The dollar store is a great place to find cheap, inexpensive supplies for your DIY dollhouse furniture and accessories.
I was recently shopping at our local Dollar Tree store and was so excited by all the different things I found that would be perfect for making dollhouses!
While you certainly need to be discerning about what you get and it’s quality, we found some really adorable things our last trip there! So we’ve decided to make a list of all the things to look for when shopping at the dollar store for your dollhouse.
Here’s our Dollar Store Dollhouse Shopping List:
Battery Operated Tea Lights
These little lights can be used in a number of ways, for lighting fixtures, for a fireplace glow – you name it!
Hair Clips & Accessories
We found all sorts of cute hair clips and barettes and headbands and more that would make for excellent accessories and decor in the dollhouse! You can use hair clips as creative lamp bases or even use them to make vases.
Bobby pins can also be useful for holding together pieces of foam for making furniture and more – just add a dab of glue to secure!
Socks
Dollar Store socks come in all kinds of colors and patterns and sizes, and this would be great fabric to use for bedding, or a rug, or even curtains!
Artificial Flowers
I was surprised to see an artificial flower section, and there were some cute ones that could be used for different things. They also even had packages of mini-rose petals!
Floral Wire
Floral Wire is great for making things like hangers, bending and twisting into a number of furniture pieces and accessories, fastening things together and more.
Toothpicks
Great for just about anything, and it even came in a cute canister. If you need a LOT of toothpicks, it’s probably more economical to buy at a big box retailer, but we loved the canister it came in!
Small Photo Frames
What can you do with a photo frame? Make a decorative coffee table, or snag one of the small sized ones for a large photo or mirror. You could even use them to build a bed.
Binder Clips
These are great to use as clamps when gluing and assembling dollhouse furniture and accessories.
Washi Tape
Know that super expensive cute patterned tape? Yup – the dollar store by me now carries all kinds of washi tape and duct tape with cute patterns! You can use the tape in all sorts of ways to decorate items.
Stickers
I LOVE stickers and they can be cute for a number of different dollhouse DIY projects. For example, you could make a character themed room and use the stickers as wall decals!
There are also many stickers now for card and scrapbook making at some dollar stores, so these can be great to use for easy wall decor.
Greeting Cards
We found a number of greeting cards that you could use the photos or verses for and make some cool wall art with!
Beads
Beads have a lot of different uses in dollhouses, and it’s always good to have some on hand! They can be used for making lamps and many other accessories for your dollhouse!
Jewelry
Our dollar store doesn’t have a lot of jewelry and it’s not always the highest of quality but sometimes you can find some nice things that will work well for various decor and accessories.
Most of the items like bracelets and necklaces are seasonal so it’s something to check around the different holidays for what might be in stock.
Popsicle Sticks
Popsicle sticks are a great thing for many uses! I’ve built a lot of miniature dollhouse furniture out of popsicle sticks!
Assorted Toys
The toys at the dollar store aren’t the greatest quality, but with some paint you can give them a decent makeover!
Last time we were there they had some very cute animal toys that would make for interesting decor and accessory items in a dollhouse. You could also add a dinosaur for a bit of whimsy!
Party Favors
You might be surprised what you can find in the party supply section! We found cute little baby carriages for a baby shower that would be perfect for a dollhouse, as well as some miniature trophies. I’m still trying to think what I might make with plastic skinkies!
Foam
Our dollar store sells both floral foam and craft foam forms as well as foam sheets. You can carve and cut just about anything out of foam!
Stones & Pebbles
Use for making a fireplace, stairs or path leading to the entranceway or in the dollhouse garden.
Floral Marbles
So many uses for these glass gems! They are basically marbles, but they come in flat shapes and multi-colored too! These are another great thing to use for walkways, paths and fireplaces.
Floral Moss
Floral moss is great for the dollhouse garden or if you’re creating a nature/fairy inspired scene.
Decorative Sand
Build a miniature sandbox or accent your walkway, or maybe use for a beach scene. You can also use decorative sand for adding texture or mixing in with joint compound for a stucco effect.
Plastic Containers
Dollar stores sell all kinds of plastic containers, from larger shoebox sized tubs that are good for storing your supplies from small travel containers you can repurpose to build for furniture and accessories.
Cotton Balls
You can use cotton balls in a lot of different ways – they are perfect for stuffing cushions and pillows! They are also very useful for cleaning items if you accidentally get paint somewhere you don’t want it.
Q-tips
These can be great for painting or can be used for adding other paint finishing details to small pieces. They’re also useful for cleaning hard to reach places.
Paperclips
There are so many things you can do with paperclips! They are great for using as bendable wire or you can even make miniature hangers with them.
Push Pins
Push Pins can be handy to use as decorative furniture legs or for attaching items together – just be sure to secure with some strong multi-surface glue so they don’t come loose.
Ribbon
We were really impressed by the nice selection of ribbon at our local store! Ribbon can be used as upholstery covers or you can use it to tie and decorate different accessories.
Sponges
Sponges have all sorts of great uses for making dollhouses and accessories! You can use the sponges as sofa cushions, beds, pillow stuffing and more. You can even use more abrasive sponges, such as steel wool sponges for distressing things you paint for a rustic shabby chic style.
There are so many great finds at Dollar Tree {did I mention you can order from Dollar Tree online?} and I am sure as I find and discover more things I will update this list. They often carry seasonal items, so you never know what you can find!
Have you found anything cool at the dollar store for your dollhouse DIY projects you’d like to share with us? Anything else we should add to our shopping list? Tell us about it in the comments below!
I found small horses that I painted and hot-glued to foam for a rocking-horse.
That’s a great idea!
Containers of nail polish make excellent bottles.
Half of a picture frame makes a fireplace mantle.
Electronic accessories have unique little bits and pieces used for all sorts of things.
In the ‘Baby’ section of the store, you can find baby washcloths, which can be made into bath towels or bedding for the dollhouse. In the boy’s toy section, I found some little trophies, which I painted and turned into nice plant pots for either side of the front door or garden spot. In the ‘Party’ section, there are rattles which can be separated and the rounded halves used as lamp shades. Some dollar stores also have unpainted miniature furniture.
I found wood grained contact paper that I used for my hardwood floors!
I get hot glue sticks, glitter and contact paper that looks like wood and granite fron the dollar tree, which also carried everything mentioned above!
Dollar Tree is great! Thrift stores too! 🙂
Baby face cloths cut up to make perfect towels for the dollhouse loo! Lots of great colours too.
Our dollar store has patterned duct tape in many great designs. I have seen miniature sofa throw pillows made from the zebra stripe, that were really nice. I have made a leopard design rug by cutting a length of patterned duct tape and sticking it to the shelf liner in the housewares section – the liner looks just like the non-slip liners that go under regular size rugs. The dollar store also sells checkers games, and a game similar to Jenga. The checkers are 1″ in diam. I (acrylic) painted three of the black ones dark brown, and three of the red ones with a deeper red color and used them for a layer cake. For the frosting layers I cut 3 1″ rounds of white Fimo/Sculpey clay that I had- 3 per cake, so that one was the top frosting layer I assembled and baked, per directions on pkg of clay, then decorated – One chocolate cake, and one red velvet cake. If you already do clay-ing, you probably already know you can use the dollar store clear nail polish as a glaze for your mini food items. The Jenga-style game comes with plain wood pieces that can be used for making tables, shelves, lawn chairs, whatever. There are also buttons in the toy section that are shaped like flowers. They are flat and come in an assortment of 7 pastel colors. Our store also has cloths for cleaning computer screens. One side of the cloth is the microbiber cleaning cloth and the other side is a beautiful silky pattered design. The edges are neatly finished and they are the perfect size for a be comforter. I found one in the perfect color/pattern for a little girl’s mini bed. H-m-m-m-m … maybe I should just write a book – LOL.
Great ideas! 🙂
Thanks for sharing your great ideas.
With a little imagination and creativity, binder clips can be made into handbags. Paper clips can be bent into coat hangers and push pins can be used as legs for a stool or sofa. There are examples of all of these online.
Love that idea!
I’ve used the ear buds as a shower head. I attach one to the dollhouse shower wall and the other as a hand held shower head.
On my last trip to the Dollar Tree, I bought some tools for working on my dollhouse. I got a set of 6 small screw drivers in a nice plastic case – (flat end and Phillips), a small level (6″), a 6-inch hacksaw and a set of 4 long, thin seafood forks. I thought they were for olives or pickles, but they will be a nice tool when working with FIMO clay and making things like mini lettuce leaves. These tools are just the right size to work on the dollhouse and drill, cut, level and shape the small items I make for my dollhouse.
Sounds like a good find!
I found this stuff called bouncy putty or bouncing putty mastic to make small clay creations. It’s almost exactly like the air dry clay that comes in the Poppit clay kits from Michaels. I’ve made cupcakes, lollipops, ice cream cones etc….. I also buy the tiny glitter jars meant for decorating fingernails. Those jars are useful in many ways. Mini 1:12 Yankee Candles, candy jars, food jars, canisters etc…. I’ve used the caps from many dollar tree items for pots, pitchers and canisters. The glue stick and chapstick caps are my favorite for canister making. Hairspray caps work well too.
My dollar store sometimes has plain wooden doll furniture in 1:12 size: chairs, tables, dressers. The drawers don’t open and the joints are sloppy. But with some sanding and painting or staining they can be improved.
I made patio doors out of a double picture frame. The medium sized frames that you can put two pictures into
I love that idea! Thanks for sharing!
The tiny plastic bottles of nail decor (stars, etc.) make great jars of “sprinkles” for a baking scene. Nail decals make great ornaments for cannisters, etc. I used tatoos on clear glass to make gorgeous dishes! The foam on makeup applicators make great bath mitts and the handles can become bath sponge handles. Tines from plastic forks make great handles (with pom poms) for dish scrubbers and bath sponges. The cardboard stick from a Q-tip is great for a flag or wall hanging. Short lengths of velvety ribbon are good for door mats. Colored paper clips cut in short lengths, stuck onto clear tape folded over makes a great set of felt tip markers. Black gravel is good for filling coal shuttles. Painted partially gray and sprinkled with red and copper glitter looks like glowing coals in the fireplace grate or campfire.. Stick on rhinestones make great light fixtures esp in smaller scales. Tiny ones are good for jewelry and buttons. Brown eyeshadows give Fimo or air dry clay “bread/rolls/etc.” a just baked look. And plastic blister packs make “Pyrex” baking pans. Pipe cleaners make great teddy bears and other small animals. Floral tape sandwiched onto wire makes plant leaves. Bamboo teriyaki sticks are good for curtain rods, tipped with a bead, flag poles, and wall hanging rods. I love our local Dollar Tree (Augusta, Maine).
These are super tips Kathy, thank you for sharing! I am going to have to try making some of these things! Sounds like you have a great dollar store!
Lots of sponges for making furniture, salt and pepper shakers in plastic “crystal” provide tops that can be used for fancy bowls and bottoms that make fancy floor lamp bases. Gift boxes in various sizes make good bases for beds and sofas. Toothbrush packs provide push broom heads. Napkin holders make bed head and foot boards. Make up sets have small mirrors and metal flats that can be pan or trays. Hankies make bed linens. Tweezers are good for making the furniture. You can often find small jewelry boxes covered in velvet or with feet and decorations. Stores that specialize in quinceanera or wedding supplies have lots of fun favors and decorations which convert to doll house furnishings.
These are wonderful ideas Janet, thank you for sharing! 🙂
Try pipe cleaner craft items and part of a kabob stick and you have a toilet brush.
My dollar tree has these crafts bags to make your own bird house or wooden bank…it’s all thin wood pieces great for making wood furniture like bookcase or shelves.
I can hardly wait to make a trip to our dollar store. So many excellent ideas! Thanks so much all of you kindred spirits!😊
I found very small bottles and jars that would be perfect for a dollhouse. Also the dollhouse tables, chest and dressing tables.