DIY Caravan Dollhouse Kit (with a modern spin!)

Hi guys, it's Cath. I have a super exciting project for you today. We're going to build this camper slash caravan dollhouse kit with a modern spin. While this dollhouse kit is already super cute and has a 1950s to 60s retro vibe, I was looking for something a bit more modern. So don't be alarmed if I don't use all the pieces as they were intended. I'll also be using some additional materials and changing a lot of paint colors. First, I'll unbox this kit and show you what we're working with. This kit is packaged quite well and has a bunch of tiny little pieces. First, there's this big bag of little pieces that we'll dig into in just a bit. Then there's this small bottle of PVA glue, this little mystery box, and this circuit board. The body of the camper is inside this bottom box so let's cut that open and pull it out. There is also paperwork which we'll look at in just a minute. As you can see, the shell of this camper is already pre-built so all the hard work has already been done. It's all painted in this really pretty light turquoise color and although I'll change it, you can totally keep it this color. Let's take a closer look at the instruction booklet and this color printed template sheet. Keep in mind that the instructions are not in English and not in color but I have a link to the English version in the info box below. This template sheet is filled with super cute cutouts that make surprisingly adorable minis. Now let's take a look at the big ziploc bag. As you can see, there are a ton of little pieces in this kit so you can easily spend days and days putting it together. We have wood pieces, fabrics, wire, lace, scrapbook paper, beads, and so much more. This is a really big project so let's jump right into it. To make the inside of this camper feel bigger, the first thing I do is grab some white acrylic paint and paint all the interior walls. About two coats should do the trick. It's looking bigger already. For the floors, the instructions want us to cut out the included paper flooring and glue that inside the camper. That looks okay but I want a more realistic looking floor so I'm going to use these wooden coffee stirrers instead. They're five and a half inches long and perfect for miniature flooring. I break some in half for a staggered look. I'm just using regular wood glue for this. This looks so much better already. To seal in the wood and give it some shine, I add on a coat of polycrylic varnish. I love how the inside looks. Now let's work on the outside. The first thing I do is mix some white and blue paint and add it to the bottom two thirds of all the exterior walls. Then I mix some white and a drop of dark brown paint and paint that to the top one third. Very cute. Before we finish this up, let's add in the windows and the door. Open up the big bag that has all the blue frame pieces. Just pull that out and glue all the pieces by color. And all these thin white pieces will fit snugly inside them. Before assembling them, I'll paint all the blue pieces with silver acrylic paint. This gives them a more realistic industrial look. Before putting the white pieces in place, take the clear plastic sheet out of bag C. It's wedged between all the fabric. Cut that down to size and glue it to the windows. We'll need two of these small panes for each square window. Glue one to the top of the trim. The instructions say to just glue on the second piece, but I want them to be functional so I'll do it a bit differently. First, I take some thin craft matchsticks and paint them white. Cut out two half inch pieces and two one and a quarter inch pieces. Glue the small pieces under the first window. Drop in the second window and glue the longer pieces right on top of it. Now you have functional sliding windows. How easy was that? Finish all the other window pieces. Make sure to add in the tiny white pieces to divide the long window into thirds. The biggest silver trim piece is for the door. The instructions say to just glue the door in, but I want that to be functional too so I'm going to add some hinges. Glue two of these miniature hinges to the door and slip it into the trim. Glue down the other half of the hinges and now you have a door that swings open and shut. Add in the little white square trim piece into the hole of the door. Now add all these little pieces to the camper. You might need to take off some excess wood to get the pieces to fit. There it goes. That's perfect. Now we can finish up the exterior by adding some silver acrylic paint to all the trim detail. I'll go one step further and paint some coffee stirrer silver. This will be extra trim to divide the blue and cream painted areas. These are just the same coffee stirrers that I used for the flooring. They're so versatile. Before I forget, I'm going to add on these last tiny pieces onto the door and the skylight window. Now I won't be a camper without wheels so let's add those on. I'm just using some E6000 glue for a really strong hold. Also glue on the green block in the first bag opposite the wheels. This is really optional but I'm going to paint the entire bottom silver. It gives it a more realistic look but no one will see that so it's totally unnecessary. Next grab that little mystery box. It has a music box inside of it. Add it inside a camper. The screw on the handle. It's such a cool little machine. Makes the kit that much better. One last step before we get into making all the accessories. This is optional but I'm going to paint the inside of the door white. This will just give the interior a cohesive look when the door is closed. Now we can get to the accessories. Move the remnants of the first bag to the side and open up the second letter A bag. Separate all the pieces by color and grab the big green piece that looks like an anchor. Take the two other green pieces from the first bag and assemble them together into this shape. Paint it all silver and attach it to the side of the camper as a towing hitch. Then take the flat blue pieces and assemble them into this shape. The instructions state to just glue the pieces all together but I want to make this functional too. So the first thing I do is cut an extra piece of wood from a popsicle stick and add it to the bottom to close it up. Then I paint the entire thing brown. Attach the bottom portion to the hitch and place the lid on top. Take a miniature hinge and glue one half to the lid and the other half to the wall. Now you have a container that you can use to store extra accessories. Believe me, you'll need this. Alright, let's use up the remaining pieces in these bags. The first thing I'll make is this super tiny guitar. First, take your color printed template and cut out the guitar image. Spread some glue over the body piece and paste the image on top. Next, all you need to do is glue the neck in place. I'm going to shave some wood off one end so I get a nicer fit. It's totally optional though. Then glue on the tiny bridge and add on the strings. The string is in bag C with all the wires and lace. While you add it, also take out the thin black wire and the thin white wire. The string is this super fine metallic thread. Cut it into 6 1 3 4 inch lengths and glue one end to the bridge and the other end to the headstock. Go really slow here and I just used super glue to glue them down. Cut a small length of white wire and add it to the top of the bridge. Cut out 6 more tiny segments and glue them to the top of the headstock above the strings, 3 on each side. The directions say to cut the black wire into tiny segments and glue them on as the tuners, but I'm going to use something else. I take these little white balls from this tiny bag and cut off a string part. I glue those on as tuners. Then paint them silver. There, that looks good. Slap on a coat of varnish and the guitar is done. It's so tiny and cute. The stairs are very simple. The only change I made was to paint the green parts brown. We'll add this onto the camper at the end. The patio furniture is made up of all these white pieces from the first bags we opened. These pieces are super simple to put together. Make X's with the sticks to form the table legs. Put the two sets together and add the table top. Same for the chairs. Form X's for the legs. Add the back pieces on and then add a seat. This set looks so good together. Let's set these pieces aside for now and work on the interior furniture. Grab the two bags with the letter B on them. One will be for the kitchen slash bedroom and the other one will have all the pieces for the dining area. Let's do the kitchen first. This is the bag with all the blue pieces. Open it up and group all the pieces by color. These blue pieces will form the kitchen base and the orange piece will be the countertop. Just add on the two sides and then add on these trim pieces for detail. The instructions want you to cut out these images from the template and add them behind the trim but I'm not a huge fan of this floral look so I'm going to leave that out. I also don't love this powder blue color so I'm going to mix up some blue and green paint and paint that on. I love this dark color. For the oven area, take the wooden frame looking piece. Take the metallic sheets from the big bag number C with the fabric. Use a smaller sheet to cut it down to the size of the wood. Then trace the inside. Cut an X into the area you drew and glue this paper onto the wood. The cutout will allow you to wrap the paper inward and cover the edges. Glue and cut off any excess paper. The directions want you to add this wire as detail for the oven but I'm going to use a coffee stirrer instead. Cut off a one inch piece and split that in half to thin it out. Cover in more metallic paper and add it to the middle of the rectangle. Add that to the cabinet. The instructions also want you to use this image from the template and add it to the back of the oven but I'm going to use clear plastic packaging instead so I can see inside the oven. Take the orange countertop and paint that white for a nice clean look. I chose to add on a coat of varnish as well. This rectangular opening is for the sink. To make that, grab these five pieces. Use the bigger metallic sheet to cut the appropriate sizes that you need. The instruction booklet has templates for you to trace and cut but I basically cut the bottom to size and glue it on. Cut the side pieces a bit longer than the wood so you have enough paper to fold over the edges. Once those pieces are completely covered, glue them together to form the sink shape. Then position that inside the countertop. You might need to remove some excess wood to get the piece to fit perfectly. Then simply glue that to the top of the cabinet. To finish up the sink, let's make a faucet. Using the same wire that you're meant to use for the oven and make a small curve at one end, cut off a 3 fourths inch length and grab a few beads from the tiny beads bag. You'll need two round pieces and one oval. Stick one round piece to the short end of the wire. Then add the oval to the other end. Add a second round bead to the side of the oval so it looks like a little knob. Now just glue it to the back of the sink. It's super cute and easy. For the stove top, I just printed out a tiny electrical cooktop from google images. Stick some packing tape to it for a shiny look and add it to the right side of the countertop. This looks great. Now let's make the upper cabinets. From the second letter bead bag, take out the four pieces that look like frames and glue them together. The instructions want you to use this image as a background, but I'm going to leave that out and use something else. Finish the cabinet with the top, bottom, and side pieces. Paint it all white for a clean look. Then I cut a piece of clear plastic packaging and stick that to the inside. This will allow you to see everything inside the cabinet. Then to finish the look of the kitchen, take the thick gold wire and make a bracket shape using some pliers. Cut that out and add it to the bottom drawer front. Cut a single short length and add it to the top drawer piece. Make a few more of these and add them to the upper cabinets. I positioned them all horizontally for a more modern look. Add these guys inside the camper. I'm going to add some accessories to the inside of the upper cabinet, so I'm going to leave it here for now. For the curtains, the instructions want us to make a bunch of short curtains using this fabric and this wire as a curtain rod. However, I'm going to use this beige chiffon for a more neutral look and this skewer for a more rigid curtain rod. Simply cut a small rectangle of fabric and cut the skewer to 2 inches. Then roll the fabric over the rod and adhere using some fabric glue. Now you have a long curtain that you can position inside the camper right next to the kitchen. From the same bag that we got the kitchen, take out the bed pieces. Glue the rectangles to the headboard and paint it white. I just covered the headboard in a bit of the sides because most of this will be covered by fabric. From the fabric bag, grab the white felt piece and the flower pattern fabric. Cut a piece of felt the same size as the bed base and glue it on. Then glue the whole thing to the frame. Cut out a length of fabric 5 1⁄2 inches long and fold in the edges for a clean look. Then glue it to the bed and fold in the corners. I'm not a huge fan of this busy looking fabric, so I'm going to change the color. Using some white and a bit of dark brown, I made this cream color. Add in some fabric medium and paint it onto the fabric. About 2 coats should cover the pattern completely. Then I take this pretty blue fabric and fold in the two side edges. Fold it along the other side into thirds and add it to the bed. Then I take out this thick lace and add it to the bottom front, making sure to tuck in the ends. Cut off any excess and use that to cover the exposed sides. Now let's make some pillows. Again, the instructions say to use this floral fabric, but I'm going to use white cotton instead. I first cut out a 4 inch square piece. You can use the template in the booklet, just make sure to double the measurements. I fold it in half and make a cut in the center. This will give me two pillows. Now I just use some fabric glue to close up most of the edges, leaving a small gap. Once that's dry, I use that opening to flip the pillowcase inside out. Now I take the batting from the fabric bag to use as pillow stuffing. Carefully insert the batting until the pillow is as fluffy as you like it. Then glue the open gap closed. Make two of these pillows and add them to the bed. As a final detail, I take this thinner lace and add it to the top of the blue fabric. Now the bed looks like it was made for Cinderella. Add it inside the camper right in front of the curtain. The bedroom is done. Now let's move into the dining area. All these pieces will form the two benches. Divide them up equally and I'll show you how to make one. These are the pieces you'll need to make one bench. Glue the one rectangle and the two smaller rectangles to the bevel base. Then add the other bevel piece on top of it, forming a seat. Then add the remaining biggest piece as the seat back. Add on the two armrests to each side. You can see how it's coming together. Leave the thin strip aside for now and take these two pieces. They're going to be our cushions. To oppose them, I use this green striped fabric and white felt. Cut a piece of felt just a bit bigger than the wood and add on a piece of fabric a bit bigger than that. Cut the corners and fold the fabric over. I just use fabric glue to adhere it. Do the same for the other cushion. Now paint the bench entirely in white and add the cushions in place. Then take the last thin wood strip and add it to the top. Paint that white and the bench is complete. Finish the other bench too. The instructions say to add these two pieces to the side for detail but I'm gonna leave that off. Add these benches to the camper. For the dining table, take these three white pieces and this one green piece. Assemble the white pieces just like this for the table base. For the tabletop, I'm gonna paint it a dark brown on both sides. Then I add some streaks of light brown for detail. Lastly, add on a coat of varnish and add it to the table base. Add this to the camper between the two benches. Now let's make some pillows for the dining area. Take this pink fabric and cut it into six equal pieces. Fold each piece in half and glue the edges leaving a gap. Flip it inside out and add some batting. Close it up and you have this little cutie. Now just take a needle and thread and add a stitch to the middle of the pillow. I use an x-stitch and pull the string taut. How cute is this little tough thing? Do this for the other fabric pieces so you end up with six pillows. Add two to each bench. I'm just gonna throw the last one to the bed for now. Before we keep going, let's finish up the kitchen really quickly. For the accessories inside the upper cabinet, I cut out these images from the color template sheet. These are supposed to be an angular shape according to the direction but I like the look of round containers. After you have a bunch, just add them inside the cabinet. I'm gonna glue these down. Here is the template for the cookie container. Cut it out and fold the long strip into these sections. Then just glue the octagon shape onto it. You're gonna end up with these two shapes which are the top and bottom of the container. Now just take the cookies from the accessories bag and add it inside the container. To finish it, I just take some beads and add it to the top of the lid. Now just place this inside the cabinet and you can position the cabinet inside the camper. For wall decor, I cut out these two images from the template sheet. Add them together and glue them to paperboard. This paperboard is included in the kit but I almost threw it out thinking it was packaging. Cut it out and glue it to the wall above the door. Next, let's make a cute ottoman. The template is inside the instruction booklet and I'm highlighting all the pieces that you'll need. Cut those out. Take the three long rectangles and square. You want to cut these shapes out of the blue floral fabric. The instructions want you to use the circle template as the base for the cushion but I'm gonna skip that step. Instead, I just drill a hole into the middle of this wooden circle piece using a mini hand drill. Add some batting and then add the fabric. Using a needle and thread, I stitch a hole through the center and pull it taut. This tufted shape is so cute. Now take this corrugated cardboard piece from bag C and cut it to match this template shape. Wrap it around the bottom C cushion and glue it in place. Take two of those rectangle fabric pieces and glue them together to form a long strip. Wrap it around the cardboard making sure to ruffle it as you go along. Then just glue one of the circle templates to the bottom of the ottoman to close it up. Take that last piece of fabric and glue a super thin template to the middle of it. Wrap the excess fabric over to form a thin ribbon. Then just wrap that around the top of the ottoman. Perfect. All done and you can add it to the camper wherever you like. This kit comes with these green pieces that form a crib-like structure but I didn't like it too much so I'm gonna turn it into a laptop stand. I just throw the two long pieces to the side and glue the three mini pieces together. Paint that white and add a tiny laptop to it. You can learn how I make these super easy laptops in my desk accessories video. It does nothing like a laptop to make your miniatures look more modern. Place that onto the bed. For more wall decor, take these three white pieces for the bookshelf and assemble them. This is super easy. Now just add it above the dining area. Next I'll make some plants to go on top of that shelf. The templates for the planters are on the color template sheet. Simply cut out the fan shape and the little circle. Roll the fan shape and glue it closed. Then glue that to the bottom circle piece and your planter is done. I made this pink one and the blue one but this template gives you so many. The directions tell you that you can use the last page of the booklet to cut out the leaves and the petals. However, I wasn't too happy how this looked so I'm gonna use something else for the second planter. I take the bag which has all the grass and flower-like material. Just take it out and trim all the pieces down to size. Then all I do is add it to the planter with some glue. Very easy and super cute. Now add these planters to either side of your bookshelf. Because I keep calling it a bookshelf, it only makes sense to actually add some mini books. Cut out the covers from the color template sheet and then cut out the pages from the Just follow along the lines of the paper to create your pages. Add the cover and it's done. I made these three adorable books. Stack them together and add them to the bookshelf. Other pre-made accessories in this kit include these cute little coffee cups, this little dog, and this tiny Eiffel Tower. I add the coffee cups to the dining table. The Eiffel Tower is a charm so it has this little ring on top. I just cut that off with some metal shears. That looks better. Glue that to the top of the upper kitchen cabinet. Then add a cute dog to the top of the ottoman. Alright, let's make some more accessories. For a cooking pot, cut out these images from the color template sheet. Roll the long piece together and close the ends. Then just glue it to the circle bottom. For the rim and handle, take this thin black wire from the wire bag. Cut out a one and a quarter inch length and roll it into a circle. Glue it to the top of the pot for the rim. Then fold over some more wire and bend the end over. Glue that to the side of the pot as the handle. Now just add it to the stovetop. From the accessories bag, take out the cutting board and this little yellow cane. Cut slices from the yellow lemon cane and cut some of them in half. Glue them to the cutting board. For a knife, get this template from the instruction booklet. Take the same metallic paper from before and fold it in half. Then cut it to match the knife shape on the template. You can add a handle but I chose not to. Add that to the cutting board. This piece is so cute. Add that to your countertop. A hot plate really isn't necessary because I already made a stovetop but I'm going to show you how to make it because it's really adorable. Take the little red piece from the accessories bag and cut out these images from the template sheet. First glue the burner image to the red piece. Then fold these little cutouts in half and add them to the top of the hot plate to act as the grates. We're almost done guys, just a few steps left. Let's add some window planters to the outside of the camper. These pieces are all from the first bag we opened up. There are two super long lengths, three medium lengths, and one small. There are also two tiny pieces for each length. Simply glue the two tiny pieces to each planter. For the bottom, the instructions say to use these strips from the template sheet and while that works, I'm going to use something different. I cut off the same lengths from coffee stirrers and use that instead of the paper. Do this for all six planters. Then I just paint them brown to look like clay. Add some glue and greenery for an adorable look. These little pink pieces make the perfect flowers. Do this for all the planters. Now just glue to the bottom of each window. Just make sure that they don't block the window from opening and closing. To finish the long side window, I'm going to make an awning. For that, cut out the template from the color template sheet and add the red and white striped fabric to it. Then add a rectangle of paperboard to the bottom for more structure. Trim the fabric to match the template and fold the long edges over. Glue to the top of the long window. Then cut two one-inch lengths from thick white wire and take the two white beads from the tiny bag. Add one to the end of each wire and glue to the awning. You can call it a day and move on to lighting, but there are a few other pieces from the kit that are super cute and I really want to show you how to make. First up is a pink suitcase. Here are all the templates that you need from the booklet. Cut those out. Take the pieces on the right and cut them out of this pretty pink fabric. Now for the three other template shapes. Cut the long strip out of corrugated cardboard and the rounded squares out of paperboard. Glue these paper pieces to the fabric. Now just take this piece of lace and wrap it around one of the squares. Now just assemble the suitcase by wrapping the long strip around the square and adding the other square to close it up. Use a thin brown ribbon as the handle and then a bead cut in half as accent detail. So cute! However, I like this next suitcase even better. This one will have a leather look. Cut out the template from the booklet. Cut these shapes out of brown paper and cut the other shapes from cardboard and paperboard. Assemble the shape the same way as the pink suitcase. Now just wrap this in the biggest piece of brown paper. Fold over the thinner strips and wrap them around the side of the suitcase. Add some more strips to the top for straps. For the buckles, I take this thin gold wire and use a plier to make some hoops. They're so tiny. Glue them to the end of the straps and glue them down. Add a last strap for a handle and then some beads for detail. I love how this looks. For some mini slippers, cut these shapes out from the template sheet and grab some thin white wire. Wrap a thin strip around one of the slipper pieces and add the other piece to the top of it. Now just cut a short length of wire and fold it in half. Open up the ends to create this shape and glue it to the top of the slipper. Do this for the other slippers and you end up with a pair. This kid also has a pink pair. It's super cute. Alright, one last accessory before moving on to electrical. Let's make a glass of juice. First, take the clear rubber tube and cut off a half inch length. This will be our glass. Then cut out the orange strips in the color template. Roll it up and stick it inside the glass. Now take a tiny red wire and twist one end for some spirals. Cut off a short length and stick it inside the glass. Tiniest silly straw ever. Cut out a lemon slice and glue it to the rim. The instructions say you can add a but I left that part out. For a basket, cut out this shape from the template sheet and glue it to the weaved fabric. Cut off the corners and fold over the remaining fabric. Then fold the flaps over and glue it to form this shape. Now take some twine and wrap it around the top edge of the basket. Double up another length of twine and glue it on as the basket handle. Then add in some greenery for a really cute look. That looks good. Alright, now we can finally move on to electrical. Here are the two bags you get in the kit. This small bag has this circuit board with some batteries, but I won't be using that. This other bag contains this black battery case, some sandpaper, this adhesive white tape, and special wire and bulbs. This mechanism uses two double A batteries so make sure you have some of those on hand. First, I pulled the black and red wires from the bottom of the camper through to the inside. Let me show you how this is going to work. Each bulb will have two wires, a gray one and a white one. To attach the bulb to the wires, make sure you're connecting positive to negative, red to white, and gray to black. This will light the bulb up. Alright, I'm going to disconnect this and make a lampshade first. Cut the lampshade template out and glue it to a piece of fabric. The instructions say to use the green fabric, but I'm going to use this beige chiffon. Wrap the excess fabric over and then roll the entire piece into this shape. Glue the bulb to the inside of the lampshade and then add some beads to the other end. Take some thin gold wire and twist it together to form the base of the shape. Attach the wires to the power box and glue this to the wall. This little light makes the perfect bedroom lighting. For the main light in this camper, this kit shows you how to make a chandelier using beads. However, I'm going to make a more modern one with paperboard. Cut a strip that's half an inch thick and roll it into a circle. Then cover the inside and outside with silver tape. This tape is so sparkly. Now just cut a circle from more paperboard and cut a small X into the center. Poke a stick through that to make a hole. Then just glue that to the top of the shade. Add in another bulb and attach it to the power box. I just used some of that white tape to stick the wire to the walls. Now you can just add Welcome to your super cute mini camper! I hope this video shows you how you can absolutely take a mass-produced kit and make it to fit your own style. Thanks to banggood.com for sending me this kit to review. I did this project over the course of two weeks and it was an absolute blast. I love the fact that this kit comes with pretty much everything you need to do the project. There are so many pieces so they're really not skipping on the accessories. I love how it turned out and will proudly showcase it with all my other mini creations. The only bummer about this kit is some of the pieces don't fit perfectly so you either need to sand it down or cut them down. However, patience will take you a long way in dealing with that. I know this video was really long so thank you for bearing with me. I really hope you guys like this project. Give it a thumbs up if you did and make sure to subscribe for more. I'll see you next time. Bye!