DIY Dollhouse Stone Tutorial
When I took on a dollhouse project before Christmas, I got a wild idea to do a tiny DIY dollhouse stone on the exterior to give it adorable cottage vibes and I’m proud to say I totally pulled it off.
I actually loved the DIY dollhouse stone look so much that I also added two faux stone fireplaces inside the dollhouse, too!
In the end I tried two different methods as a guinea pig to see which one works best, so let’s dive into the pros and cons of each one:
DIY Dollhouse Stone Tutorial
DIY Dollhouse Stone: Cork Tile Method
Tools & Materials:
- Cork tiles
- Gloves
- Joint Compound
- Foam Brush
- Paint
I bought some cork tiles for the dollhouse initially thinking I’d cut them up into tiny rectangles and make a faux brick for the outside, but I had so much trouble making them all an even size and quickly gave up on that goal.
Instead, in a full trust-the-process moment, I started ripping pieces off from the tiles and sticking them onto the dollhouse exterior randomly to mimic a flagstone look.
I did some bigger pieces, some smaller rectangles, and just kind of kept going until it looked right. The good thing about these cork tiles (which I think are actually coaster backers) is that they have an adhesive backing so you can just peel and stick it right on there.
Once that was done, I got to the unhinged portion of the project: the overgrout.
If you’ve been around a while you know I love a good overgrout look (just see my living room fireplace & outdoor kitchen), so I wanted to recreate that in a tiny version with this DIY dollhouse stone.
I put on some rubber gloves and quite literally just scooped up some joint compound and schmeared it onto the cork with my hands. I got it into all of the cracks, over the surfaces of the cork (which helped smooth out the texture), and kind of wiped off any excess as I went.
Pro tip: Baby wipes are really helpful for cleaning up the edges and wiping over the surface if needed!
It then took the joint compound about 24 hours to fully dry and after that, I used a foam brush to paint it all white which was the real turning point in giving that cute cottage look.
DIY Dollhouse Stone: The Egg Carton Method
Tools & Material
This is the method I’d seen used a ton of times in other dollhouse projects on social media and after doing my cork tiles and realizing I had an egg carton already in the fridge, I got FOMO and wanted to give this one a go, too.
I just took the egg carton and ripped off pieces at random, again mixing bigger and smaller pieces like I had with the cork tile.
I glued cardboard from a shipping box together to form a base/surround for the fireplaces, and then grabbed my hot glue gun and started applying those ripped up egg carton pieces to the cardboard.
The beauty of this project is it’s meant to look imperfect!
One thing I did that I think helped the ‘realistic’ look is wrapping the egg carton pieces around the edge of the cardboard structure, which is as easy as just adding glue to both sides and holding it around that edge until it’s mostly dried (about 30 seconds).
Then the same as the cork tile method, I just used a foam brush and white paint to go over the whole thing once everything was dried.
Final Thoughts
I think both of these methods of adding DIY dollhouse stone actually turned out really well!
The cork tile method was definitely messy in using the joint compound, but I think that gave it more of the authentic overgrouted look.
The egg carton method was maybe my preferred method for that rough stone look, but obviously you’d need to remember to save your egg cartons to make it happen and it was harder to get paint up in all of the little nooks and crannies.
Let me know if you try this DIY dollhouse stone and what your thoughts are, and don’t forget to sign up to our newsletter and follow along on Instagram!
