Lunchbox Dollhouse

This was one of those projects that took weeks to come together, but was fun nearly every step along the way.  As the daughter of a high-school coach, my three year old niece gets brought along to games weekly for which she shows little to no interest at this age.  She plays with her “babies” for hours on end and I thought this might be a simpler way for her to bring babies and play house than dragging a bag full of dolls with her.

I started with a small purple metal lunchbox I found at my favorite Salvation Army store for  just a few dollars.  I went through my stash of scrap-booking paper and found a wood grained piece for the floor and bright colorful stripe for the wallpaper on the walls.  I traced the paper and cut out pieces so that it fit for the floor, and for the walls.  To adhere it to walls I laid a piece of cardboard in the snow, just outside the back door. On these I laid the pieces of paper upside down (one at a time) and gave them a quick spray with 3M Super 77 adhesive. I then quickly brought each piece and the super 77 in and adhered them to the lunchbox. Here in frosty MN when you don’t have a heated garage space, using aerosol adhesives can get tricky. The spray worked better than I expected. You can see the floor and the walls in the photo below.

Since it was the holidays, I wanted to give the dollhouse some festive decorations.  I found the holiday lights in the scrapbooking section on sale for about $2.00.   I then found an old magnet and applied some of the left over wall paper to the magnet with super 77.  I cut it into small pieces then used a piece of tape to adhere the lights every few inches to the magnets.  They will now stick to the wallpaper and ceiling allowing holiday lights to hang, but also blend in to the paper. I also cut out the shape of Christmas tree on a piece of felt and attached the lights to the front and the magnets to the back with a dab of hot glue.

Every house needs some family photos framed and hanging on the walls, right?  I took photos of my nieces family, minimized them, put a black frame around them and then printed them in color. For fun I also found an image of a television, Candyland, some books and images of plates of food.  I then used the super 77 to adhere them to an old magnet (reuse!) and cut them out with a scissor.

I also found a table and bed at the Dollar Tree for $1.00 each along with some small figurines that could call the doll house home.

I removed the existing bedding on the bed and painted them both with an acrylic paint in a bright pink sure to impress my niece.  I took fabric and made a small pillow, sheet and blanket. In fact the fabric was the extra hem left over from my bridesmaids dress I wore in my niece’s parents’ wedding nearly ten years ago!

In the photo below you have a clearer view of the floor, and the dollhouse decorated.

For the finishing touch I used my Cricut and cut out my niece’s name with Vinyl to adhere to the outside.  I also gave her extra magnets if she’d like to decorate the lunch box herself.

Here is another view of the inside with the books and food and game on the table.

It was definitely a hit!  I hear she has used it quite a few times already!

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