Dollhouse Sizes and Scales: Chart, Room Sizes and Furniture

Dollhouse scale chart

A scale such as 1:12 means every miniature measurement is one-twelfth of the real thing. Dollhouse makers name scales by how much model represents one real foot, so "one-inch scale" and 1:12 are the same thing. The chart converts the reference measurements you need most often.

1:12 is the collector's standard, with the widest range of kits, furniture, lighting and accessories. 1:24 is the next most common for builders who want a complete house on a shelf. 1:48 and 1:144 are used for room boxes, houses within houses and display pieces.

Converting any measurement to scale

1. To shrink a real object: divide its size by the scale number. A 30 in dining table at 1:12 is 30 ÷ 12 = 2.5 in tall. At 1:24 it is 1.25 in.
2. To find what a miniature represents: multiply by the scale number. A 2 in 1:24 sofa back represents 48 in, which is too tall; real sofa backs are about 30-36 in, so it is probably 1:16 or a mislabeled 1:12 piece.
3. In metric: the same division works. A 900 mm kitchen counter is 75 mm high at 1:12 and 37.5 mm at 1:24.
4. For an unlabeled scale (1:35, 1:18 and so on): divide 80 in by the scale for door height and 66 in for an adult. At 1:35, a door is 2.3 in and a person 1.9 in.

How big is a dollhouse? Typical sizes by scale

Overall size depends on the number of rooms and floors, but houses at each scale fall in predictable ranges. Most dollhouses are open-backed and only one room deep, which is why the depth is small compared with a real house.

Floor-to-floor height is the ceiling plus the thickness of the floor, usually ⅜-½ in of plywood at 1:12. That is why 1:12 houses with 8-9 in ceilings stack at 9-10½ in per story, and a three-story house with its roof reaches about 36-40 in.

1:12 house About 30 in wide × 32 in tall1:24 house About 15 × 16 in1:48 house About 7.5 × 8 in

Each halving of scale divides the width and height by two, so a 1:24 house takes a quarter of the wall area of its 1:12 twin, and a 1:48 house a sixteenth. The volume, and the weight of a solid-wood kit, falls even faster.

1:12 dollhouse room sizes

At 1:12 the arithmetic is simple: real feet become inches. Builders usually shrink depth because a 14 ft deep room becomes a 14 in deep box that is hard to see into and reach.

Bathrooms are the room most often enlarged in kits. A true 5 × 8 in bathroom is too tight to arrange tub, toilet and sink by hand once the walls are up.

Doors and windows at 1:12

A real interior door is 80 in tall and 28-36 in wide, so a 1:12 door is 6.67 in tall and 2.33-3 in wide (169 × 59-76 mm). Ready-made doors are usually sold at about 7 × 3 in overall with the frame, which needs a rough opening slightly larger; check the maker's listed cutout before cutting a wall. Standard windows sit with their sill about 2.5-3 in above the floor (30-36 in real) and their top level with the door head. Real door and window sizes are on the door dimensions page.

Dollhouse furniture sizes in 1:12 and 1:24

Furniture is where mixed scales show first. A chair that is 0.3 in too tall looks wrong beside a correctly scaled table, so compare pieces with these figures before buying or building.

The toilet seat itself sits about 1.25-1.4 in (32-36 mm) off a 1:12 floor, since real bowls are 15-17 in high. A toy car sold as 1:12 is 14-16 in long, longer than most dollhouse rooms are wide, so it belongs in a garage or on the floor beside the house. For real-life furniture dimensions to scale from, see the furniture size guide.

Dollhouses for play dolls: 1:6 and 18-inch dolls

Children's dollhouses are usually sized to a doll rather than to a collector's scale. Work out the scale from the doll: divide a real adult height by the doll's height.

An 11.5 in fashion doll at 1:6 represents a person 5 ft 9 in tall. Houses made for these dolls are typically 3-4 ft tall with 14-18 in floor-to-floor heights. Toy versions often compress the depth to 12-15 in so the house fits against a wall.

Measurements for a house for 18-inch dolls

An 18-inch doll is sized as a child of about 4 ft 6 in, so true scale is close to 1:3, and a full-scale room would be 32 in tall. That is bigger than most families want, so plan to these minimums instead:

• Room height: at least 22-24 in (56-61 cm), so the doll stands with clearance and a hand can reach in above it.
• Room depth: 15-18 in (38-46 cm). A twin bed for an 18-inch doll is about 12-13 × 22-25 in, and it needs to fit across or along the room.
• Room width: 24-30 in (61-76 cm) for a bedroom with a bed and one other piece.
• Doorways: about 20-22 in tall and 8-10 in wide so the doll passes through standing.

A two-story, two-room-wide house built this way comes to about 50-60 in wide and 48-52 in tall, as big as a bookcase. Many families use an open shelving unit with 15 in deep shelves set about 24 in apart for exactly that reason.

Choosing a dollhouse size for a child

• Ages 3-5: houses with chunky furniture and dolls of 4-5 in, usually 20-30 in tall, so a seated child can reach every room. Tiny 1:12 accessories are choking hazards for children under 3, and most are labeled as collectibles rather than toys.
• Ages 4-8 with fashion dolls: a 1:6 house of 36-48 in tall. Check the top floor height: a child of about 42-48 in needs it below shoulder height when standing, about 34-38 in.
• Older children and adults: 1:12 kits, which take 30-40 in of tall shelf or tabletop and 16-20 in of depth.

Leave about 24-30 in of clear floor in front of an open-back house for a child to sit and play. A dollhouse on a low table or a toy box should have the table at or below the child's elbow height, which the kids' furniture guide gives by age. For a playroom layout that includes a play kitchen, plan the dollhouse along a wall with its open side facing the room.

Frequently asked questions