Dollhouse scales and sizes can be very confusing when you are new to the world of dollhouses and dolls house miniatures. The scale of a dollhouse basically refers to the size or relation of the dollshouse to it’s real life counterparts. The scales are either expressed with a slash or colon between the 2 numbers that make up the scale e.g. 1/12 or 1:12. This shows that 1cm in the dollhouse equates to 12cm in real life or 12x its size. Basically, the bigger the second number, the smaller the dollhouse or miniature.

What scale is the best scale for me?

There is no right or wrong when it comes to a dollhouse scale, unless you start mixing the scales together. It is important to note the scale of the miniatures that you purchase else they will look odd or possibly not fit into your dollhouse. The bigger miniatures are easier to handle and play with and more appropriate for use by younger kids, whereas the smaller miniatures are more appropriate for adults to use in their dollhouses.

The scale of all the miniatures and dollhouse we sell on The Tiny Dollhouse is 1:12. Our dollhouse miniatures are NOT suitable for kids under the age of 3.

Popular Dollhouse Scales

1:6 Scale

The 1:6 scale is also known as Playscale or Fashion scale and is basically the ‘Barbie Doll’ size. This scale was introduced to the world by Hasbro in 1964 with the first GI Joe dolls. This is the largest dollhouse scale that is used and popular with smaller kids as the sizes of the miniatures are easy for kids to grasp and play with. The items are often made of plastic and readily available at most toy stores and great for kids to build their fine motor skills.

1:12 Scale

This scale is also known as the One inch scale, this scale became very popular for dollhouses after it was chosen as the scale for Queen Mary’s Dolls House in 1924. This scale allows for the creation of greatly detailed miniatures and is a common scale used fro both adult and kids playhouses. This size also allows for the use of Calico Critters / Sylvanian Families dolls and furniture inside.

Even though this scale is the preferred choice for dollhouse miniatures collectors it does not make practical sense being used for collectors of larger buildings or train sets as their collections would often fill up a whole room on this scale.

1:16 Scale

1:16 dolls house scale or 3/4 scale was a common scale for play dollhouses from the 1930s to 1950s, but is not seen much anymore.

1:18 Scale

Lundby dollhouses, made in Sweden, are in 1:18 scale, sometimes called 2/3 scale. This scale is also known as the Lundby scale.

1:24 Scale

The 1:24 scale is also sometimes referred to as the half inch scale. It was a popular dollhouse scale in the 1950s and has strated gaining popularity again in UK and Europe. This scale is more commonly found across scale hobbies. This is also a common play scale for children, as Playmobil houses and accessories are in this scale to go with the company’s railroads and vehicles.

1:48 Scale

The 1:48 scale is also known as the Quarter inch scale and is a popular scale for diecast models, construction toys, and plastic models made from kits.

1:144 Scale

This scale is also knowns as the Micro scale. Buildings this size can be used as 1:12 scale dolls houses inside a 1:12 scale dolls house – so they are basically Tiny Tinies. This is the smallest possible dollhouse scale. These miniatures are really hard to find and very easy to lose, they are often more expensive than the other sizes due to intricate level of work needed to make them.

How to scale your own DIY dollhouse projects?

When talking about converting scales for miniatures, we’ are actually talking about shrinking things. e.g. If you want to create a couch replicate of your own for your dollhouse you need to make it the right size to be able to fit inside your house. How do you measure and calculate this yourself? Converting and calculating scale is actually very easy. If your are working with a 1:12 scale all you need to do is to take your measurements and divide them by 12. The same goes for a 1:24 scale, if your couch is 2 meters long, you will take 2/24 = 0.083m or 8.3cm.

Do you have a preferred dollhouse scale? Leave me with a comment below!