How to put a small bit of wallpaper in your dollhouse...

In an earlier post I told how I put full walls of wall paper in a wooden doll house.  This post will tell how I do smaller bits of wallpaper... for example, a painted top and wallpapered bottom.  This method also works for installing borders.  Remember things look better in "thirds" rather than "halves".  (for example, paint 2/3 of the wall and wallpaper 1/3... or wallpaper 2/3 and paint 1/3...)

1. Measure and cut  your wallpaper
2. Always have your wallpaper go continuously around a corner... don't have it stop at a corner or a dark "gap" will show when you're all done.  To make this easier, crease/fold the wallpaper piece where the corner will end up.
3. Use an old magazine and lay a piece(s) of your wallpaper upside down on it.
4. Smear tacky glue all over the back of it, paying special attention to the edges.
5. Quickly go wash and dry your hands, or keep a wet rag handy to wipe the glue off your fingers before pressing the wallpaper into place.
6. Turn the magazine page, and you have another fresh surface for gluing the next piece!

How to make a quick dollhouse picture frame using a tissue box pattern...

If you have ever seen this pattern on a box of tissues, it works great for some quick doll house picture frames!  Just trim out a square and cut a picture to fit in the center, glue, and you're done!

Free printable dollhouse wallpaper

Here is some more "print your own" free doll house wallpaper... same pattern, just different colors.  As always, personal use only please, thanks!

Don't throw out those holiday cards, candy wrappers, or old calendars - yet!

You can make some quick, cheap gilt (gold) doll house picture frames by saving foil candy wrappers!  Cut out a picture (a small rectangle from a holiday card works well, or else one of the small pictures from the back of an calendar or calendar envelope).  Glue the picture in the middle of the wrapper, and fold the edges up until the picture is framed!  That's it!  Here are step by step pictures:

eat the chocolate :)

  smooth out the foil

 glue the picture to the center of the foil and start folding in the edges... you can cut a little from the long side like you see in the picture so that you don't end up with so much "bulk" at the corners.

Keep folding in the sides...

Use a tiny bit of glue to secure each corner. 

You're done and ready to hang the pictures in your dollhouse!

Give your dollhouse (or real house) some fine art... compliments of Benjamin Art Design

These are brought to you by special permission, THANK YOU Ray Benjamin!  I have made them miniature sized here for you to use in your doll house, but you can purchase the originals.  They even ship internationally, so if you really like one of the pictures you can check their website (www.benjaminartdesign.com) to see if it is still available.  These are watercolors:

These pictures are drawings and a watercolor by Ray's daughter's, also used by special permission... THANK YOU!!

Remember, all of these special miniature doll house prints are for PERSONAL USE ONLY.  To buy the original, see the website mentioned above.  


For ideas on hanging pictures see our earlier post.

Print your own miniature framed pictures for your doll house

Here are some miniature framed pictures you can print yourself for your dollhouse (you can print them smaller if these are too large for what you need).  Plus I'll put two gif files in for those of you who would like to have an empty frame to insert your own picture in.  Personal use only, please.  Thanks!  For ideas on hanging pictures see our earlier post.

Lavender / Purple doll house wallpaper downloads...

Here is some of the same dollhouse wallpaper as an earlier post, but in tones of purple and lavender.  I did it quickly using the tip posted earlier.  As always, personal use only please.  Thanks!  

Doll house butterfly wallpaper - free printable download!

Here is some more homemade dollhouse wallpaper... butterflies this time... personal use only, thanks!

Download a free printable log cabin wall / wallpaper for your dollhouse!

We used Lincoln Logs and Photoshop to create this doll house log cabin wall / wallpaper.  If I can ever get our comments working, I'd love to see what you all can do with this one!  Again, personal use only please.  Thanks!

More free printable dollhouse wallpaper and border for you to download!

Here are various kinds of pink flowered doll house wallpaper and border for you to use free for personal use.  Have fun!

This last one is a sheet of pink daisy border:

Free Printable dollhouse wallpaper: candy stripes with pink scallops and colored dots with pink bead border

Here are two more free doll house wall papers for you to download... You can trim the scallops or beads and hang it on a partially painted wall, or you can cover the whole wall with it.  As always, personal use only please.

Make your own homemade dollhouse fireplace

A fire place makes your dolls house look cozy and is very easy to make.  Find a photo of a fireplace that you like (do an image search for one, or else take your own picture of one).  Make sure the photo is straight on.  If it is taken at an angle it won't work.  Print the photo so that it fills a space approximately 3 1/8" high by 3 7/8" wide.  Cut a thin piece of wood or craft foam the same dimensions.  Cut a mantel from another thin piece of wood.  Glue the mantel to the top of the fireplace.  Paint the entire thing a coordinating color (brown if it's a wood fireplace, grey if it's a stone one, etc.)  When dry, glue on the fireplace picture.  Now, you are done, or you can coat it with some acrylic spray sealer to make it a little nicer.  You can glue the fire place to the wall, or use velcro to fasten it if you want it to be moveable.  You can also use a thicker piece of wood that will stand on it's own to make a completely free-standing fireplace that can be moved around on a whim.    This isn't a great picture, but here's a sample of one fastened to the wall:

And here's a couple pictures of a free-standing wooden dollhouse fireplace:

And here's one of a stone doll house fireplace: