Building Dollhouses on a Budget


When wooden dollhouses first began appearing in Europe they were mainly owned by the wealthy in Holland, Britain, and Germany. They were considered trophy collections, and usually consisted of complete interior rooms with detailed furnishings.

Times have changed since those baby dollhouses were popular. Today, you can get large scale, full houses on a budget if you are willing to do a little leg work and comparison shopping. A little know-how won’t hurt either.

With the introduction of mass production, dollhouses are becoming easier to find and buy. The vast amount of available material, and kits to build your own dollhouse as made it very affordable for the average person to take up the hobby. With a bit of skill, you can create a very pleasing dollhouse.

There are several wooden dollhouse kits available any any type of budget. There are small kits for less than $30, while $100 can get you a fairly large budget kit.  The kits are usually constructed of 1/8″ plywood or a combination of plywood and MDF pieces.  While the kits are well made and pleasing to look at, they  aren’t meant to last for many generations, but are great if you don’t have a budget for the much larger more expensive kits. As with many things in life, shopping around will allow you to find the best deals on these kits.

If you don’t wish to buy a dollhouse kit, you can always build on yourself. While plywood is one of the most popular options, you can build a dollhouse out of many different materials. Such items as shoe boxes and cardboard can be used to create dollhouses as well. While dollhouses made out of these materials may not last as long as wooden dollhouses, they can be an alternative to wooden structures. Obviously, if you wish to make a lasting dollhouse, you should use a stronger, more robust material such as plywood.

Not only can you be creative with the dollhouse, but also with the furnishing. Shopping around for the furnishing can also assist you with finding the best prices. If you have the ability, you can also get creative and make your own. Sometimes a house with personally created furnishing can mean much more to the owner of the home. It adds an additional personal touch that you don’t get form buying all the furnishings.

While wooden dollhouses can be expensive to purchase, there are many budget kits that are easily affordable. Shopping around is important for either the dollhouse or furnishings. If you have the ability, you can even make your own dollhouse or furnishings from scratch.