I renovated my childhood dollhouse during quarantine in 2020. Using a combination of my original furniture and accessories, bargain purchases, and DIY projects, I transformed my beloved but tired dollhouse into a modern, colorful abode for a lovely family of Calico Critter bunnies. Read on for lots of photos and inspiration from my eclectic DIY dollhouse Living Room & Dining Room space!
DIY Dollhouse Living Room: Before
Built in 1978, my childhood dollhouse has always been one of my most treasured possessions. Over the years, time and some ill advised storage choices (wet basement…) took their toll.
And here’s a (blurry) glimpse at the Living Room and Dining Room as they were originally decorated.
DIY Dollhouse Living Room: After
After many months and even more DIY projects, here is the updated Living Room!
The Details
DIY Dollhouse Living Room Walls & Floors
For the floor, I used the same painted popsicle stick flooring featured in the kitchen. For the walls, I used two distinct wallpapers: a solid card stock in pale aqua blue and a green tone on tone botanical pattern. Painted dentil molding and balsa wood baseboards help give the space a finished look.
The rug is just a plain piece of patterned scrapbook paper placed on top of the wooden floor.
DIY Dollhouse Living Room Furniture
Most of the original Living Room furniture had a lot of water damage and the style didn’t match the eclectic vibe I was going for. Instead I made new furniture from upcycled and inexpensive materials. I constructed the couch from foam board and kitchen sponges covered with cotton batting and upholstered with a cotton quilt weight fabric. I used stacked beads from Dollar Tree for the legs. I looked at lots of tutorials for dollhouse sofas and then did my best to create a couch that fit my space. This tutorial and this one were particularly helpful.
For the coffee table, I glued together two coasters for the tabletop and stacked large wooden beads for the legs. A few coats of paint pulled everything together.
The green side table is a Dollar Tree find I painted to match the Living Room decor. The 1970s fireplace was originally dark wood.
DIY Dollhouse Living Room Accessories & Art
The framed floral art is an original accessory from my childhood, hung on the wall with poster putty. The Life Is Sweet art over the fireplace is a small postcard by mixed media artist Dori Patrick.
I love the plant filled bay window. I cut the foliage from various fake plants, mostly from Hobby Lobby. I hand painted four of the plant pots (various wooden beads) and the fifth one is a fiber wrapped bead with a button glued on the bottom for stability.
I made the lamp using a small wood candle cup, beads, and upholstery fabric.
The brass coat tree in the corner is another original piece. I made the pillow using tacky glue, fabric, a bit of cotton batting for stuffing, and mini ball fringe.
DIY Dollhouse Dining Room: Before
Here’s the Dining Room, in all its pre-renovation glory:
Take a moment to appreciate the felt floor, water stained, peeling wallpaper, and unfinished dark wood ceiling…
DIY Dollhouse Dining Room: After
I’m so happy with how the Dining Room turned out!
The Details
DIY Dollhouse Dining Room: Furniture
In the Dining Room, I repurposed several original pieces.
Once used for dish storage, I repurposed this hutch into a bookcase and display piece.
The dining room table is a hybrid of old and new. The tabletop is original but painted green, unfortunately the legs couldn’t be salvaged so I turned it into a pedestal table using a wooden candle cup.
Two of the chairs are original, two are new and were unfinished. I painted all of the chairs pale blue and recovered them in the same fabric I used to make the sink skirt in the Kitchen.
The pink sideboard is another Dollar Tree find. The sideboard started off as an unfinished bureau but I painted it and replaced the drawer pulls with pearls.
DIY Dollhouse Dining Room: Art & Accessories
While the current tablescape could use an upgrade, I love the floral centerpiece arrangement I created.
The flowers are a mix of millinery picks and other fake florals. I changed the colors of several of the florals with paint and alcohol ink markers.
The sideboard features a champagne set (purchased from Michaels) along with a DIY cake. I created the cake using a bottle cap and some leftover texture paint.
The palm tree art is actually a photo I cut from a magazine and then mounted on a piece of scrap cardboard. I made the frame out of coffee stir sticks painted with gold acrylic paint.
One of the biggest changes I made to the entire dollhouse was in the Living Room/Dining Room space. Originally there was a set of stairs in the middle of the two rooms. Back in 2005, my twin (then) five year olds were “playing” with the dollhouse and broke most of the staircase spindles. When I started this renovation I decided to just eliminate the stairs, and I’m so happy I did. It opened up the entire Living Room/Dining Room space and it allowed me to create a room out of the upstairs foyer that previously was wasted space. Bunnies are excellent jumpers, so they don’t really need stairs anyway lol.
That wraps up my DIY Dollhouse Living Room and Dining Room tour! I hope you found some good ideas and inspiration for decorating your own dollhouse. In case you missed it, see my DIY Dollhouse Kitchen Tour here (more rooms coming soon!). In the meantime, check out this post: 10 Easy To Find Supplies For DIY Dollhouse Decor to see some of my favorite, budget friendly supplies and a few sneak peeks of the rest of my renovated childhood dollhouse. Dollhouse decorating is so much fun and a tiny bit addictive.
Questions? Comments? Leave them below, I’d love to hear what you think of my colorful DIY Dollhouse Living Room & Dining Room!
xo,
Jen
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