should I decorate/paint a plain wooden dolls house, or leave it plain?

[ErnesttheBavarian]

That's it really. bought one for dd for Christmas. It's plain unfinished wood inside and out and furniture.

So, do I leave the wood totally unfinished or paint it,, paint wall inside and /or out, make pretend wallpaper or carpets or what? If I paint it, do I then need to varnish it?

Must say, I'm not especially skilled or gifted, but I want her to like her 1st ever dolls house:) (she's 3 btw if that has any bearing on it?)

We bought DDs Dolls house at the same age I figured t looked a bit bland & dark, but knew she would have her own ideas too, so I opted for painting all the inside walls in white & varnishing the floors

with hind sight it was the right thing to do, she happily played with it that way for years & her friend has commented in the past that heres was dark & dirty looking in comparison -

now its tiled & wallpapered with furniture she likes, she has decorated it all herself & its changed a few times over the years

so IMHO - a coat of white emulsion on the walls & bit of varnish on the floors will be enough

ok thanks. outside too or just inside (seen lots e.g. elc with pink roofs etc)

should I leave all the furniture plain?

you say your dd is now tiled and wallpapered. (respect!) I take it not real tiles? I won't do it now of course, just wondered what you used for tiles/wallpaper?

We've left ours plain [little bit lentil weavery]

Maybe now the children are a bit older it would be nice to paint it? hmm...

ok, maybe I paint inside walls white, varnish floor and that's all. Then when she gets older she can help choose and decorate. does the wood not get stained or dirty? OK to just leave?

DDs was already painted on the outside, bit if it were me I would give your a lick of paint or varnish too, it will help protect the wood from spilled drinks, foody fingers etc - I realised with hindsight that it was a good move as the amount of food that ended up in it was a bit of a - DD used it as her secret stash hole for a while

the site below is great for free printable wallpaper, tiles etc, theres also a few tutorials on links for making other furniture etc - DD decorated her house with this site & its had several "make overs :)

Fab dolls house freeby link

Nothing to stop you getting carried away & decorating it yourself if you'd enjoy it, DD can alwas re do it later

wow, thats absolutely fantastic

that link is pretty amazing. My dolls house was decorated with mosaic tiles in the kitchen and bathroom in replacement of normal tiles. I painted the walls or used some wall paper offcuts. Even carpet tile offcuts.

There are tons of options now. But you could like advised, paint the walls white, varnish the floors, paint the outside and let her decide how to decorate it in a few years. I've loved being able to decorate my own dolls house over the years, Mum would help but it was entirely my choice of looks. My sister, sadly and selfishly smashed and burned it when she grew into it. It did start it's life as a bookcase, so will try and do something like that for DD when she is older.