Make Simple Inexpensive Roomboxes
Roomboxes are easy to make and can be made to custom sizes for school projects or displays. Most use book board, Davey board, a dense paper fiber board used for book binding, or baltic birch plywood. If you make several boxes the same height, in a depth that will fit on a bookcase, you can build a miniature display room by room.
Make A Simple Roombox from Inexpensive Book Board If the bookboard is cut by an adult, this is a fairly simple roombox or display box for a child to assemble. It can be built with or without a ceiling.
Free Plans and Instructions for a Baby Doll House / Bookcase
Photo copyright 2008 Lesley Shepherd, Licensed to About.com Inc.
These free plans for a Baby House Case made from a single five foot square sheet of Baltic Birch Plywood will hold the roomboxes listed above and can be used to make an adaptable piece of furniture for a child or an adult. Fitted with front opening doors cut from the same sheet of plywood, that have dolls house windows and a door, the baby house has the appearance of a dolls house, but has adjustable shelves to allow it to be adapted to hold books or other items as need change.
Instructions for adding quoin trim and a cornice to finish the house off in a traditional style are also available.
If you prefer, you can build the case and add fixed shelves and partitions to make a dedicated doll house.
Free Online Plans
- Free Dollhouse Castle Plans and instructions from Wayne of the Woods
- Better Homes and Gardens, Dollhouse From a Book case
- Fine scroll saw has some vintage Hobbies design sheets for dollhouse building patterns which are free to download. You will need to set a scale for these patterns.
- Bunnings Warehouse in Australia has a free How to make a Dollhouse plan in pdf form.
- Mother Earth News has free plans (see the gallery of photos) and instructions for building a 1:12 scale farmhouse.
Open Design Doll House Plans
- Open dollhouse design plans suitable for younger children are available from Woodstore
Play scale 1:6 (Fashion Doll) Scale Doll Houses
- Frank Martin sells Barbie Scale Dollhouse kits, plans and furniture.
- Forest Street Designs have plans for a portable folding house for Barbie complete with furniture.
- U bild have 11½ inch dollhouse plans and other dollhouse scale plans.
- Joe's Plans have Play scale dollhouse plans
- Houseworks sell 1:6 (playscale) building components available through many hobby shops.
- Hobbies (UK) sell plans and fittings for fashion doll houses.
Downloadable 1:12 Scale Dolls House Plans
- Dollhouse Designs have plans in 1:12 scale for several traditional dollhouses which can be downloaded.
Printed 1:12 Scale Doll House Plans
- J.E. Cavender Plans are available from Dollhouse Miniatures.
- The Hobbies Company in England sell a range of traditional dollhouse and shop plans in 1:12 scale.
- Dijon sell traditional English dollhouse plans whichh are also distributed in North America by several companies.
- The Woodcrafter produce dollhouse plans in 1:12 scale.
- Forest Street Designs have plans for a lovely Bavarian cottage and furniture in 1:12 scale.
Printed 1:24 Scale Doll House Plans
G Scale Doll House or Garden Rail Buildings (1:22.5)
- G scale railway building plans are available from Oakridge Hobbies
- Garden Texture have some building plans as well as materials for building in G scale.
- Precision Products have G scale drawings for a number of their buildings as well as plastic finishing materials in scales from 1:12 to 1:84.
- Brewer Railroad Plans have G scale building plans.
- Jig Stones, sell plans and G scale molds for casting stones and parts to construct G scale buildings You can see tips by a railroad modeller who has used them.
- Sidestreet Bannerworks have G scale plans for garden railway buildings.
- Stoneworks sell G scale plans for stone buildings including water mills.
Doll House Plan Books
- Houseworks (available via craft and miniature stores) produce a line of plan books in 1:12 scale (which could easily be downsized to 1:24 scale) Tuxedo Place, Les Shoppes, Townsend Towers and 3 in One, are all books for 1:12 scale houses and shops. You can view the progress of one team who built a dollhouse using the Les Shoppes book at Out of the Ordinary Miniatures This description of the build includes and electrification plan.
- Houseworks also produce a similar line of Playscale (fashion doll scale) plan books in Country House, Townhouse and Estate House designs.
- The Doll's House Shopkeeper by Lionel and Ann Barnard, David and Charles 2001, includes plans for five traditions shop plans in 1:12 scale.
Green Dollhouse Book - Creating a Dolls Eye View of a Healthier World
This book resulted from a competition for sustainably green housing designs in dollhouse scale sponsored by Sustainable San Mateo County in 2005. It shows the entries and is aimed at showing children and adults how homes and offices can have smaller environmental footprints. Several very original dollhouses are shown, designed to help children think about sustainable lives and homes. The book has three How-To sections which include information on creating their own sustainable dollhouses.
Other Interesting Building Plans
- Plans to build a model Iroquois Longhouse in 1:4 scale (not 1:48!) from the New York State Museum.
- Forest Street Designs have some Italian bird houses and bird cages that can be adapted for dolls house designs. They also have plans for a traditional farm and fort, toys and several houses.
