dollhouse for boys

[moonlight]

Hello,

 

I am looking for crafty ideas for a dollhouse for my boys. They are 8 and 4 and I think they will enjoy playing with one...We have a wooden treehouse that they enjoy, and they have wooden people. I think they will enjoy one that they can furnish with some furniture. The problem is that most of the ones that we have seen are too "girly" looking for lack of a better word. Also, I live in Abu Dhabi, UAE so going to a specialty store is not an option.

 

I would like to make my boys a themed one somehow. I am not incredibly crafty, but will take all and any ideas you may have and go from there. I can imagine play silks and acorns and pinecones in it........but then I can also see a "man cave!!" lol....or a space ship center or something...

 

how can i give them a dollhouse feel, but something they would feel more comfortable with.. i've seen an idea for an ikea bookcase turned into a dollhouse that seems cool, but how would i decorate it if i did that??

 

If you have pictures or links, I'd love to see them for ideas...

 

thanks!

seema

[Daisy]

Costco has a huge firehouse for sale right now. It is very similar to a dollhouse but with a boy's type theme. Might be something that would spark your imagination?

[moonlight]

i so very much miss costco, i could cry!! :crying::crying::crying:

 

a firehouse could be a great idea especially cause you could put beds and other furniture in it...anyone have ideas how to implement that?

 

any other ideas??

 

seema

[AmyinMD]

Plan Toys has some very gender neutral dollhouses. We have this one and my 6 yo son plays with it frequently. I finally purchased it after trying for over a year to get my dh to build a similar one. It came unassembled and the box isn't a huge. It was fairly heavy though so shipping international may be cost prohibitive. My son had a "man cave" set up last week in the house.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Plan-Toys-PLN-7108-Terrace-Dollhouse/dp/B00009YOQO/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=toys-and-games&qid=1292354007&sr=8-5

[Jayne J]

What if you took a two shelf book case, and made the top shelf the sleeping area, and the bottom the garage area. Drill a large hole in the shelf that divides the two, and install a piece of copper pipe or wooden dowel from the top to the bottom as a fireman's pole. You could sew two curtains to velcro or glue to the front tops and draw windows and garage doors of the front with fabric paint or permanant markers. Wooden spools or sections of tree branch cut to the right height could be tables. Hmmm. If you are handy or have access to wooden blocks of the right size you could even draw a little stove and sink for a firehouse kitchen (draw "burners" and knobs on the top of a wooden block, etc.) Here are a few sites I found giving hints for making dollhouse furniture from household items:

 

http://angrychicken.typepad.com/angry_chicken/2006/11/makin_stuff.html

 

http://angrychicken.typepad.com/angry_chicken/2009/11/toy-theater.html

 

http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/the-perfect-dollhouse-708726/

 

http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/dollhouse-furniture-666547/

 

http://blog.jugglingfrogs.com/2007/08/how-to-make-doll-house-dining-room.html

 

This could be a lot of fun. But I do wish it were easier for you!:grouphug:

[moonlight]

awesome mamas....keep them coming....

 

last year, i got the boys a play kitchen and a wooden treehouse and a puppet theater...i made them some felt food and painted the wooden dolls....so it will be hard to beat that this christmas, but i would like to make them something meaningful and something handmade...

 

really digging the metal dowel thing. i can even picture just a towel rack type dowel thing...

 

i'm just afraid i'm starting way tooooooo late for a christmas gift...

 

seema

[Dmmetler]

My DD has a dollhouse bookcase. It's simply a wooden bookshelf, but with a slanted roof on top and windows cut in the sides, and it's pretty neutral, so would probably work well for boys (and could become a bookcase when it's not needed for doll/small toy play). I know Amazon sells them. Hers is plain white.

[bluemongoose]

I got my DS the fire station Costco is selling for Christmas too.

 

Can you do amazon? They sell it there too!

 

http://www.amazon.com/Kidkraft-Everyday-Heroes-Wooden-Station/dp/B0045O75AU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=toys-and-games&qid=1292362013&sr=8-1

 

if you look there are also similar ones listed.

[redsquirrel]

My boys loooove the dollhouse. Ours is a very plain homemade one but it is big...big enough for two kids to play side by side. I am thinking it could be very similar to the idea of a bookcase turnd dollhouse? Ours has no special 'decorations' to make it a 'boys dollhouse'. We just have very plain wooden furniture and a dollhouse family...we might have a couple families by now.

 

It has a living room, kitchen and a couple bedrooms and people. The furniture is plain and wooden. That's all they have ever needed.

 

Now, THEY have created their own 'themes' like when the dinosaurs moved in for a while.

 

I think they will get more use out of it if it is plain. That way, it can be whatever their imagination suggests.

[Rosie_0801]

I saw lentils used as floor tiles in one doll house book, fell absolutely in love with the idea and now desperately need to share it with everyone who talks about doll houses.

 

:)

Rosie

[Sahamamama]

I hope this idea will work for you and your boys. I hope I can explain it clearly.

 

If you have access to a small, two-door cabinet with adjustable shelves, some woodsy fabric, some acrylic paint, then you can make a very boy-friendly doll playhouse.

 

First, I'd recommend a cabinet that is not white. ;) Wood or wood-look would be more masculine. Assemble the cabinet, including the doors, but leave the back off for now.

 

The back of the cabinet will probably be cardboard. You can either paint this or cover it with fabric(s). I can't find the photos on the web now, but I've seen one done with two fabrics -- one for a "first floor" and another for the "second floor." The shelf becomes the floor to the second floor.

 

To decide where you will put the shelf, measure your dolls and leave enough head room. You could possibly sew the two fabric pieces together, since the seam will not show (the shelf will hide it). Cover the cardboard backing with the fabric. Perhaps you could stencil nature symbols on the sides of the "walls" inside the cabinet. If you have a set of Lincoln Logs, you might even glue some of the long, flat ones to the "ceiling" to create the look of wooden beams.

 

Add some furniture made out of sticks, pine cones, acorns, shells. Get your boys to weave a "carpet" from earth-toned wools or reeds. HTH.

[NineChoirs]

My boys have always loved castle based "dollhouses". They also enjoy building forts for their army men. They have often nabbed various pieces of my daughter's dollhouse furniture to furnish their various buildings with (anything that isn't pink is fair game to them :D).

[mommyagain]

This blog has some great ideas and free patterns.

[JenC3]

My kids are getting this one for Christmas and I guarantee my son will play with it the most.

[ChandlerMom]

You might have time before Christmas to start the project (form, doorways and such, base paint), or one part (fire pole or ramparts??) then let THEM help design the rest? Maybe each boy could choose a theme for half? A firehouse castle? They might really enjoy brainstorming and even helping build parts of it -- definitely something they'd remember. Might even be able to tie it into their history lessons. :lol:

[NineChoirs]

My kids are getting this one for Christmas and I guarantee my son will play with it the most.

Love the cabin!

[K&Rs Mom]

 

Here are some more ideas, mostly for furniture/accessories made from household stuff. I'm making a dollhouse for my girls out of one of those big wood kits, and using scrapbook paper for the inside walls and paint left over from our house for the exterior.