The Charlie Dollhouse

TO PURCHASE ONE OF MY DOLLHOUSES, CLICK HERE.

After upgrading a Melissa & Doug dollhouse for Lucy for Christmas, I knew I'd be doing more dollhouses. You can see that dollhouse here. I love the challenge of trying to figure out how to make a miniature version of something in our homes. I wanted a smaller scale project this time so I went with the Flisat dollhouse from IKEA. You can find it here. It's a great starter dollhouse because you're only dealing with an interior, and it only has 4 rooms. Here is what it looks like before jazzing it up.

I made a couple modifications for mine before assembling it. I painted the chimney and outer and inner walls white with paint left over from my kitchen cabinet makeover. I assembled the dollhouse with the directions except for the first floor room divider. Gotta love the open concept. I decided to go with a modern look because it's a lot easier to create your own furniture and decor for a modern house than it is for a traditional dollhouse. Now it's time for all the fun, detailed shots. As someone who mostly posts home decor pictures on Instagram (you can find me here), I get such a kick out of photographing dollhouse interiors. It feels a little surreal when I'm trying to come up with different shots and angles. You can also see a full video tour on Instagram under Dollhouse on my story highlights.

We'll start in the bedroom. I used scrapbook paper from Michael's as the wallpaper. The furniture is all made from craft wood and scrap wood. The chair and mattress are just cardboard cushioned with a couple layers of batting covered with a drop cloth I already had. The fur cover is from Hobby Lobby. I love the cutie macrame wall hanging I made with a round dowel and yarn. The lights are just wooden candle cup holders I painted gold and attached with yarn.

Next up is the bathroom, and I'm so in love with the vanity and marble wall accent. I just covered a piece of foam board with marble contact paper, glued on a craft mirror, and added light fixtures made from brass tubing and a wooden planter cup painted white with the top cut off. The sinks are suction cups (I was really proud of myself for that one), and the faucets are brass tubing. The towels are baby washcloths cut down to size. The bathtub is a soap dish I ordered from Amazon. This dollhouse for one of Lucy's friends whose last name starts with a W, hence the reason for the framed W.

For the kitchen, I knew I wouldn't have the patience to make real cabinets so I just made countertops with poplar boards painted white then layered with gray to give them a modern concrete look. For the fronts, I covered wood with marble contact paper to continue the sleek look. I created open shelving with popsicle sticks and square dowels. I used a subway tile backsplash and Scrabble letters as art. The sink is a Whataburger ketchup container.

The living room took the longest because of the couch and fireplace. The couch was made in the same was as the chair in the bedroom. The tree art came as a package at Hobby Lobby with laser cut birds and branches. The crochet rug is also from Hobby Lobby. The coffee table was made from a wood slice leftover from my wood slice art in the dining room. I added round dowels as the legs and painted the bottom with gold paint to class it up a bit. The art on the mantle is just framed scrapbook paper. Now for my piece de resistance: the fireplace. The base is several pieces of foam board cut and glued together. The bricks are individually cut from a roll of adhesive-backed cork board. After placing each brick, I used white shrink-free sparkling as the grout and painted the whole thing white. I used wood painted black to the frame the fireplace and used more wood as the mantle. The firewood is just a stick from my yard that I cut into a few pieces and glued together.

I hope you love it! I'm already planning my next dollhouse that's centered around a beautiful blue-green couch. I hope you'll follow along with me on Instagram to see the progress. Now it's time for this house to head home to its new owner. I hope she loves it as much as I do.

#dollhouse #IKEA