Turn a bookcase into a Dollhouse
I’ve decided not to dive into any more HUGE projects until after the holidays. I’ve got some gifts I want to make so I can’t spend all my time on the house… I’ll still be DIYing, just not taking out any more walls for a few months!
I was asked to participate in the Wayfair blogger challenge to take something from their site and transform it…in any way I wanted. I was given an MDF 3 tier bookcase.
I decided to use it in my gift making quest and turn it into a cute little dollhouse that any little girl would love.
To do that, I marked the center of the bookshelf sides and then used a speed square to mark my angles. The speed square has a ledge that keeps it flush with the wood so you get a perfect 45* angle.
After cutting on my lines (I used my miter saw but you could use a circular saw or jig saw. Just clamp on a straight edge to get a perfectly straight cut), I assembled the bottom and middle shelf according to the original directions.
The top shelf was adjustable so I put some SPAX screws (love them because you don’t have to pre drill) into it to secure it. 
I cut the top piece to size so it would fit and screwed it in place for the back part of the roof. I secured the little “faceplate” that came with the original bookcase to the other side to create the idea of the front roof though I wanted it open so that area could be used as part of the playhouse.
And there is the shell of the dollhouse.
Then it needed some paint and decoration. I spray painted a blue border then taped over that and painted the rest of the doolhouse white.
I got a nice clean line because I removed the tape when the paint was still wet.
I used some vinyl adhesive shelf liner and decorative tape to fake some windows and wallpaper.
I used some scrapbooking paper and stickers for wall art and a scrap of fabric for a rug.
I love how it turned out and it was SUPER easy to transform. – Gift one…check!
Just 3 cuts, some paint and imagination can turn a bookshelf into an adorable dollhouse!
Wouldn’t this be a great Christmas gift for a little girl?
Excellent! Wish we had done that for our girls, instead of spending big bucks on a dollhouse kit that never really got finished, but they loved playing with it.
Awesome idea!! I like how open it is. The kids don’t have to crouch around a tiny little thing. I would have done this for my girls–so cool. AND mom gets to have fun decorating it! Great job and glad to hear you are not going to do BIG projects through the holiday season! ENJOY!
I made one last year. It was a great size for my girls’ lalaloopseys. I cut boxes to divide it with walls and used scrap book paper and rickrack to decorate the walls, floors, and ceilings. They loved it. Since they had already asked for a lot of accessories it was a great way to store their stuff.
That’s a fantastic idea!!
Very Cute. We did the same thing when our girls were little, only ours was pink and white.