What would you rather have in your dollhouse: an upstairs landing (boring) or a cozy and colorful reading nook? For me when I was renovating my childhood dollhouse, the answer was a no-brainer: a reading nook for sure. Read on for a tour of my miniature Reading Nook!
Before
Originally my childhood dollhouse had a set of stairs between the 1st and 2nd floors. The upstairs landing ending up being a basic, boring, functional space and not much more. It did however have a felt covered floor and decorative ribbon chair rail.
During a previous renovation attempt I decided to eliminate the staircase. I filled in the hole left by the staircase with a piece of white foam core and copious amounts of white caulk. Next I added a hardwood floor made of wide popsicle sticks. Because the space doesn’t have a window, it’s not very bright. I thought I’d embrace the dark and moody vibe with dark wallpaper (scrapbook paper) and make it an art gallery of sorts.
When I revisited the space in 2020, I had changed my mind. I ripped off the wallpaper and started over with a new vision: a dollhouse Reading Nook.
After
I love how this turned out(!). This space went from boring to cozy, colorful, unique, and functional. It’s a reading nook and a writing space –the perfect retreat when you’ve been cooking carrots for days or your twin baby siblings won’t leave you alone (that’s a nod to the family of Calico Critters bunnies that reside in this dollhouse).
I used scrapbook paper to wallpaper the walls ~ the pattern isn’t even close to being lined up over the doorways but that just adds to the character lol. The bold geometric rug ties the whole space together. Ssshh…it’s made of fabric wrapped over and glued to a piece of card stock.
Reading Area
I made the bookshelf using balsa wood, glue, and lots of caulk. The books are made of either cut up magazine spines or small pieces of foam core board covered in scraps of patterned paper.
On top of the bookcase, I used wooden alphabet beads to spell out the word READ. The globe is a charm I found in the jewelry section of a craft store.
For the wall decor in this section, I searched my various stashes and came up with these goodies: a vintage train ticket, a scrapbook button embellishment, and a flowered donkey cut out of an old magazine (mounted in a handmade coffee stirrer frame).
Opposite the bookcase is this diy pink ottoman I made by covering a small tin can with upholstery fabric. For the top, I cut a circle out of thin cardboard, added some batting, and covered it with the same heavy pink fabric. I attached everything together with hot glue. I hid the seam under where I attached the seat with mini ball fringe. Gold plastic beads make great ottoman “feet”. I stitched the pillow from a fabric scrap and filled it with a bit of stuffing.
One of our local libraries still uses the hand stamped due date cards and I have a small collection of discarded ones thanks to my daughter Ebby who worked at the library for several years. I love how it looks as wall decor, so perfect for a space with books!
Writing Area
There’s so much fun stuff in this little area! First, the desk chair which was part of the original living room furniture set in the 1970s. It was covered in a dainty blue and white floral and had a ruffle around the bottom. The chair was dated and water stained but still salvageable. I ripped off the skirt and painted the entire chair with several coats of acrylic paint. I added pink rick rack around the bottom and made a new fabric seat cushion.
The desk is from Dollar Tree, I think it’s intended to be a table. I replaced the plain wooden knobs with decorative flower beads. The plant is a tiny sprig of faux greenery placed in a decorative bead. I painted the rainbow artwork on a 3×3 canvas, it was fun to work in such a small scale.
The star of the writing area is the handmade pink typewriter. I followed this YouTube tutorial by The Square to Spare. My work is nowhere near as precise as hers, but I love it nonetheless ~ especially the “typewritten” note I added.
The miniature disco ball (an ornament from Christmas time found at Dollar Tree) adds an unexpected, sparkly finishing touch–even though it might not provide enough light to read by lol.
And that’s a wrap for my DIY Dollhouse Reading Nook tour! I struggled with this space for a while and was so happy when it finally came together (shout out to Ebby for coming up with the Reading Nook idea 😊).
I hope you found some inspiration for decorating your own dollhouse. Need more ideas? Check out more rooms in my renovated childhood dollhouse:
DIY Dollhouse Kitchen Tour | DIY Dollhouse Living Room & Dining Room Tour | DIY Dollhouse Bathroom Tour
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 eclectic DIY Dollhouse Reading Nook!
xo,
Jen
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