Semantics · how we size a dollhouse
What Play Scale Means Here
Play scale is not a ratio; it is a design brief. It means a wooden house built for a child of about 2 to 8 years, sized around dolls of roughly 8-12 cm, with floors low enough for a small hand to reach and rooms wide enough to arrange furniture in. The collector trade works the other way round, from a fixed ratio - 1:12, one inch to one foot, is its standard - and that single difference is what separates the two markets. Every size band, doll-fit statement and floor height on this site comes from the child-and-doll brief rather than from a scale calculation, and this page explains how the measurement works and where the boundary sits.
Play scale means the house is sized around the child and the doll rather than around a fixed ratio: dolls of about 8-12 cm, floors of roughly 10-16 cm, and rooms a hand can reach into. The bands on this site are assembled height - under 40 cm, 40-80 cm and 80 cm and above - not a scale figure.
At a glance
| Doll fit | about 8-12 cm on most models; up to about 15 cm in the large band |
|---|---|
| Floor height | roughly 10 cm on a tabletop house to 16 cm on a large three-storey |
| Size bands | assembled height: under 40 cm (47 models), 40-80 cm (26), 80 cm and above (8) |
| Storeys | 15 models three storeys or taller, four two-storey, the rest single or unrecorded |
| What it is not | a fixed ratio, a collector standard or a display model |
| Why it matters | the doll fit decides the play value, and the carton decides the freight; the band is the link between them |
What 1:12 means, in one paragraph
- 1:12 is the collector and hobby standard: one inch on the model represents one foot on the real building, so a 2.4 m ceiling becomes 20 cm and a 90 cm door becomes 7.5 cm. Furniture in that trade is made to the same rule, which is why the pieces are precise reproductions rather than play pieces.
- That trade calls its products miniatures, sells them to adult collectors and hobbyists, and prices them per unit rather than per container. Its buyer asks about edition size and display cases; a play buyer asks about carton cube and MOQ.
- This catalogue is not that market and does not sell those products. The ratio is named here once, so that a buyer who has met both in a supplier's listing can tell them apart in seconds.
- The full comparison, including the five signals to look for in a listing, is in the scale guide under Guides. Everything else on this site is written in play-scale language: doll fit, floor height, room sets, carton cube.
Why play scale is a brief, not a ratio
- A ratio fixes every dimension at once, which is what a collector or a model maker wants. A play-scale house fixes the child instead: the floor is where a hand can reach, the room is where a chair can be arranged and the doorway is where a figure can be walked through.
- That is why two houses of the same assembled height can behave differently: one with 10 cm floors and one with 15 cm floors are both 60 cm tall and are not the same product.
- It is also why the catalogue publishes assembled height and floor height as two separate numbers. The height is the shelf and freight number; the floor height is the play number.
- The doll is the constant. If a buyer knows the figure height, the floor height and the door opening decide whether a model works, and both are confirmed per model.
How we measure and band a model
- Assembled height in centimetres, from the supplier's own size data. If only the carton is recorded, the model is not placed in a band and the page says confirmed per model.
- Floor height where it is recorded, because it is the number that answers 'what fits' and it is the number buyers most often have to ask for.
- Storeys from the model data: 15 are three storeys or taller, four are two storeys, and the rest are single-storey or unrecorded and are not claimed as either.
- Carton dimensions separately again. The band tells a buyer roughly what to expect; the carton on the model page is what the container plan uses.
Where this catalogue stops
- It stops at play scale. Houses and room pieces built for dolls of 8-12 cm, for children of about 2 to 8, and a range that tops out at 133 cm assembled height with eight models in the large band.
- The collector and hobby trade - display houses, room boxes, adult model kits, one-inch-to-one-foot reproduction furniture - is a different market with a different buyer, a different vocabulary and a different supply chain. It is not sold here.
- The boundary is deliberate. A catalogue that mixes the two reads as neither, and a buyer who wants a play house does not want to filter a hobby range to find it.
- The full comparison between the two markets, including the vocabulary difference and how to tell them apart in a supplier's listing, is set out in the scale guide under Guides.
What a buyer should ask for
- Ask for the figure height the house is designed around, not the scale. A supplier who answers in centimetres of doll is answering the useful question.
- Ask for the floor height and the door opening, and check both against the doll family you intend to pair with the house.
- Ask for the assembled height and the carton separately. The first is the shelf, the second is the freight, and they are not proportional across the catalogue.
- Ask what the house is not: a model that is fine for a seven-year-old may be wrong for a two-year-old, and the age grade is set at the strictest component.
FAQ
Is a wooden dollhouse built to a scale?
Not in the sense a collector means. The houses on this site are play scale: sized around dolls of about 8-12 cm and around a child's reach, with floors of roughly 10-16 cm. There is no single ratio applied across the catalogue, and two houses of the same height can have different floor heights, which is why the floor height is published per model. If a buyer needs a ratio for a collector or a model-making purpose, this is not the catalogue for it; if the question is what doll fits and whether a child can play with it, the numbers on the model page answer it.
How do I know which doll fits a specific house?
From three figures: the doll height, the floor height and the door opening. Most models here take dolls of 8-12 cm, the large band up to about 15 cm, and both figures are confirmed per model rather than generalised. A tabletop house under 40 cm may have 10-11 cm floors, so a 12 cm doll will not stand up in every room even though the house is the right size overall. Send the figure height with the model list and we will check it against the floor height of the models you shortlist.
Why does the site avoid collector terminology?
Because the two markets are different and mixing the vocabulary makes the catalogue unusable for both. A buyer sourcing play houses for a toy shop is not looking for a display model, and a collector is not looking for a house a two-year-old can lean on. This site is written in the language of the play market - doll fit, floor height, room sets, age grade, carton cube - and it leaves the collector vocabulary to the trade that sells to collectors. The scale guide explains the difference for a buyer who has met both in a supplier's listing.
Check the fit before the order
Send the doll height and the model list; we return the floor heights and the carton data for those models.