Just a quarter of a century ago, Barbie was a collectible, very expensive item. Over time, it acquired analogues that little children and teenage girls enjoyed playing with, adding to their wardrobes and inventing room interiors. This process has become more interesting since ready-made furniture for Barbie began to be produced, grouped into sets for certain rooms. Later, various sets for the collectible beauty appeared. Adults and children, using ready-made furniture and sets, supplemented with household belongings and utensils, began to furnish entire houses.
How to decide on sizes
The dolls, their houses and furnishings are smaller copies of us and our homes. And the most reliable way to make doll furniture with your own hands and not make a mistake is to measure real objects, reduce them several times, and then work with the obtained values.
Furniture for dolls - copies of our furniture
How much to reduce the actual dimensions depends on how small or large the doll is, because they range from 7 cm to 60 cm or even higher. Accordingly, they need furniture of different sizes. To determine the number by which the actual dimensions should be divided, divide the average human height in centimeters (170 cm) by the height of the doll. Let's get some number. This is how you will need to divide the dimensions of real furniture.
For example, the height of the doll is 15 cm. We calculate: 170 cm / 15 cm = 11.3. It is by this number that we divide all the parameters of “human” furniture. It is also worth saying that 14-15 cm is the most popular size among the doll population. Therefore, most of the finished furniture is made in a ratio of 1:12. We can also use the existing dimensions, at least so that we can navigate the scale of the required parts and the amount of materials.
Approximate dimensions of furniture for doll children
So, the most common doll sizes are:
- male doll 150 mm;
- female doll - 140 mm;
- child doll - 75-100 mm;
- toy baby - 65-75 mm.
If you need furniture for dolls of similar sizes, its parameters will be as follows:
- Bed: double – 160*130 mm;
- single - 160*75 mm; The size of the setting depends on the height of the inhabitants
If the toys you have are slightly larger/smaller, you don’t have to adjust the sizes. If the difference is large, you will have to increase or decrease (or you can calculate it yourself).
Dimensions of main structures
Furniture for the Barbie toy and her analogues is produced in certain sizes. As a rule, all elements are suitable for dolls 30 cm tall. Maintaining the proportionality of the situation when furnishing rooms is very important. This will help in the future to create a whole house, palace, or cottage from several sets. When choosing furniture, you should consider some nuances:
- The doll should sit smoothly on a chair, bench, armchair. The recommended width of these items is no more than 5 cm.
- Wardrobes in rooms should look proportional to a 30-centimeter Barbie doll; accordingly, the height of cabinet furniture can vary from 30 to 40 cm.
- She should lie on the bed so that her legs do not extend beyond the boundaries of the bed. The optimal length of furniture is at least 32 cm.
- Barbie will cook on a 10-12 cm stove.
- In the shower stall (30-35 cm), the doll will wash herself while standing upright. The length of the Barbie bathtub is from 15 to 31 cm.
- Plates or a tea set should fit on the dining table. The diameter of the round tabletop is about 12-15 cm.
- The height of chests of drawers and cabinets is approximately 12-15 cm. Below there can only be banquettes, shoe racks, benches, chairs, stools.
All things in the room, from the photo on the bedside table to the ornament that conveys the texture of wood on the wardrobe, must be proportionate. After purchasing furniture for Barbie dolls made of natural wood, the characteristic textured pattern will have to be applied with a brush. Real annual rings will not give the desired effect. Each element of the “wood pattern” is applied in accordance with the scale of the decoration of the entire room, created for the heroine of your favorite animated musicals.
In miniature furniture suitable for a Barbie doll, a certain scale is maintained in relation to real (human) household items - 1:12 (in inches).
Doll furniture made from matchboxes
The easiest way to make furniture for dolls with your own hands is from ordinary matchboxes. They are glued together using PVA glue, creating certain structures, then covered with paper or fabric, self-adhesive film, etc. You can use wooden beads as legs, handles for drawers can be made from small buttons on legs or from long beads.
Simple homemade doll furniture from matchboxes
You can make chairs, a table, a chest of drawers, a bed, and a bedside table from matchboxes. Another thing is that furniture is made for very small dolls, no more than 10 cm high. Although, you can use a larger number of boxes, gluing them into blocks, and from these blocks create furniture for dolls about 15 cm high. Also an option, but work with others materials are not much more complicated, but they are more flexible and allow you to create products of more elegant shapes.
Toy dressing table made from matchboxes DIY doll desk
Dining table and chairs made from matchboxes for a dollhouse
How to glue boxes
Several design techniques for finishing a homemade toy chest of drawers from matchboxes
This may be your first experience in making doll furniture. Later you can take on something more serious.
Design and style
The interior of a Barbie doll's house is made up of different parts, for example, legs or backs of furniture that have the same curve. This is a simplified version of the design. It is a little more difficult to assemble a set that matches a certain style, having in the basic configuration disparate things that are similar only in the material from which they are made. Textiles, lace, wallpaper, selected according to colors and other parameters, will help to combine everything into a common interior.
It is not necessary to distinguish between styles for the interior of the house to be attractive. The main thing is to adhere to similarities in the design of all rooms in the following elements:
- width, height of windows;
- the presence or absence of curtains and curtains;
- use of carpets (lint/lint-free) or rugs;
- arched or rectangular doorways.
Metal or foam parts in the design of interior doors and furniture facades, painted in the tones of noble metals, will make the decor of the house resemble the interiors of ancient buildings. The exterior of bygone times will have to be chosen carefully, even before purchasing the first set for Barbie, otherwise the discrepancy will be obvious. Using dollhouse miniature kits, you can recreate without additional study of historical accuracy:
- village hut;
- tower;
- modern interiors - art deco, industrial, Scandinavian, and Provence.
The shape, size of door and window openings in rooms is 50% of success when creating a certain style.
When using designs made in pink tones, it is very easy to furnish a house in the form of a royal palace for a caramel princess. For more realistic interiors, sets of furniture, dishes and other belongings from the category of “doll miniatures” are required. In them, wooden, porcelain, and metal parts prevail over plastic ones.
Furniture for a dollhouse made of cardboard
You can try your hand at making furniture for dolls using cardboard. The material is inexpensive, accessible, you can try and make mistakes, redo it. Cardboard is usually joined using PVA glue; you can use a glue gun or any universal glue that can glue cardboard, fabric, or wood. By simply making furniture for dolls with your own hands from cardboard, you will also use these materials. If we talk about convenience, then a glue gun is preferable - it glues quickly, it’s convenient to work, and the connection is reliable.
Without finishing, doll furniture made of cardboard does not look very good
To make furniture for dolls, you can use regular packaging cardboard. It is cheap, but the furniture it makes is very delicate. It is unlikely that it will be enough for a child for a long time. But, as a “first experience”, this is a good option. Cardboard products for scrapbooking are more reliable. It is more dense, homogeneous, has different thicknesses (from 2 mm and more), and can have a textured surface, embossed monochromatic patterns, or a pattern on one or both sides. The disadvantage of such cardboard is that you have to buy it, and some types of such cardboard are not very cheap.
Cardboard bed for a doll
This cardboard doll bed is designed for a large doll - up to 50 cm in height. If necessary, all specified dimensions can be reduced.
You can make such a bed out of cardboard in a few minutes
This option can be done in literally 10-20 minutes. There is no need for glue or other fixatives. The parts are held in place by grooves cut into the cardboard. The width of the groove is equal to the thickness of the cardboard, the length of the slots and the dimensions of the workpieces are indicated in the diagram.
Bed diagram for dolls
Green and yellow dots indicate compatible cuts. They are inserted one into the other, where the assembly ends. If you like this model, it can also be made from plywood.
Schemes for making cardboard doll furniture
Basically, furniture for dolls made of cardboard is glued. It is unlikely that it will be possible to make something delicate or very complex from this material, but making simple models will not take much time. Having a diagram with dimensions, you can even do without explanations. Everything is clear.
Chair diagram for dolls
Such models can be made “by eye”. Without the “upholstery” they look unsightly, but after that they look quite decent. Making a bed is not at all difficult, but with kitchen cabinets you will have to be a little tricky
A bedside table with doors and an open shelf - one design, different designs
Another bedside table model for making from cardboard or plywood
Making a toy table for dolls with your own hands using this scheme is not a problem
Floor lamp for dolls made of cardboard
Furniture patterns for dolls can be used not only for making from cardboard. They can be transferred to plywood and cut out using a jigsaw.
Manufacturing materials
Plastic sets have an affordable price for most. They can be used to decorate a child's room. An important characteristic of such toys is the possibility of their frequent disinfection and washing with soapy water. The plastic housings of the “household appliances” built into Barbie furniture hide batteries that provide light and sound during the game. Disadvantages of original sets for a house made of this material: fragility of products, low resistance to mechanical stress. Counterfeits may contain toxic substances.
Types of children's cabinet furniture, criteria for its selection
Wood and plywood are the safest materials for children, but they are highly hygroscopic. They cannot tolerate prolonged contact with water, as the raw materials become deformed. The undeniable advantages of this room design:
- possibility of painting and pasting furniture;
- long service life due to resistance to shocks and falls on hard surfaces;
- The parts resemble the real ones as much as possible in functionality.
Cardboard is short-lived; in roomboxes, it can be used to make, for example, a picture that imitates the decoration of a room. It depicts wallpaper, windows and landscapes located outside the house. The disadvantage of textiles, which are also used to make toy furniture, is its ability to absorb odors and dust from the environment, but without this material it is impossible to recreate coziness.
Plastic Wood
Plywood
Cardboard
Wardrobe for dolls made from scrap materials
The toy cabinet can be made of plywood, painted or covered with wrapping paper or self-adhesive film. There probably won’t be any questions here - everything is clear, and if you have questions, you can see their solution in the “natural” closet. But it can be made from very inexpensive materials. The good thing about making do-it-yourself furniture for dolls is that its cost is very low.
From a cardboard box
The main task is to find a thick cardboard box of the appropriate size. Moreover, it will be easier to work if it is packaging - with folded edges. This folding part is a ready-made door. All that remains is to finish it - hang a mirror, attach a handle, etc.
One of the options for homemade furniture for dolls is a wardrobe
What do you need for work?
To work, you will need good tape, preferably paper-based, as it will be easier to glue the trim to it later. If you have a glue gun or a construction stapler (a large stationery one will do) with staples, that’s also good. If you will use other materials in addition to cardboard and paper, it is better to find a universal glue that glues paper, cardboard, fabric, and plastic. You will also need scissors, a stationery knife, and a ruler.
How to make a doll wardrobe from a cardboard box
If the box you find is too large, you can make it smaller by cutting off the excess. To ensure that the folds are even, take a ruler. We apply it to the place of the future fold, we pass along the ruler several times with a blunt hard object (the stem of a spoon or fork). After this, the cardboard will be easy to bend.
Filling for a toy cabinet
We cut out shelves from scraps or another box. They should be slightly - 5-8 mm - longer and wider than the internal space of the cabinet. We bend the excess so that sides are formed on all sides. Folds form in the corners; carefully cut them off. We bend one of the parts 180° and glue it to the shelf itself. This side of the shelf will “look into the world.” We bend the other three parts at an angle of 90°, coat them with glue and glue the shelves into the cabinet. The photo on the right shows how the shelves are glued. But so that the gluing points are not conspicuous, it is better to turn the sides down.
Making furniture for dolls with your own hands is no less fun than playing with it later.
In addition to shelves, you can also make a crossbar for hangers. It can be made from bamboo skewers, for example, you can try using a juice straw, wire, etc. Hangers can also be twisted from colored wire or cut from juice bags, plastic bottles, etc.
Finishing is a creative process
Next comes the finishing touches. You can paint the cardboard with watercolor or acrylic (preferably) paints, glue it with wrapping paper, fabric, felt. You can imitate a mirror surface by covering it with foil (food foil, for example). If you want to make a “plastic” surface, look for water bottles of the desired color, cut off the neck and bottom, and use the “body” as a finishing material.
Finishing is a creative process, but first, use simpler, softer, thinner materials; they are easier to work with
Handles can be made from wire, beads, or long beads. For larger toy cabinets, you can find buttons or buttons. We glue all this “beauty” after we have “lined” the cabinet.
Doll wardrobe made from newspapers
You will need old newspapers, PVA glue with a brush, a glue gun, a couple of pieces of wire or thread, wrapping paper for finishing the cabinet or paint.
We roll up tight tubes from newspapers, coat them with PVA around the edges and leave them to dry. Then the tubes can be glued together. A glue gun is better suited for this operation. There are two ways: first collect large blocks, then cut them into fragments of the required length, or immediately cut the tubes of the required length and immediately glue the blanks to size. The second way is more painstaking, but there is less waste.
Assembling planes from newspaper tubes
The finished cabinet walls must be fastened together. To firmly fix an angle of 90°, it is better to use a thin wire. First coat the joints with glue, then use wire to pull the walls together. If the wires are in the way, they can be removed after the glue has dried.
We glue holders under the shelves
Using the same technology, the bottom, top, and shelves are glued. The doors will need to be made a little differently. To make them open, two strips about 1.5 cm wide are cut out of tape. Tape is glued along the edge of the door so that a little more than half hangs in the air. We glue the door to the wall with this loose tape, but so that there is a gap of 2-3 mm between the wall and the door (it’s just tape there). This will make it possible to close the doors. We fix the glued door on the other side with a second strip of tape.
Fastening the door with wire
The second way to secure the doors is with wire. Only this time it should be tough and thick enough. Cut a piece that is 2 cm longer than the height of the cabinet. Immediately make a loop on the wire on one side using 1 cm. We bend the loop at an angle of 90° to the wire. We make holes in the bottom and roof, pass a wire through the bottom, the loop remains at the bottom. We put the door on the wire, using the outer tube instead of hinges. Slightly bending the wire, we thread it through the hole in the cabinet roof, bend the excess, fixing the door. We repeat the same operation with the other door. Please note that you need to attach the door with tape before finishing the cabinet, but you can attach it with wire after.
Ready-made wardrobe for dolls made from newspapers
There are still some little things that need to be said a few words. Cabinet legs and handles can also be made from paper tubes. You just need to roll them from the paper you use to decorate the toy. Roll it into a tight roll, glue the edge with glue, then cut it into pieces of the required length and glue it in the right places. Instead of tubes there can be wooden sticks, beads, etc.
Doll bookcase or shelf made of rulers
You can make furniture for dolls with your own hands from school wooden rulers. They are good because they are already processed and have the same width and thickness. In the stationery store you can find the right size - larger/smaller, wider/narrower - as desired. For example, to make a doll bookcase you need 6 rulers 15 cm long.
Making a toy bookshelf from wooden rulers is easy.
You will also need a jigsaw for the job. If you have an electric one, great; if not, a manual one will do, since there’s not too much work. You also need fine-grain sandpaper, glue (PVA or wood glue) and paints (acrylic or gouache).
We cut segments from the rulers: 4 pieces of 6 cm, one - 8 cm. Sand the edges until smooth, and also remove the markings and barcodes. Between the two rulers we place the shelves (which are 6 cm each), on top we leave approximately the same distance - under the lid (a segment of 8 cm). We coat the joints with PVA or carpentry glue, connect them and tighten them with masking tape, and leave them for a day. When the glue dries, glue on the very last part - the lid on top. Actually, the shelf itself is ready, all that remains is to paint it.
You can use rulers to make other pieces of furniture for dolls.
To obtain an even and bright color, it is better to cover the structure with white, and after drying, paint it with the desired shade. You can also decorate doll furniture made by yourself using the decoupage technique.
Furniture for dolls: photo ideas
You can make furniture for dolls with your own hands from the most unexpected materials. You have already seen how to use newspapers and wooden rulers. But you can make tables, chairs, armchairs, sofas, beds, shelves, cabinets, etc. from ice cream sticks.
It’s better to start with something simple: a table and chairs for dolls made from ice cream sticks
You can make armchairs and sofas
Garden bench or sofa - depending on the finish Almost the same designs with soft upholstery
Making a chest of drawers like this for dolls = this is a more difficult task
You can also assemble a crib
You probably already understand why this material is good - it has rounded, processed edges, is the same in size and is well processed. If the sticks seem too rough, sand them down smooth using fine-grit sandpaper.
Clothespins make good armchairs and stools. They are disassembled into halves and joined using wood glue. Curly products are obtained in almost a few tens of minutes.
This sofa can be assembled from wooden clothespins
An armchair, a table - you can also make it from clothespins. If you add a few holes, you get an openwork product
It’s not difficult to make a round table for dolls from clothespins
Original legs made from three halves of clothespins
Rocking chair for dolls Toy stools
Chairs with armrests for dollhouse
Wooden clothespins are almost always used to make doll furniture. But no one forbids taking plastic ones. Working with them is exactly the same, only the difficulty is that wooden ones are easier to modify by changing the thickness, shape, etc. If the product is simple and does not require any modification, you can use plastic ones. They are more varied in shape and size, and are already painted, so there is less fuss with them.
As your skill increases, you can move on to more complex materials - plywood or wood. The difficulty is that turning and cutting out miniature parts requires filigree precision, perseverance and takes a lot of time. But you can do whatever you want.
You can make furniture for dolls with your own hands of any size, style
Several models of plywood doll chairs
Toy bed for baby doll
For those who have a lot of patience
Carved wooden doll bed Corner desk for a doll....everything is like the real thing
Styles vary
Furniture for the kitchen in a dollhouse Wardrobe for dolls made of plywood - very high reproduction accuracy Kitchen cabinet with stuffing Bed made of plywood for dolls
DIY toy kitchen tables made of plywood
Chairs for playing with dolls
