Taking a closer look at the 7 best DIY miniature dollhouse kits for adults today! We’ll explore some popular options, both currently available and those that have become vintage treasures.
This post highlights some of the best kits out there (in my opinion!), offering a mix of what’s on the market now and what’s become a collector’s dream. If you’re curious about the different types and brands available, this is a great place to start!
Updated 14.05.24
The best DIY miniature house building kits- in short.
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Our 7 Favorite DIY Miniature Dollhouse Kits For Adults On The Market.
So, here’s an overview of these 7 DIY miniature dollhouse kits. This way, if you are in a hurry, you don’t need to plow through my whole website 😉
#1: Robotime/Rolife.
Here’s a video of one of the kits from Robotime that I made myself.
Brand name
Robotime/Rolife
Scale
1:24
Pro’s
– Beautiful designs – Quite sturdy – Affordable (beware that Covid19 could have raised prices)
Contra’s
– Sometimes manuals aren’t clear or are not in English – it’s hard to find assistance – shipping can take a while
Our rating
9,1/10
The miniature kits from Robotime are one of my top favorites, at the moment. And as you could see in the video above, I have already made a few of my own and I have a lot more boxes waiting for me to assemble.
When I see a discount somewhere or on Black Friday etc, I just can’t help myself and I need to buy 😉
Here’s a picture of a Cutebee-kit that I created myself, but there are way more different styles, sizes, and shapes available. So I have a pretty good idea on what these are like!
Brand name
Cutebee.
Scale
Most of them are on a scale of 1:24 but there are also smaller scales (click on the red button below for full insight).
Pro’s
– cheaper than number 1 – very different designs, “cute” indeed – I love all the choices in kits, including the little canned boxes. (Huge collection!) (Click on the red button below for more)
Contra’s
– the manuals can be very hard to understand – a bit lower quality – more people are struggling harder to craft these
Our rating
8,9/10
It seems that these miniature kits from Cutebee are quite affordable, but have a little less quality in general. But still, people show very pretty projects on Facebook groups or Instagram pages.
Greenleaf is mostly known for its big Colonial-style dollhouse kits. It is one of the oldest producers of these kits in the USA. For a more extended overview of these kits, please click on the red button below!
Brand Name
Greenleaf.
Scale
Either in “full scale” (meaning 1-inch-scale or 1:12-scale), or “half-scale” ( which means on 1:24-scale).
Pro’s
– easy instructions/good manual – affordable prices for a decent quality – the recent designs can appeal to beginners as well as more experienced dollhouse builders
Contra’s
– some of the furniture kits seem to have not-so-good quality wood – if you are not happy with a kit, you need to pay to send it back
Our Rating
8,6
The choice of a particular dollhouse style is rather limited with these kits, but the ones available are surely very pretty.
They have been on the American market for a very long time and they have established their brand even more so today.
– These are probably the most affordable on the market I would think – These kits are made faster than the ones from Robotime, for example – expanded choice in size, from room boxes to big dollhouses
Contra’s
– manuals are in Chinese – depending on your personal taste: the design of these kits can look less pretty than the other brands ( that’s just my opinion )
Our ratings
8,3
Although Hongda and Hoomeda are not the same brands, I have put these 2 together in one blog post (see red button below), just because they look alike a lot. And honestly, making a separate blog post for Hoomeda only would be very short lol 🙂
– they are not complicated to put together – very good quality with decent wood
Contra’s
– they are not produced anymore, what a shame:-) – they are vintage, which can also mean that some of the kits can be hard to find for a reasonable price
Our Ratings
9,2/10
These vintage dollhouse furniture kits are sturdy and perfect for a makeover. Hence the good review here and in my full review below. (click on the red button below for a complete information article).
– Lots of times these kits include music boxes, that is different from the others – Apart from the manual not being in English, putting these together don’t seem too hard – Beautiful and original kits
Contra’s
– There is no English manual included – batteries and glue are not included – lots of people seem to have issues with the lights
Our Ratings
9,1/10
Not so much information is actually available for this brand of miniature kits.
This is the reason why I do not have a full review in a separate blog post, but I still wanted to mention this brand, because they do have some absolutely gorgeous kits!
These seem to be even smaller than the ones from Robotime/Rolife, although they claim to be on the same scale of 1:24!
– People seem to have a lot of fun building these! – Beautiful and original kits – If you love Japanese themed kits, you should buy from this brand! – although the manual isn’t in English, the pictures seem quite clear
Contra’s
– There is no English manual included, but Japanese – Not suited for beginners, as the manual isn’t in English – They are quite expensive for their size
Our Ratings
8,5/10
So, as I mentioned in the table above, these Japanese dollhouse kits are quite expensive seeing their size.
But people tend to love them though, thinking that they are very cute.
Hence why I gave this brand only 8,5/10, because of the price.
A few handy tools for DIY crafting dollhouse kits for you which you should always have besides you!
As with the other miniature kits, if there is no glue included or if you are running out of glue, I always tend to use grab-fast tacky glue. Preferably the one that you can put upside down!
Using a ‘Fingertip Crafting knife‘ from the brand called Fiskars’ is a very handy tool indeed to work with these kits!
Have spare electric wires (1mm) and heat shrinkable tubes available, because trust me: you will break a lot of them, especially in the beginning.
Other Miniature Kits
When I Google the term “the best miniature kits”, I sometimes see other websites referring to other “Brands” of miniature kits, like “Flever”.
It contains, for example, this cute greenhouse, which is actually from the brand called Cutebee (and you can see the full review in the link above)!
This greenhouse is from Cutebee and nót from “Flever”.
I know, it is tricky, it took me some time to figure this out as well 😉
Furthermore, of course, there are plenty of handcrafted wooden dollhouse kits available as well, and they sure have advantages over this list above.
A list of all the names of all the brands of dollhouse kits.
I have included another list that I found online of all the names that have been found so far from the brands mentioned earlier. This can be expanded in time.
I hope that I have helped you out (if you are in a hurry), in deciding which DIY miniature dollhouse kits you would like to start out with, or if you are looking for something else than the ones you are used to?
By now, I have written an extensive blog post on each and every one of these, but if you would like to add something, please leave a comment below or join me on my Facebook group. 😉
I would also appreciate it very much if you share my blog post with your friends!
Overall, very informative! I’m building the Japanese garden. This will build your patience! I’m building this for my daughter! Who is a very big fan of the Japanese culture! Remember to adapt, sometimes improvise and overcome!
Out of curiosity….. how many men are building these? I’m one, who are the rest!?
Thank you Jon!
I love the Japanese culture as well, their style is so delicate and elegant!
I tend to see about 80% of the visitors to my website to be female, so yes indeed you guys are in the minority haha, there are some amazing male miniature artists though, check out Kevin Jackson, for example 😉
Good luck with your project!
Lizzy
Thank you. This was helpful to me as I am just a beginner in the mini world
You are welcome 🙂
I wish you happy crafting!
Lizzy
Overall, very informative! I’m building the Japanese garden. This will build your patience! I’m building this for my daughter! Who is a very big fan of the Japanese culture! Remember to adapt, sometimes improvise and overcome!
Out of curiosity….. how many men are building these? I’m one, who are the rest!?
Thank you Jon!
I love the Japanese culture as well, their style is so delicate and elegant!
I tend to see about 80% of the visitors to my website to be female, so yes indeed you guys are in the minority haha, there are some amazing male miniature artists though, check out Kevin Jackson, for example 😉
Good luck with your project!
Lizzy