Hobbies And Interests
Wood and Cloth
The best way to make the most authentic-looking furniture for your dollhouse is to make it out of the same materials that real furniture is made of: cloth and wood. Small, thin pieces of wood in sheets and thin dowels (both round and square) can be found in both hardware stores and craft/hobby stores, usually cut from balsa or other soft woods. The best tool for shaping these items is a scroll saw, while detail work on things like chairs or table legs (making them look as if they've been shaped on a lathe) is best done with hand carving using craft knives. Miniature wooden furniture parts can then be assembled using wood glue (glue just a few pieces at a time and "clamp" with scotch tape until dried), then sanded with fine sandpaper, stained and varnished like large woodworking projects. Carve cushions from dense upholstery foam with scissors and wrap them by gluing fabric into place.
Sculpted Furniture
If wood and cloth crafting isn't your area of expertise, there are many modeling materials that can be used to make excellent dollhouse furniture. Polymer clay can be made to look like convincing wood grain by mixing a marble blend of light and dark shades of brown, while earthenware clays can be painted with acrylic paint to look like painted wood (as is often seen in styles of Scandinavian furniture). More modern-looking plastic furniture can be sculpted from plastic polymer clay or moldable plastic products such as Friendly Plastic (tm).
Found Objects
Another way to make dollhouse furniture is through the use of "altered found" objects. Furniture assembled in this way will have a stylized look to it, as if your dollhouse's inhabitants are tiny creatures living in this world and borrowing objects from humans to fill their homes, making this furniture technique a good choice for a dollhouse inhabited by creatures like mice or fairies. Start looking at small objects in your home and think of what sorts of uses a tiny person might have for them. Some suggestions include: a pin cushion as a footstool or beanbag chair, a bed made from a small gift box and a kitchen sponge, an empty thread spool as a stool, or an old-fashioned soap dish used as a bathtub. Stack and glue together matchboxes for a chest or drawers, overturn a tuna can for a coffee table, or make a miniature "grandfather clock" from a small, thin cardboard box and part of an old wristwatch. The charm of this furniture-making technique will come from leaving these objects recognizable for what they really are.
Scale
Whatever method you choose for building your dollhouse furniture, be sure always to pay attention to scale. Determine what scale your dolls are built to (standard dollhouse scale is 1 inch=12 inches) and keep to this size ratio as you build and collect.