Playing with the packing box - my new Dollhouse

Sometimes I get the urge to make something - or "Craft" as I call it. I had this urge a few weeks ago and oddly enough an opportunity presented itself out of nowhere. I had just visited the Little Dollhouse Company in Toronto to pick up a couple of sheets of dollhouse wallpaper.

After making my purchases I was walking to the bus when I happened to glance into an alley behind a drug store. There were several 'Point of Purchase' cardboard display shelves set out for recycling, and do you know what they looked like to me? Dollhouses!!

The living room

I dithered a bit on what to do with this wealth of raw materials, but the displays were all about 4 feet high, so I finally decided I could take only one of them as I had to go home on city transit.

The dining room

My Mount Vernon prints look great in here

I had almost forgotten I had these wonderful Reutter Porzellan sets. 

I had fun setting up the kitchen with things that had been packed away

I bought the little wine bottles in Paris when  was there with CM

I love the deco look of the living room

I found the orignal painting over the table in Italy and the tea set was a gift
from my friend when we visited the Mount Vernon gift shop in May

I took out all the shelves and folded them flat, then put them in my shopping bag. Then I folded the outside of the display flat and put it under my arm. The inside pieces of the shelves kept flapping around so I tied the thing closed with some string I found in the alley

The flower arrangement is also from Paris.

Here is my finished five room townhouse

The before picture of the cardboard display case

And, the After. I put some marble patterned shelf paper on the outside to cover the advertising

The bedroom at the top of the house

The wallpaper here is a wrapping paper and it didn't glue well. I will probably re-do it.

The maid is preparing the dining room for the next meal.

The ladies bedroom has such lovely furniture - I think it is Hanssan

I love the kitchen

To get home I had to catch the bus to the subway, change to a second subway line, then change again to another bus to get to my house. A daunting task with a four foot by fourteen inch unruly piece of folded cardboard under one arm and a bag full of folded cardboard and dollhouse wallpaper under the other.

Of course the handles on the shopping bag broke as I was exiting the first bus, causing all the other passengers to bottle neck up behind me as I tried to get my cardboard treasure back in order.

I did manage to get everything down the stairs and on to the train, but as luck would have it the train was crowded and there were no seats.


I set the display wall on the floor and balanced the bag of cardboard, which had become quite heavy, on it as I clung to the pole and tried to keep myself and my treasure out of the way of the other passengers.

I changed subway lines and did the balancing act all over again. The train was even more crowded on this leg of the trip, but I finally managed to get me and my treasures off the subway, up the stairs and on to the bus for home.

Once home I set up the display again with its shelves back in place and, miraculously, it was none the worse for wear.

Over the next several days I had so much fun, putting in wall and floor papers and digging out furniture and accessories that I had packed away when the focus of my collection had turned to antique houses.

Pulling out all the lovely new(ish) furniture was like seeing old friends and I remembered the excitement I felt when I first acquired them.


I didn't put a lot of effort into making my new townhouse perfect. The papers don't necessarily line up, and I didn't bother with doors or windows or stairs.

I am very pleased with the final product, though, and I had the urge to run out and drag more cardboard display shelves home.

I restrained myself when I realized that I don't have room for more of these beauties and that I have several dollhouses in the garage that need my attention too.


The rooms measure approximately 14" deep by 14" wide by 8' or 9" high. They are the perfect size my furniture.


With a little more care a beautiful townhouse could be made out of these boxes. The cardboard floors would need some reinforcement as they sag in the middle, and if I was making a permanent house I would line up the wallpaper more carefully and I would put in baseboards and crown moulding, plus maybe some window detail.


But seeing as this was a 'Craft" project and I had such fun doing it, it is just fine for me.


I hope everyone enjoyed the tour. Try making one yourself. It's worth the effort!