll add accessories that can be appropriate for more than one type of room.
Living Room Furniture
First, make sure that the walls are decorated the way you want them. You can use textured contact paper, or even classy-looking wrapping paper, for the walls. If you prefer, paint them your desired color and let dry. While they're drying, pick out small pictures from magazines. Create a picture frame from cut matchsticks (be sure to discard the flammable end!). Glue the matchsticks to the picture (you can paint them first if you like), and then "hang" the picture on the wall.
Matchboxes are great for couches. Take four matchboxes, and glue them together side by side, in pairs. Then glue one pair on top of the other. For the back of the couch, glue two more matchboxes side by side, and place them on top of the first four, toward the back. For padding, use cotton or batting; glue it to the seat and back of the couch. Cut a piece of material large enough to cover the entire couch, and glue it on top of the cotton or batting. If you don't have materials for padding, don't worry; you can just cover the couch with material, as is.
If you want a coffee table, cut a piece of cardboard to the desired size and cover with contact or wrapping paper (I like to use paper with a marble design). For the legs, you can cut four small squares of Styrofoam and paint them brown, then glue to the cardboard. You can also use matchsticks cut in half, but then you'll need blue tack to stick it to the floor.
If coffee tables are not your thing, you can make a round corner table in instead. Use the little round plastic that comes with takeout pizza. You can either paint it or cover it with a "floor-length" tablecloth. Cover the tabletop with plastic wrap. Cut a piece of material to the desired size, and place over the covered tabletop. Spray the material with hairspray (it should be damp), and then arrange the tablecloth in whichever shape you like. Let dry. If you don't have any round pizza inserts, you can do the same thing with toilet paper rolls cut down to desired size.
For a wall unit, get out your magazines again. Look for a picture of a wall unit that is significantly larger than the couch and table, yet small enough to fit into the room. Glue the picture to a box of matching size; if you don't have one, cut part of a shoebox cover. Stick the wall unit to the floor with glue or double-sided tape. If you want a piano in the living room, you can use the same idea with a cut-out picture of a piano.
Bedroom Furniture
For beds, use matchboxes, shoebox lids, or if you know someone who smokes, ask them for cigarette boxes. Cut or glue together to desired size. For very simple bedding, just glue a small square of batting or cotton to the head of the bed, then cover the whole bed with material. If you want to get a little fancier, you can simulate actual linens by following these simple steps:
1) Find a few pieces of matching or coordinating material
2) Cut one piece of material to the bed's exact size, and glue it to the bed (this is the fitted sheet).
3) For a pillow: Cut a small square of batting. Using that square as a guide, cut two pieces of material that are a little bigger than the batting on all sides (enough for a small seam allowance). Place the material pieces right sides together, leaving one small side open. Either hand or machine-stitch all the way around from one side of the opening to the other. Clip the corners, and turn right side out. Now insert the batting through the opening, and slip-stitch closed for a gorgeous doll pillow!
4) For a blanket and/or bedspread: Cut a piece of fabric large enough to fit over the entire bed. If you want the blanket to double as a bedspread, cut it long enough to cover the bed on all sides, to the floor. To make it look a bit prettier, sew a small hem all around.
5) If you want to get really fancy, you can sew a dust ruffle for the bed. Cut a piece of material long enough to go all around the bed and have a few inches left over. Using your sewing machine, run a basting stitch all around one edge, leaving threads to trail at each end. Pull the bottom threads to form gathers, then glue on to the bed before you glue the top sheet.
For the master bedroom, you can make headboards by cutting cardboard in whichever shape strikes your fancy, and painting it in an appropriate color. Then glue to the back of the bed.
If you want night tables, you can use the same ideas we mentioned for corner tables (see the section on living room furniture, above).
For bedroom closets, cut out pictures from magazines or catalogs, then paste them onto boxes or cut shoebox lids. Attach to the wall and floor with glue or double-stick tape. For realistic looking closets, do the same but just make sure that the box has all four sides. Paste the picture of the closet onto the box. Using a craft knife, (carefully!!) cut around the farthest closet doors, being sure to leave one side uncut (for the hinges). Now you can open and close the closet! If your doll clothes have hangers, you can put a wooden dowel into the closet by securing it with blue tack on each side. Now your dolls can hang up their clothes!
That's it for today; we'll continue next time with kitchen and bathroom accessories, and more!!