It's the first Thursday of the month and that means it's time for another progress update on our fixer-upper, the miniature version. In case you missed it, I have a dollhouse series here on the blog where once a month I share how I'm repurposing dollar store and thrift store finds into miniature furniture and accessories. Even the dollhouse is a repurposed IKEA Billy bookcase! Here's an update on Phase Three where we added a Front Door and DIY Windows to the dollhouse bookcase.

Dollhouse Bookcase - DIY Windows and Front Door

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It all started thanks to the inspiration found in my friend, Jen Crider's new book called Amazing Furniture Makeovers. In the book, she shares how she turned the top portion of a china cabinet into an adorable dollhouse. I've been wanting to work on a dollhouse for at least two years and now I've got a perfect motivation, my granddaughter. She's only nine months old so I have some time before it's gifted to her.


A vintage jewelry chest was repurposed for the dollhouse front door. This an exterior shot of the red-painted dollhouse front door. Next month we'll be adding stairs.


And here is an interior view of the front door painted charcoal gray to work with the whitewashed hardwood floors in the living room.

The original glass was replaced with plexiglass, much safer for little hands. The handle from the second door on the vintage jewelry chest was attached to the interior side of the door.


Five plexiglass windows were added to the dollhouse, one for each room. The two bedrooms and dining room windows are the same sizes, the kitchen window is counter height, and the living room window is much taller.


I couldn't resist adding cute little wooden window boxes to the dollhouse.


I think the windows and front door add so much charm to the dollhouse bookcase. There is still so much to do before we get to the furnishings and decor stage.


Before I share how I made the windows, front door, and cute window boxes, let's do a quick recap in case you missed phase one and two.

Phase One Recap - Repurposed IKEA Billy Bookcase Dollhouse

It all started with this IKEA Billy Bookcase found at our local Salvation Army store for $14.99. We repurposed the bookcase into a dollhouse by removing two of the shelves and repurposed them into interior dollhouse walls. The dollhouse then got a fresh coat of paint. Press here to see the steps and tutorial in dollhouse bookcase phase one.

Phase Two Recap - New Pitched Roof and Flooring on dollhouse bookcase 

In phase two we repurposed dollar store craft sticks into whitewashed hardwood flooring. The kitchen floor is stenciled black and white checkerboard tiles. The second bedroom has pretty decoupaged scrapbook paper floors. We also gave the bookcase more dollhouse charm by adding a pitched roof with trim. Press here to catch up on dollhouse bookcase phase two.

So here's how we added a front door and windows to the dollhouse bookcase...

Phase Three - Power tools needed for dollhouse bookcase door and window installation

Four power tools were used to make the openings, a cordless drill, jigsaw, mouse sander, and compound miter saw, but we'll talk more about that further down in the post. You'll also need a full-size hot glue gun with large strong bond hot glue sticks.

My daughter borrowed my old jigsaw and I used it as the perfect opportunity to finally buy myself a new one. As my friend Larissa at Prodigal Pieces always says, tools before jewels!

Phase Three - Cutting openings for dollhouse bookcase windows and front door

For the window cuts, we made a template with scrap and marked the center. Then we marked the center of the wall. Next, we found something to use to gauge the height of the window and traced the window outline with a pencil as pictured below.


Next, we drilled pilot holes for the jigsaw to pivot around the corners.


For the front door, we repurposed one door from a vintage jewelry chest. The door frame was traced with a pencil on the inside of the dollhouse to accommodate for the height of the floors.


The dollhouse was laid on its side to cut the openings with the jigsaw and a mouse sander with 150-grit pad was used to smooth the cuts.

Plexiglass was cut slightly larger than the window openings and hot glued onto the outside of the dollhouse. That way there is a ledge on the inside of each window. Before the plexiglass was installed, the window frames were painted white.


Small decorative trim cut at 45° angles was glued both to the inside and outside of both the window and door frames. Later they were all painted white, except for the front door.

Phase Three - Dollhouse bookcase window boxes

The dollar store craft sticks used to make the hardwood floors came in handy again to make cute window boxes. Initially, I was going to cut the rounded ends of the sticks to square them up but I took a liking to the shape and decided to leave them as is. They were simply hot glued to MDF blocks. I cut more craft sticks for the sides and hot glued them on the MDF trim as well.

Next, I painted the window boxes red with Emperor's Silk chalk paint, the same paint color used on the front door. You don't have to use chalk paint, any craft paint for wood is fine. To add an aged appearance to the window boxes I rubbed dark wax with a lint-free rag.

After the wax was buffed, the window boxes were attached to the dollhouse with hot glue.


The window boxes were filled with dollar store grape hyacinths and cherry blossoms (the only small size blooms available at the time) and hot glued in place. The uniform color of the pink cherry blossoms lined inside the boxes looked too flat. To add depth I used a small fan brush and swiped the petals with the same red chalk paint used on the front door and window boxes. It made a big difference.


Wouldn't you agree the windows and front entry door add such charm to the dollhouse bookcase?

Like I said earlier, there is still so much to do like adding steps to the front door. I'm toying around with ideas for the exterior walls as well. The interior walls will be papered next and baseboards installed.


If you have any questions about this dollhouse series, please leave them in the comment section below or press the Contact Me button at the top of the blog to drop me an email. I love hearing from you!

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