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The Pretty Life Girls

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DIY Modern Dollhouse Tutorial

May 23, 2016 DIY Projects, Kids

This DIY modern dollhouse project is sponsored by Plaid Crafts. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

DIY Modern Dollhouse Tutorial featured by top US craft blog, The Pretty Life Girls

Friends, I'm so excited about this one. A few weeks ago my daughter fell in love with a dollhouse at a friend's house and it made my heart explode. You see, currently, in our house the toys are mostly of the super hero variety, so when I saw her affection for something a little prettier than Captain America, I jumped ALL over it and knew I needed to make her one of her own.

How to Make a DIY Modern Dollhouse

To make my dollhouse dreams a reality, I teamed up with our friends at Plaid Crafts to make this little beauty. This year there are so many new and exciting products at Plaid and I decided to use one of my favorites to make the dollhouse: FolkArt Milk Paint! This paint was really the superstar of this project. It is the first milk paint on the market that is manufactured as a convenient, pre-mixed casein-based paint that won't spoil like the powdered ready-to mix paint brands. It is known for its durability and beautiful velvety smooth finish that brushes like a stain but looks like a paint! It is a dream to work with and was such a perfect choice for this project.

Now, let's build a dollhouse, shall we?

DIY Modern Dollhouse Tutorial featured by top US craft blog, The Pretty Life Girls

First, the house. The talented people at ToysHouse83 sent over one of their gorgeous dollhouse kits for this project. It was so easy to put together, is beautifully made, and I couldn't be more obsessed with the house or the other lovely wood pieces in their shop. Plus, the house came with the sweetest design touches like a skylight and fireplace, making it so unique. If you are thinking of making a dollhouse, I can't recommend them enough!

To begin the project, I started by only building the foundation of the house to make it easier to paint.

DIY Modern Dollhouse Tutorial featured by top US craft blog, The Pretty Life Girls
After taping everything off I got to painting! For this project I used four of the FolkArt Milk Paint colors: Pale Peach, Monument Grey, and Tavern Ale for the walls in three of the rooms and roof, and Milky White for the floors and the exterior. To me, the best part about using this paint for this project is that it is so unforgiving and finishes beautifully, plus I love how it lets just enough of the natural wood grain peek through. You can see the entire gorgeous color line here:

DIY Modern Dollhouse Tutorial featured by top US craft blog, The Pretty Life Girls

DIY Modern Dollhouse Tutorial featured by top US craft blog, The Pretty Life Girls
I also used the FolkArt Milk Paint Brushes (a must!) which are designed to work with FolkArt Milk Paint and have bristles with natural “flag” tips for best performance and rounded corners to reduce brush marks, making painting completely foolproof. Plus, FolkArt Milk Paint will not fade over time, and it won't chip or peel because it is formulated to be absorbed directly into the porous surface of the wood, making it perfect for this project since I hope it will be played with for a very long time.

DIY Modern Dollhouse Tutorial featured by top US craft blog, The Pretty Life Girls

DIY Modern Dollhouse Tutorial featured by top US craft blog, The Pretty Life GirlsAfter I finished painting this DIY modern dollhouse, it was time for wall papering! For this part of the project I found papers I loved and used Mod Podge to apply them. Using Mod Podge gives the paper a real wallpapered look that I am obsessed with. Plus, I used the matte formula so there is a really subtle gloss.
 DIY Modern Dollhouse Tutorial featured by top US craft blog, The Pretty Life Girls

When using Mod Podge for a bigger, more high-stakes project like this one, it's a really good idea to brush up on the steps for applying it correctly. Plaid has a treasure trove of videos and FAQ's that I went through as a refresher to make sure the papers were applied smoothly, which I totally recommend that you check out.

DIY Modern Dollhouse Tutorial featured by top US craft blog, The Pretty Life GirlsDone! Now it's time to furnish this baby!

DIY Modern Dollhouse Tutorial featured by top US craft blog, The Pretty Life Girls
DIY Modern Dollhouse Tutorial featured by top US craft blog, The Pretty Life Girls

Since I loved the way the FolkArt Milk Paint looked on the house, I knew I wanted to get some unfinished wood pieces that I could paint for the interior. For the beds, I found two wooden boxes and some small, credit-card shaped wood pieces at the craft store, glued them together and painted them with the Milk Paint. I also found a small unfinished jewelry box for a dresser, some tiny frames for a few gallery walls, a crib, and some little peg people, and painted them all using the Milk Paint.

FolkArt Milk Paint will be available in all major retailers beginning this month, so keep an eye out for this FAB product and get ready to make some gorgeous stuff.

DIY Modern Dollhouse Tutorial featured by top US craft blog, The Pretty Life Girls
DIY Modern Dollhouse Tutorial featured by top US craft blog, The Pretty Life Girls
A big part of making this DIY modern dollhouse come together was finding papers that coordinated well together. This made it so easy to create decor that was cohesive and fun!

DIY Modern Dollhouse Tutorial featured by top US craft blog, The Pretty Life Girls

To make the bedding, I used a couple of kitchen sponges as mattresses, wrapped them in fabric and added a little hot glue to secure. For the plant I used a bottle lid and wrapped it in paper, and added some sprigs I cut from a plant I have in my house!

DIY Modern Dollhouse Tutorial featured by top US craft blog, The Pretty Life Girls

DIY Modern Dollhouse Tutorial featured by top US craft blog, The Pretty Life Girls
DIY Modern Dollhouse Tutorial featured by top US craft blog, The Pretty Life Girls
The gallery walls throughout the DIY modern dollhouse are my favorites. I loved searching for little pieces that might work at my local craft store, and also making some of my own!

DIY Modern Dollhouse Tutorial featured by top US craft blog, The Pretty Life Girls

DIY Modern Dollhouse Tutorial featured by top US craft blog, The Pretty Life Girls
DIY Modern Dollhouse Tutorial featured by top US craft blog, The Pretty Life Girls
DIY Modern Dollhouse Tutorial featured by top US craft blog, The Pretty Life Girls
So cozy, right? I think I'm ready to move in!

DIY Modern Dollhouse Tutorial featured by top US craft blog, The Pretty Life Girls

DIY Modern Dollhouse Tutorial featured by top US craft blog, The Pretty Life Girls
DIY Modern Dollhouse Tutorial featured by top US craft blog, The Pretty Life Girls

That's it! Now the hardest part is remembering that this DIY modern dollhouse is for your daughter not for you. (Hashtag control freak probs).

What fun projects do you have in mind to make with FolkArt Milk Paint? Give us the deets! And be sure to follow Plaid on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and via Email as they celebrate 40 years of crafting with more super cool new product launches!

ox. Liz

Check out these other fun projects for kids!

DIY Stitching Boards

DIY Kids Play Tent Tutorial featured by top US craft blog, The Pretty Life GirlsDIY A-Frame Play Tent

DIY Paint Brush Puppets

DIY Block City Table

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Comments

  1. Amy Latta says

    May 23, 2016 at 11:37 am

    This is over-the-top adorable! I can’t even handle it…aaaahhhhh! I want it for myself!!

    Reply
  2. Nicki Nef says

    May 23, 2016 at 2:32 pm

    Amazing!

    Reply
  3. Beverly {Flamingo Toes} says

    May 23, 2016 at 7:32 pm

    LOVE!!! That is the cutest dollhouse – you did such a great job!!

    Reply
  4. Erin Spain says

    May 25, 2016 at 6:53 pm

    Oh my gosh, that’s the cutest thing EVER! Think I could convince my 3 boys that they need one of these? LOL! Love it.

    Reply
  5. Kathy Owen says

    May 25, 2016 at 7:03 pm

    Cute as can be!

    Reply
  6. Efthimia Kotsanelou says

    May 26, 2016 at 7:27 am

    Beautiful! I love it!!! Very good work!

    Reply
  7. Emdub says

    October 17, 2019 at 12:55 am

    The company who made the frame, their link doesn’t work… Do you have an updated link?

    Reply
    • prettylifegirls says

      October 17, 2019 at 9:47 am

      Unfortunately it looks like they closed down their shop! Any unfinished wood dollhouse would work. We’d recommend searching on Etsy. Sorry we can’t be more helpful!

      Reply

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