A Bookshelf Turned Dollhouse

First of all, I want to apologize for not having the weekly Link Party on Tuesdays, Ginger Jamboree. I'm having issues with my InLinkz account and have to get all of that squared away before I can host another linky party. Hopefully that will be figure out before next week!


One of the gifts we gave our girls for Christmas was a dollhouse that we made out of a bookshelf! I had pinned some DIY dollhouse images on pinterest and decided that the easiest way to make one was just to fix up a small bookshelf. Luckily my parents had one just the right size that they weren't using. Here is what we started with...

And here is the finished dollhouse:

Pretty fun, huh? I love how simple it is, allowing the girls to use their imaginations to make each room whatever they want. The furniture is constantly being rearranged.

My dad took the bookshelf and added some vertical pieces of wood and a scrap piece of beadboard for the back. This is how he handed it over to us.

We then painted the entire thing white

I simply Mod Podged some scrapbook paper on the back for "wallpaper" and we found some scraps of carpet for a few of the rooms.

I found the adorable Melissa and Doug dollhouse family on Amazon.

And the furniture is yet another find from my parents. It's all 1960's dollhouse furniture that my mom bought a few years ago at an estate sale and never ended up using. I had to paint and "reupholster" some of it.  We have extra piece of furniture that don't quite fit, but the girls can switch them out and always be changing the dollhouse.

I'm so glad they love it as much as I do! And it really was a pretty quick project to put together. I think the most challenging part was finding a shelf that was the right size. Most bookshelves would be way too big to make into a traditional dollhouse.

I spotted a tiny ceramic tea set at Hobby Lobby for under $5 that I may have to snag to add to the fun!