Furnishing and accessorizing a dollhouse is considered the icing on the cake when building your dollhouse. The same secrets of successful interior decoration that apply to real-life interior decorating also apply to your dollhouse!

Choosing miniature furniture and accessories for your dollhouse requires the creator to take a step back and use a good dose of common sense. Planning your dollhouse and knowing when to stop are critical elements of good dollhouse interior design. The enthusiastic collector may quickly get caught up in the vast selection of adorable dollhouse miniatures available, but you must choose wisely, so that you don’t over-decorate and overwhelm the design of your dollhouse.

This rule especially applies to 1:24 scale or half-inch scale dollhouse rooms. These rooms are so tiny they don’t require a great deal of miniature furniture to make a bold statement. The rule of less is more really applies in this situation.

When decorating your miniature room, furnish your miniature room in layers. Remember to periodically take a step back and critically look at how your design is playing out. Since you will already have your flooring, wallpaper and paint in place, begin by choosing miniature furniture pieces that will act as primary focal points for your room. This is considered the first layer. Look at the size of the dollhouse room and choose miniature furniture pieces that fit into the purpose of the room with one primary piece acting as your focal point for the room. For example, when furnishing a dollhouse bedroom, a miniature bed is an essential focal point. If you were designing a sewing room, one would expect to find a miniature sewing machine or miniature sewing table as a focal point in the room.

The second layer of your miniature room should be smaller functional or accent miniature furniture pieces. In a dollhouse bedroom, you would find such accent pieces as a miniature armoire, bedside table or chair.

Your third layer should consist of background miniature accessories such as rugs, curtains, miniature pictures and miniature lighting fixtures.

Your fourth and final layer is the garnishment of the room. This is where you will embellish with carefully selected miniature accents. There are so many adorable items to choose among! Choose miniature accessories that complement the purpose of the room. Miniature picture frames, a small plant or miniature jewelry box can make for the perfect complement to your dollhouse bedroom. For a dollhouse kitchen, think miniature food items such as miniature vegetables, fruits or miniature kitchen accessories such as copper pots and pans. You will want to choose miniatures that add to your room rather than overwhelm it. Follow these basic design principles to make your dollhouse decor perfectly balanced.