DIY LOL Dollhouse

If you have a daughter between the ages of 3-9 (or possibly older), then it is very likely that you have heard of LOL dolls. And if you have heard of them, then it's also very likely that you know how expensive they can be. They're certainly out of my everyday price range!

But my daughters love them! I don't know if it's because of their size (little girls love small toys) or all of their accessories (they are rather cute...and glittery--something else little girls love) or the fun of all the little blind bags that you get to open for the surprises inside, or maybe it's all of the above; regardless, between Christmas and birthday presents, they've managed to collect quite a few. But I draw the line on some purchases, and I flatly refuse to spend upwards of $100 on a dollhouse! You might call me cheap, but I think that's kind of ridiculous for a toy. 
     
 We had some cardboard boxes lying around the house, and I got to thinking of what fun it would be to make our own dollhouse for these little dolls using things we had on hand. When I broached the subject to the girls, they were very enthusiastic, especially when they realized they would get to decorate it however they liked.

The first house (the top one) I made for Monkey first. I cut off the flaps from the top of the box and used them to make walls and a floor for the second story, taping them into place. Then Monkey got to look through all of my scrapbooking papers and choose wallpaper and carpet for each room (she really enjoyed that part! 😊) and we glued it in place.

Once the structure was complete,  I taught Monkey how to do a running stitch, and we made little beds and pillows with cotton balls and fabric scraps and planned to make more furniture as we had time.

And that was that....or so I thought! But, of course, Curly decided she wanted one of her own for her dolls too. In fact, the idea was so popular that when my niece was over for a playdate and saw Monkey's house, nothing would do, but she wanted to make one too! (I think we do our children an injustice by not letting them make their own toys. I'd never really thought about it before, but my kids enjoyed this process so much, that I'm definitely going to be doing more of it in the future. But I digress.😉

Anyway, my second box went to my niece, but I promised my youngest that the next box we got in the mail would go to a dollhouse for her. Well, wouldn't you know that the next box that came was bigger than the one we used for Monkey's, which got my wheels turning. Why don't we, I asked the girls, join the two boxes together into one large house? 

"A dollhouse mansion!" they both shouted joyfully and started dancing around, so I guess they liked the idea. 😂

Three of the LOL dolls they had gotten for presents came in those boxes that also have furniture in them, and one day I was looking at the boxes and had another brainstorm: what if we cut the boxes apart and use them for the decorations on Curly's dollhouse? This one took a little more convincing, but once they understood what I was saying, the girls were all for it. So the next day I began.

To make a similar LOL dollhouse, you need two medium cardboard boxes, another piece of cardboard the same length as the largest of your boxes, a pair of heavy-duty kitchen scissors, packing tape and scotch tape, a small, medium and extra-long stapler, a ruler, a pen, and whatever papers, etc. you will use to decorate the boxes with.

I started stapling the bottom of the box closed and then folding out all the flaps on the big box and using packing tape to tape the sides together.

Then I stapled Monkey's dollhouse to the top of Curly's using a medium-sized stapler; I think a staple gun would have been better here because the staples were just barely long enough to go through both boxes and didn't hold very well. I had to re-staple several times before it was secure enough to suit me.

Next I fastened the extra piece of cardboard horizontally across the middle of the bottom box using packing tape on the back and sides. This created two floors in the bottom half of the box.

Next, it was time to start adding in the decorations. The LOL boxes actually came apart quite easily; they had little tabs to unfold them. I then cut the sides from the bottom of the box and measured the bottom against the larger dollhouse box to get the floor length. Once it was cut, I stapled it to the first floor, and then repeated the process for the second floor.

Then it was time for the walls. I had to cut a strip off all the way around the top because it was a little too tall, and then I stapled it in place as well. This is where the extra-long stapler came in very handy--the medium stapler could not reach to the back of the box to secure the cardboard. The small stapler was also used here for the back wall--it was too close for the other two staplers to fit in.

Once I had the bottom two floors complete, the area around the top was looking a little bare, so I took the cardboard that was left over from the LOL boxes and stapled it around the upper box to create a patio area. 

All that was left now was to fill it with furniture, and it was done! 

It turned out so much nicer than I originally thought it would, and the girls loved it. They have played with it nonstop since I completed it! Even Tater's gotten in on the fun!

I think the only thing left to do now is cover the outside with some paper--I'm not quite happy with that brown cardboard exterior. In fact, I've got some shiny purple wrapping paper that I think will be just right....😉