Literally 3 years ago we made this super fun dollhouse bookshelf, but being the busy mom that I am, but I never got around to publishing it because I had more ideas about what I wanted to create to go with it. Well, I FINALLY got some help from my graphic designer to paint some cool furniture and then with the help of my old home show photos, I added to her lovely creations and the winner is you!! Now you get a detailed plan for building this doll house and a HUGE set of printable furniture and decor for this month's Canon partnership post.
EEK! It is just so fun I can't even tell you!
Dollhouse Bookshelf Building Plans
With Free Printable Furniture
Click Here to Get a Free Printable Version of This Building Plan
Click Here to Get the Printable Dollhouse Furniture
*All Remodelaholic building plans, tutorials, and printables are for personal, non-commercial use only. Use it, gift it, but don't alter it, sell it or otherwise distribute the print or the file. Thanks!
Tools List
- Table Saw
- Miter Saw
- Drill
- Tape measure
- Pencil
- Brad Nail gun
- 1 ¼” 18ga brad nails
- Router
- Circular Saw
- Jig Saw
- Paint tools
Materials List
- (4) 1×6 Pine Boards
- (1) 1×8 Pine Boards
- (1) Sheet of ¼” plywood
- (1) 36” x 48” sheet of sheet metal
- (15+) 1” wood grabber screws
- Wood Glue
- Thin Double stick tape
- Paint of your choice
- Stain of your choice
Cut List
Front and Side View
**NOTE** We made the shelves shallow so that the doll house didn't take up too much space! However, you could totally make this with a 1 x 8 or even a 1 x 10 for the side depth to make the shelves deeper
Frame
- (2) 48 ½” x 5 ¼” x ¾” – Sides (see note above)
- (1) 35 ½” x 5” x ¾” – Top
- (1) 37” x 5 ¼” x ¾” – Bottom
- (2) 35 ½” x 5 ¼” x ¾” – Shelving floors
Roof
- (2) 29” x 6” x ¾” – Roof Pitch
- (1) 17 ¾” x 5” x ¾”- Middle Truss
- (2) 12 5/16” x 5” x ¾” – Angled Truss
Doors
- (1) 15” x 5 ¼” x ¾” – Top Floor
- (1) 15 1/4” x 5 ¼” x ¾ – Bottom Floor
Back
- (1) 36” x 48” – Sheet Metal
- (1) 66 ½” x 36 ½” x 1/4” – Plywood Back
Front Door Facade
- 23 ½” x 13 ½” x ¾” – Front Panel
Roof Trim
- (2) 11 1/16” x 1 ⅛” x ¾” – Roof Pitch
- (1) 13 ½” x ¾” x ¼” – Bottom Truss Trim
- (1) 6” x ¾” x ¼” – Middle Truss Trim
- (2) 4” x ¾” x ¼” – Angle Truss Trim
Door Trim
- (2) 12 ¾” x ¾” x ¼” – Side Door Trim
- (1) 7 ½” x ¾” x ¼” – Top Door Trim
Construction Steps
Tip: After you get all the pieces cut, paint and/or stain them the color you want before assembling them together. I color washed our wood rather than painting it solid see the tutorial for this technique at the link.
Step One: The Frame
- (2) 48 ½” x 5 ¼” x ¾” – Sides
- (1) 35 ½” x 5” x ¾” – Top
- (1) 37” x 5 ¼” x ¾” – Bottom
- (2) 35 ½” x 5 ¼” x ¾” – Shelving floors
Start off by Build frame cutting out the sides, top and bottom of the frame. Notice that on each end of the sides they are mitered different. On the top it is mitered out at 45 degrees for the roof pitch and on the bottom it is mitered in 45 degrees to match up with the bottom.
On the back of the all the frame boards you need to route out a ½” wide x ¼’ deep rabbet space where the back will be nailed in. They will all have a rabbet joint except the top piece.
Step Two: Shelving floors
- (2) 35 ½” x 5 ¼” x ¾” – Shelving floors
Cut the shelves to width and length and nail them in place. The shelf above the bottom will be 15 ¼” above the bottom shelf and the shelf above that will be 15” from the top. These are the same heights as the top floor and bottom floor doors.
Step Three: Roof
- (2) 29” x 5” x ¾” – Roof Pitch
Cut the boards to length and width. Miter one end of the boards at a 45 degree angle where with top pitch comes together. Rabbet out one of the sides on the back at ½” wide and ¼” deep. Again this is where the back will be installed later. Nail the roof in place with a 2 1/16” overhang from the side.
Step Four: Roof Trusses and doors
- (1) 17 ¾” x 5” x ¾”- Middle Truss
- (2) 12 5/16” x 5” x ¾” – Angled Truss
In between the roof add the middle truss and the angles trusses. The middle truss has a mitered point on one end and just flat cut on the bottom. The angled trusses have a 45 degree miter on the bottom and flat cut on the top.
Here are the dimensions for the door ways. One for the bottom floor and a shorter version for the top floor. Use a jig jaw to cut out the door opening. Nail them in place with a brad nail gun. Be careful to keep the gun straight so the nails don’t shoot out crooked.
The doors are at 12” to fit a doll the size of a Barbie.
Step Five: Back
- (1) 66 ½” x 36 ½” x 1/4” – Plywood Back
Cut out the back to size with a circular saw.
Step Six: Sheet Metal
- (1) 36” x 48” – Sheet Metal
Attach the sheet metal on the back piece with double stick tape just to temporarily hold it in place. Center it on the back with ¼” of space on each side and along the bottom.
Optional: If I were to do this again, I would have painted my sheet metal with either spray paint OR the roll n version of the oil based spray paint in cans.
Step Seven: Attach Back
Mark the center of the floors and trusses on the back of the back for reference. Place the back in the rabbet joints of the frame. Nail on the back with brad nails along the sides and use screws on the reference lines. The screws will give it a stronger hold.
Step Eight: Front Door Facade
- 23 ½” x 13 ½” x ¾” – Front Panel
Cut the panel to size and cut out the door with a jig saw. Attach the front panel with wood glue and brad nails.
Step Nine: Front Door Facade Roof
- (2) 11 1/16” x 1 ⅛” x ¾” – Roof Pitch
Cut the boards to length and width with one 45 degree mitered edge and a flat edge. Nain in place with brad nails.
Step Ten: Roof and Door Trim
Roof Trim
- (1) 13 ½” x ¾” x ¼” – Bottom Truss Trim
- (1) 6” x ¾” x ¼” – Middle Truss Trim
- (2) 4” x ¾” x ¼” – Angle Truss Trim
Door Trim
- (2) 12 ¾” x ¾” x ¼” – Side Door Trim
- (1) 7 ½” x ¾” x ¼” – Top Door Trim
Finish up the roof trim. Star with the bottom truss trim with 45 degree mitered ends. Cut the middle truss trim to length with a 45 degree point on the top and a flat cut on the bottom. Next cut the two angle truss trim pieces with a 45 degree cut on the bottom ends. Glue and nail on the trim to the facade.
One thing you can do before you glue on the roof truss and door trim pieces would be to stain them a different color than the facade. This just makes things easier.
Now finish up with the door trim. Start with the sides then add the top.
You are finished with construction of the dollhouse!!
Time to decorate!
For the walls, I found some small scale neutral patterned scrapbook paper to use on the walls. Technically even the 12 x 12 paper was to small for the spaces, so I had to tape the backs together and carefully match patterns. If you do add a paper “wallpaper”, be sure to keep the paper only one layer thick, so that it doesn't interfere with the magnetic printables.
As a side not, like I mentioned earlier if I were to do this over, I would paint the metal backing. That way I could skip this wallpaper step.
Now, all you have to do is download the furniture and decor printables. There are about 15 pages, you don't have to print them all, but the fun part is that you have a huge variety of options, and I literally had so much fun re-decorating each space a few times for photos, and my daughters were dying to have a go at playing with it themselves!
I printed them on Magnetic printable paper that I ordered from Amazon, you can check them out for yourselves, I've included and affiliate link. I actually tried two kinds. Both worked great, although I liked the photo paper with a slight sheen on the printer better than the flat version of the non-photo paper, but the flat paper was a better price. I have considered laminating the flat version (but I am not sure how well the magnets would wok after, so just keep that in mind)
Once I got the paper I liked, I printed it out on my Canon PIXMA MG7720 printer, not only is it BEAUTIFUL (I LOVE the gold color of the printer), it works like a charm!! To be safe I loaded one magnetic sheet at a time.
The beauty of the printable is that if an item is “loved” a LITTLE too much you can just reprint a sheet.
There are SO many options you guys for printables, here are some of the rooms I staged with the printables we've provided:
Or this:
Or this… I mean seriously the possibilities are endless.
We made the shelves shallow so that the doll house didn't take up too much space! However, you could totally make this with a 1x 8 or even a 1x 10 to make the shelves deeper, and then you could modpodge the printables to small checks of wood like cut up 2×6's or what not to make the furniture more 3 dimensional.
We are so happy to be working with Canon this year to bring you all some easy do at home printer projects. Please help us share the word about these fabulous projects! And check out the Canon PIXMA MG7720, it is a beautiful and USEFUL addition to any office or craft room.
See more of our Canon print-at-home projects plus all of our free printables HERE — these would make great gifts 😉
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