Category: Dollhouse

Scale is the first thing to check when you buy dollhouse furniture, and it is easy to get wrong. A chair that looks perfect in a photo can turn out to be half the size you expected, because the listing was for a classic dollhouse and your doll is a fashion doll. This guide explains the two scales you will meet most often, which dolls they fit, and how big the pieces really are.

What the numbers mean

Scale tells you how much smaller the model is than the real thing. In 1:6 scale, 1 cm on the model stands for 6 cm in real life. In 1:12, 1 cm stands for 12 cm. So 1:12 furniture is half the size of 1:6 in every direction, and about one eighth of the volume, which is why it looks so much smaller in the hand.

Which dolls fit which scale

• 1:6 is for fashion dolls about 11.5-12 inches (29-30 cm) tall, such as Barbie®, Ken® and Made to Move™ dolls. An 11.5 inch doll stands for a person about 175 cm tall, which is why this scale is also called playscale or fashion doll scale.
• 1:12 is the classic dollhouse scale, for dolls about 15 cm (6 in) tall. Most traditional dollhouses and miniature shops work in it.

If you have an 11.5 inch fashion doll, you need 1:6. A 1:12 chair will be the size of a footstool for her, and a 1:12 bed is shorter than she is tall. Curvy, Petite and Tall dolls all use the same 1:6 furniture; the few centimetres between them do not matter for a chair or a table.

Other scales you will see in listings

The quickest way to place a scale is to ask how tall a 180 cm person becomes in it. Divide 180 by the second number:

Scale	A 180 cm person becomes	Typical dolls
1:3	60 cm	large ball-jointed dolls
1:4	45 cm	16-18 inch dolls
1:6	30 cm	11.5-12 inch fashion dolls
1:12	15 cm	classic dollhouse dolls
1:18	10 cm	small action figures
1:24	7.5 cm	half-scale dollhouses

When a listing gives no scale at all, use the same trick backwards: a chair with a 7-8 cm seat is 1:6, one with a 4 cm seat is 1:12.

Real sizes in 1:6 and 1:12

A real chair seat is about 45 cm high. Divide by 6 and you get 7.5 cm, which is roughly the seat height that lets a 1:6 doll sit naturally. The same sum works for anything: measure the real object, divide by 6 for fashion dolls or by 12 for a classic dollhouse.

Real object	Real size	In 1:6	In 1:12
Chair seat height	45 cm	7.5 cm	3.75 cm
Table height	75 cm	12.5 cm	6.25 cm
Kitchen counter	90 cm	15 cm	7.5 cm
Bed length	200 cm	33 cm	17 cm
Door height	200 cm	33 cm	17 cm

Our pieces in centimetres

Every product page lists the size, so you can compare it with your doll or your room box before you order. A few examples, with the real size they stand for when you multiply by 6:

• The modern chair is 6.8 × 6.8 × 11 cm, and the white wooden chair 7 × 13 cm.
• The dresser is 17.5 cm high, 18 cm wide and 7 cm deep: a 105 cm chest of drawers in real life.
• The patio chaise lounge is 28 cm long with a 31 cm lying surface, so a 12 inch doll lies on it full length.
• The vegetable crate is 3 × 5 × 7.5 cm, and the doll hangers are 7 × 4 cm.

Pieces that work in both scales

Some things can be used in either scale. Our cube display cabinets are 5.5 cm on each side: in a 1:6 room they look like small shelving cubes, in a 1:12 room like a full-size cabinet. Our doormats are made in two sizes, 8.5 × 5 cm for 1:6 and 5.8 × 3.5 cm for 1:12, in natural cork or engraved board. Choose the scale on the product page.

Before you buy

Measure your doll from head to feet, then check the product size in centimetres or inches instead of relying on the word "miniature". If a listing gives a scale, it should match your doll. If it does not, ask the seller. We are happy to answer that kind of question too, at mbdinerija@gmail.com.

Questions we get

Is Barbie® 1:6 scale?

Close enough that everyone uses the term. An 11.5 inch doll multiplied by 6 is about 175 cm, a tall adult. Our furniture is made for 11.5-12 inch dolls and is listed as 1:6.

Does 1:6 furniture fit Curvy or Tall dolls?

Yes. All our furniture and accessories fit every 11.5-12 inch fashion doll, whatever her body type.

What are the pieces made of?

Most pieces are cut from 2.5-3 mm HDF or MDF board; the cork doormats are natural cork. Board is sturdy but can break if bent or dropped, so handle the thin parts with care.

See all our dollhouse furniture and accessories.

Some of our dollhouse furniture for 1:6 scale dolls such as Barbie® comes as a flat-pack kit, and several assembled pieces come unpainted. The parts are cut from 2.5-3 mm HDF or MDF board, and you put them together or paint them at home. A kit costs less than an assembled piece, and an unpainted piece can be any colour you like.

Board like this is easy to paint, but it has one weak spot, and it is worth knowing about before you open the paint.

Which of our pieces come as kits or unpainted

• Flat-pack kits: the cube display cabinet (also sold assembled in brown, white, blue or red) and the wooden vegetable crate.
• Assembled but unpainted, natural brown board: the dresser in brown, the modern chair in natural brown, the patio chair and the patio chaise lounge.

What you need

• The kit or the unpainted piece
• Fine sandpaper
• PVA wood glue, for kits
• Primer (a white base coat)
• Paint and a small soft brush
• A damp cloth and a dry cloth

Sand every part lightly

Before you glue anything, go over every part with fine sandpaper. A few light strokes are enough, you are not changing the shape. Sanding takes off the smooth top layer and any loose fibres, so the primer and paint grip much better. Wipe off the dust with a dry cloth.

Assemble first, paint after

We glue the piece together first and paint it once it is assembled. Glue holds best on bare board, and paint on a finished piece covers the joints too, so they do not show. Painting the parts first also puts paint inside the slots, which can make them too tight.

Fit the parts together without glue first, to see where everything goes. Then glue them with PVA wood glue. A thin line is enough. Wipe off any glue that squeezes out with a damp cloth straight away, because dried glue shows through the paint. Leave the piece to dry fully before you prime it.

Prime it

MDF and HDF soak up water, and the cut edges soak it up much faster than the flat sides. If water-based paint goes straight onto bare board, the fibres on the edges swell and turn rough, and that is hard to fix later. A primer seals the board and stops this.

• A primer that is not water-based (oil-based or shellac-based) seals the edges best.
• If you use a water-based primer, put it on in thin coats. Let it dry, sand lightly again and add a second thin coat.
• Give the edges a little extra primer, they take in the most.

Paint

Once the primer is dry, you can treat the piece like real furniture. Furniture paint works, and so does ordinary acrylic or vinyl paint. Two thin coats look better than one thick one. Thick paint also runs into corners and joints and dries there in drips.

If you would rather skip the primer, use paint that is not water-based. That is what our product pages say for unpainted kits, for the same reason.

Colour ideas at 1:6 scale

Small pieces take colour differently from full-size furniture: a strong colour that would be too much on a real chest of drawers looks right on a 17 cm one. Matching a piece to the doll's clothes or to a room box wall is the usual starting point. If you want the board to show, a clear varnish instead of paint keeps the warm brown of the material. Whatever you choose, try it on the underside or the back first, where nobody will see it.

Handle with care

Board is sturdy in use but can break if bent or dropped, and the thin parts of a chair back or a drawer front are the first to go. Carry an assembled piece by its body, not by a leg, and let glue and paint dry fully before you hand it to a child.

Questions we get

Can I use acrylic paint?

Yes, on a primed piece. Acrylic is water-based, so without primer it raises the fibres on the cut edges. Prime first, or use a paint that is not water-based.

Do I have to glue a kit?

The parts slot together, but for play a thin line of PVA glue keeps them from working loose. For a display piece that you may want to take apart again, you can leave it dry-fitted.

Can you paint it for me?

The cube cabinet is sold assembled in four colours, and the dresser in five. For other colours, write to us at mbdinerija@gmail.com before you order.

All pieces are in dollhouse furniture and accessories.