DIY Simple Origami House

origami house tutorial 00
Paper Kawaii
Project Overview
  • Total Time: 1 hr
  • Yield: 1 house
  • Skill Level: Beginner

This easy-to-make origami house makes a great little dollhouse for little toys. There are many other uses for this petite paper house. Use it to make a seasonal scene for a Christmas nativity vignette, an Easter display surrounded by bunnies, or for Halloween decked out with ghouls and goblins.

It's a great DIY project to fold with children. Though the house is easy enough for kids to fold, they'll likely need some help from grownups.

What You'll Need

Materials

  • 1 sheet square paper (white on one side, a color on the other)

Instructions

  1. Step 1 - Start Folding

    Start with your paper white side up. If you use paper with one colored side, the roof of your house will end up that color. Fold your paper in half, from bottom to top, creating a central horizontal crease. Unfold. Next, fold the bottom edge up to meet the central crease. Fold the paper in half from right to left, creating a central vertical crease. Fold the left and right edges, in to meet the central vertical crease.

    Tip

    Make your first few creases as perfect and accurate as possible. Take your time and your finished origami model will turn out well.

    origami house tutorial 01
    Paper Kawaii
  2. Origami House Instructions - Step 2

    Fold the top right corner, down to the left, aligning the edge along the horizontal crease you made in step 2. Do the same with the top left corner. Fold the bottom left and bottom right corners in diagonally and unfold. Flip the paper over to the other side. Fold the top edge down to meet the central crease and unfold.

    origami house tutorial 02
    Paper Kawaii
  3. Origami House Instructions - Step 3

    Flip the paper back over to the other side. Collapse the top left and right corners inwards and down, the top will also fold down on top. Re-fold the bottom left and right corners. Fold the right section over to the left.

    origami house tutorial 03
    Paper Kawaii
  4. Origami House Instructions - Step 4

    Pick up the origami house, and fold the tip of the flap you just folded, down to the lower right corner, you will need to fold the top section down in order to make this fold. This is what you should have. Repeat the same process on the left section. Fold the lower section up, you will have two little triangles, which you can insert underneath the flaps behind them. You can unfold the house slightly in order to fold these flaps inside.

    Tip

    You will probably notice that your house flips backward when you try to stand it up! You can fix this issue by either putting something in your house or making the bottom heavier by sticking some card underneath.

    origami house tutorial 04
    Paper Kawaii