How To Make Dollhouse Furniture From Cardboard?

I’ve made so many pieces of dollhouse furniture from cardboard over the years, and honestly, it’s still one of my favorite ways to build. It’s cheap, eco-friendly, and you probably already have the materials lying around the house.

What I like most is that cardboard is super forgiving: you can cut, layer, bend, and paint it into just about anything. I’ve built chairs, little sofas, and even a few quirky pieces that wouldn’t exist in any store.

In this guide, I’ll walk you through the basics I always use when working with cardboard, plus a few tricks I’ve picked up after a lot of trial and error (and glue-covered fingers 😅).

Updated 28/08/25

Tools & Materials You’ll Need for Cardboard Mini Furniture

When I make cardboard furniture, I try to keep the supplies simple. Here’s what I actually use most of the time:

• Sturdy cardboard – from shipping boxes or food packaging (avoid thin cereal boxes, they bend too easily).
• Sharp craft knife or box cutter – scissors can crush the edges, so a knife is better for clean cuts.
• Cutting mat – saves your table and helps with straight lines.
• Ruler & pencil – a metal ruler works best for guiding cuts.
• Glue – I use Aleene’s Tacky Glue, but wood glue or PVA glue also works.
• Clips or clamps – to hold parts together while they dry.

Optional, but handy:

• Bone folder or old butter knife – to score folds for neat edges.
• Sandpaper (fine grit) – to smooth out raw edges before painting.
  

That’s it: nothing fancy needed, unless you would make something like my cardboard sofa in the video below, then some fabrics and foam come in handy 😉

Designing and Planning Your Cardboard Dollhouse Furniture

Before grabbing the glue, it’s worth spending a little time on planning. I know from experience (and a few crooked chairs 😅) that a bit of sketching and measuring first saves a lot of frustration later.

Here’s how I usually approach it:

• Get inspired – Look around online, in magazines, or even at real furniture. On my blog, I’ve shared styles like Shabby Chic or Victorian, and more. Personally, I think modern is easiest to pull off with cardboard.
  
• Measure your space – Take the room or wall in your dollhouse and write down the dimensions. That way, you don’t end up making a sofa that won’t fit through the “door.” You can use my handy scale converter tool to get it right.
  
• Rough sketches – A simple pencil sketch is enough. No need to be an artist here.
  
• Think practical – Do you want the furniture just for looks, or do you want your dolls to actually “use” it? That changes how sturdy you’ll need to make it.
  
• Reinforce smartly – Cardboard can bend, so plan where you’ll add extra strips or double layers to keep things from sagging.
  
• Do a test run – If you’re unsure, cut a mini prototype from scrap cardboard first. It’s way easier to adjust now than after you’ve gone all in.
  

You can measure furniture for your dollhouse with the help of my conversion tool!

Exactly like I did for the miniature kitchen of my mini treehouse:

Step-by-Step Assembly: A few examples

Once you’ve got your cardboard, glue, and a bit of patience, the possibilities are endless. The trick is to start small and build up your skills. Here are some of my own tutorials you might like to try:

1 Queen Anne Wing Chair

A classic upholstered armchair with curved wings and realistic texture.

What you need is cardboard, fabrics, paper tissues, UHU glue, scissors, a needle and thread (use a color that matches the fabrics), some paper, and chopsticks. All measurements are seen during the video, and this is on a scale of 1:12.

2 A large pink dollhouse sofa

As seen in the featured image of this blog post, it is this, quite pink lol, large mini sofa.

Other things you need are: kitchen tissues, (UHU) glue (or a glue gun if you want a quick fix as I did for the video), scissors, clear tape, and flexible textiles. That’s all!

Click on the picture below to take you to the actual video tutorial:

3. Dollhouse chairs from cardboard.

You can also use this dollhouse chair DIY PDF Pattern by Gwynne Ross, made from cardboard.

4. My dollhouse kitchen furniture, made from cardboard.

How about this crafting project: a dollhouse kitchen made from a box, so cardboard, and papercraft!

Again, please click on the picture below to take you to the actual tutorial!

My Final Conclusion

I hope that you enjoyed this blog post on how to make dollhouse furniture from cardboard, but if you have any more questions, please feel free to leave them below in the comment section.

You can also join (one of) my social media channels below or my cozy Facebook group, where you can also sell your miniatures!

I wish you happy crafting!

Kind regards,

Lizzy

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related article:

• How to make DIY dollhouse furniture?