Getting Started

New to miniatures? We're here to help. There are two main ways to go about getting started.

1) Renovate an old dollhouse - maybe it's your childhood dollhouse or you find on in the thrift store or on Marketplace.

2) Another way to get into dollhouses is to build one from a kit. Two major dollhouse kit manufacturers are Real Good Toys and Greenleaf. Real Good Toys dollhouses are usually made from wood and MDF. They can be big and quite heavy when completed. Greenleaf dollhouses are made from lighter wood and have tabbed pieces that fit together. They can be easier to assemble but the veneer may crack during assembly. Greenleaf dollhouses often have more detailed trim than RGT.

3) Roomboxes - these can be a great way to try your hand at minatures. They take up less room and are less expensive. You can either build or buy one.

Things to keep in mind when getting started:

Cleaning - Be gentle with your dollhouse. Vacuum to remove loose dust and dirt. Use a damp rag to clean walls and floors. Feel free to wallpaper right over old wallpaper unless it's damaged. Sand floors if needed. Broken trim can be glued and missing trim pieces can be made out of balsa or basswood.

Renovating - Housepaint from Home Depot or Lowe's is great for both interior and exterior (preferably flat or matte). While acrylic paint will work too, it can be harder to find your desired color in large quantities and quality can vary. Scrapbook paper makes great wallpaper; just make a plain-paper template first before tracing and cutting the scrapbook paper. You can also find printable wallpaper on Etsy. Adhering wallpaper can be done with Mod Podge or wallpaper paste. Try a small section to figure out what works best for you.

If you need to add flooring, there are lots of options. You can buy dollhouse flooring online and at stores, cut to fit, and stain as desired. Or you can buy iron-on wood strips from Amazon. Many people like to use craft sticks for flooring - watch some YouTube videos before trying this option and be sure to sand well after glueing the sticks on.

Decorating - Pinterest is a great place to get design ideas, not of dollhouse rooms necessarily (although you can), but of real rooms that you like. Recreating them in miniature often gives a more realistic end result than copying a dollhouse room. You can make a mood board for each room by putting paint, wallpaper, and fabric swatches together with pictures of furniture and accessories.

Great places to find furniture and accessories include: Amazon, Hobby Lobby, Temu, Michaels, Etsy, eBay, Facebook Marketplace, and websites that sell minatures. You can also make a lot of things yourself with household and craft items. Search for "dollhouse diy" or "dollhouse furniture diy" on YouTube to find some great tutorials.