Wooden dollhouses are expensive. Make your own!

So I thought I'd put together a little round-up of some of my absolute favorite DIY dollhouses. A huge part of me is regretting not making one this year but it's something we'll definitely do in the future when Z and I can make it together -- probably for bigger dolls. So I guess you could call this, "How not to buy a wooden dollhouse."

Modern dollhouse:

Isn't this stellar? It's from Made by Joel. His blog is one of the ones that I click on immediately in my Reader when I see a new post. He's very talented and comes up with some great projects to do for kids and with kids. You don't need woodworking skills. The people who work at the "home improvement centers" will do a few cuts for you for free. This looks like one 1" X 6" cut into different widths and a few other bits.

Ikea Catalog Dollhouse:

This simple tutorial shows you how to take two pieces of cardboard or stiff posterboard and an Ikea catalog to make an awesome house. It's a great project you can do with your kid. From See the Woods and the Trees with an update here. I think that the Flor catalog would work well too. Great interiors.

Bookcase dollhouse:

I found this one ages ago at ohdeedoh. Unfortunately, the flickr account is no longer active so these are the only pictures we have. It's just a simple shelf with awesome furniture inside. You could easily customize this with scrapbook paper wallpaper and some handmade rugs.

Shelf Dollhouse:

Darlybird just appeared in my life via Grosgrain and was quickly added to my Reader. In a series of posts, she tells us everything she used to make this amazing dollhouse for her kids and includes links to some resources (like where to shop for that awesome re-ment stuff she's got in there). You'll need to read the first post, then click through to the series.

Foamcore Dollhouse:

Amy from Sweet Sweet Life posted a tutorial on how to make a dollhouse (similar to the Ikea catalog one) using foamcore. The tutorial is here, although the original idea came from Cookie Magazine (r.i.p., beloved tome). She made cute little dolls for it using pictures of Charlie and Lola. She has filled it with all kinds of mini goodness including some Calico Critters stuff that I recognize from my research. Amy's new blog is here.

Finally, there's always About.com. They have compiled a pretty good list of links for plans to make a real play dollhouse -- like cutting wood and stuff like that.

Next week I'll do a round-up post of making dollhouse furniture and more reviews. A couple sets have just arrived. For the rest of the dollhouse posts, click here then scroll to the bottom for links to the other posts. I'll get a link thing on the sidebar going sometime soon.

Oh, special thanks to everyone who was cool about letting me use their images. I contacted everyone I could find as these images don't belong to me.