Do you know that feeling when you're shopping, and your eyes are searching for miniature items everywhere?
Now, we'll help you discover what you can find at home for your doll when you look around the household. For lovers of BJDs, Barbies, and other dolls, finding the right size and style of accessories is often a challenge. However, many everyday items can be creatively used to furnish your diorama or simply brighten up the background for a photoshoot. Let's take a look at what treasures you can find at home!
Reimagining Everyday Objects
Let’s start by looking around the kitchen. Sauce bowls, the creamer jug from a coffee set, or an antique salt shaker with a small spoon—depending on their size, these can be perfect for a 1/4 or 1/3 BJD. For larger dolls, a jar lid can serve as a tray, and for Barbies, a beer cap can work too, while toothpicks can be chopsticks.
Check the drawers as well — your desk can be a real goldmine for furnishing your dollhouse! Keychains, erasers, pencil sharpeners, USB drives—all of these offer endless variations in miniature objects, so you can easily acquire food, drinks, plush toys, or even a camera or a globe. An old mini planner or notebook can become any book if you print a cover for it.
Don’t forget the bathroom and the vanity! Many cosmetic jars can be repurposed as decorative storage boxes, vases, or ornaments. Cosmetic product samples often match a BJD’s size perfectly — Avon, for example, had super cute, lifelike lipstick samples. The bottles of shower gels and shampoos from hotels are also perfect for a 1/4 or 1/3 BJD.
Finding some dollhouse furniture also isn’t a mission impossible. Jewelry boxes often resemble tiny pieces of furniture, which can be suitable for a Barbie or even a smaller BJD’s room. However, even a simple velvet-covered box can be transformed into an elegant seat, and any beautiful box, depending on its size and material, can become a table, chest, or small cabinet.
You might also have an old cassette or CD holder that’s no longer in use. These can easily be turned into shelves or a wardrobe. Wooden or bamboo bathroom organizers or tea storage boxes can also be used for this purpose, and they might even be more aesthetically pleasing when stood vertically to create a shelf or cabinet.
Finally, don't forget about the walls and floors, which can make your diorama feel more cozy! A thicker woven or crocheted doily can serve as a rug, or if you prefer natural materials, you can use the bamboo mat from a sushi-making kit. If your have a larger diorama with a window, this could even be turned into a cool blind.
You can decorate the rooms with posters by finding a nice postcard. Or perhaps your doll’s taste is better reflected by a basketball card or a card from a tarot deck?
Some Fun Facts
Get to know some miniature items that weren’t originally intended for dollhouse furnishings but are still found in many households in certain parts of the world. In Eastern Europe during the 60s, 70s, and 80s, collecting mini liquor bottles and mini books was very popular. Mini bottles are still available in stores today, containing real liquor and being exact replicas of the full-sized ones. They contain usually 4 or 5cl, so they fits bigger BJDs.
The production of mini books has gone out of fashion, but many were made during that time. Most of them, fitting the spirit of the era, were works by socialist writers, but there were also plenty of classic novels, and even painting albums.
Last but not least let’s mention card calendars, which, as the name suggests, are the size of playing cards, with a calendar on one side and an advertisement for a product or service on the other. These can make great retro posters to brigthen up your diorama. Of course, if you live in another part of the world, you might not find these on your grandparents' shelves, but can encounter them while browsing antique shops or flea markets.
By the way, does your doll have a phone holder to comfortably read our blog? „Yes, please, it’s a binder clip!”
In our next article, we'll dive into topics that will require a bit of crafting skills.
Share with us your ideas and the treasures you’ve found at home for your doll!