If you have young children, you might just want to open the box, set up the rooms, and start playing immediately. Some families also enjoy the process of slowly decorating a dollhouse room by room, and looking at sites like Etsy for just the right pieces, or even making them from scratch.
If you have a five-room unfurnished dollhouse and sets start at $20 each, that can add up quickly and cost as much as the structure itself. If sets are sold separately, make sure to note the prices.
When you're looking at a dollhouse, check to see whether it comes furnished-many come with only a limited number of pieces. Barbie homes, for example, are scaled at 1:6. Remember that the smaller the second number, the bigger the house. Many dollhouses are scaled at 1:12 (that means if something is 12 inches in real life, it's equivalent to one inch in miniature). When furnishing your dollhouse, the word to remember is scale. The Spruce / Charlene Petitjean-Barkulis Furniture If you buy a dollhouse that's made of untreated wood, you can also paint or stain it yourself. If you're planning to give the dollhouse as a gift, you may want to put it together in advance to avoid having impatient kids bothering you as you're building. Reading shoppers' reviews can give you a sense of how difficult the process is. Some dollhouses come already assembled, especially smaller plastic ones, but most require at least a little work. There are also plastic houses that are lightweight and easy to wipe down. Particleboard also tends to be less durable than solid wood, but on the flip side, also less expensive. Some are made of plastic, which is easy to keep clean, but may be more prone to cracks. Most dollhouses can be made of solid wood, particleboard, or a mix of the two. Some are attractive enough that you'll be proud to display them in your living room. Toddlers may appreciate having a smaller, more lightweight house that's easier for them to manage and even carry around. You'll want to consider whether or not you want it on the floor or a table, and also whether you want something that folds up and can be stored in a closet, or whether you don't mind having it out all the time. It’s a great piece that will be a big part of my kiddo’s memories.The Spruce / Charlene Petitjean-Barkulis What to Look for in a Doll House Dimensions and shapeĪ dollhouse is an investment not just in money, but in space as well. “Every detail is thought of and executed beautifully in this house,” raves one reviewer, “his will last quite a long time.”Īnother reviewer says her daughter “can play there for hours just creating stories with her dolls,” and others also report that it keeps little ones “busy for hours” or that it’s “for sure a toy that gets played with on a daily basis for hours at a time.” Lots of reviewers, who had their own Barbie Dreamhouses as kids, agree with this mom who writes, “There’s no substitute! At least not for me! My 8-year-old daughter is ecstatic over her new Dreamhouse, which is the same design my sister and I owned 40 years ago.
More expensive than most other dollhouses, reviewers say the extra features make it worth the cost: “It has the sounds of a flushable toilet (too cute), a fan that works, a sink with running water sounds and tooth-brushing sounds, as well as an aquarium that turns,” one explains. With three floors, seven rooms, more than 70 accessories, and a working elevator, the classic Barbie Dreamhouse is reviewers’ pick for the best overall dollhouse.