This year I decided that I wanted to make a couple of miniature houses for my nativity village.
In the past years my family bought some other miniatures houses for it but, looking at them, I realized that they were made out of thin cardboard and they weren't even so nice after all...so I thought I had to try and make better ones!

In this instructable I will show you how to make a basic miniature house using cardboard.
Using this method you can create all the miniatures houses you want!
You can change shape, size, colors, details...anything! Just let your fantasy lead you and who knows, maybe you can even create your dream (miniature) house! :D

Step 1: What You Need

pieces of cardboard
hot glue (or white glue)
cutter
brown, green and gray acrylic paint
clay roof tiles (or similar)
pencil and ruler

Step 2: Two Sides of the House

Let's start drawing the first 2 sides of the house on cardboard.

I used pieces of cardboard that were left from a box so I decided to keep their measures because they seemed to be fine for my miniature house. These pieces are 7 x 5,3 cm (2.75 x 2 inches).
Measure 5cm (1.96 inches) starting from one of the shortest sides and draw a line that divides the piece in 2.
Calculate the middle point of that line, which is about 2.6cm in mine (1 inch) and, working on the smallest side, draw another line perpendicular to the other.
Now join the top of that smaller line to the ends of the other one to recreate the shape of a roof.

This is so much harder to explain than to do so please take a look at the pictures and I am sure you'll understand what I mean.

Cut away the 2 parts that are not part of the roof/house and make another identical shape.

Step 3: The Other Two Sides

The sides of the house are 4 so you still need to make 2...

These ones are much easier and faster to do.
All you need is 2 rectangles as tall as the side of the other 2 pieces (roof excluded).
Their width depends on how large you want your house to be: I made mine 5x3cm (1.96 x 1.18 inches).

Step 4: The Roof

The last 2 pieces you need are the ones for the roof.

Make 2 squares (or rectangles) a little bigger than the upper sides of the house.
I made mine 4,5 x 4,5 (1.77 x 1.77 inches).

You have all your pieces ready now!

Step 5: Door and Windows

To make your house realistic you need to add the door and windows.

Draw a door at the bottom of one of the biggest sides of the house.
I decided to give it a round shape so I drew an open rectangle and closed it at the top with a semicircle.
Divide the door in half like a real door.

I drew a window above the door, another small window on a small side of the house, and a bigger one on the other side. This last one will become a balcony.
Divide all of them in half like you did for the door.

You can choose their sizes, position and even shapes!

Step 6: Cut

Now cut all the door and windows but don't throw them away!
Once you have cut all those pieces, glue one of their sides (right or left) on the sides of the windows using hot glue.

To give them a more realistic look, it's important that you don't glue their surface on the house. Try to keep them distant from the "wall" making them look as if they were open, but not too open :D
You can even do the opposite and glue them as if they were closed, or almost! That's what I did for the door.

Step 7: Join the Pieces Together

Let's compose the house now!

Using hot glue, join one of the small sides perpendicular to the big one.
Glue the other small piece on the other side, so that they face each other.
Complete the "square" gluing the other big side on the back, facing the front of the house.
Finally, glue the 2 pieces of the roof on the top of the house.

Step 8: The Balcony

Earlier, I said that I wanted to make a balcony.
To do this, you need other 4 small pieces of cardboard.

The first 2 ones are 5mm large (0.19 inch) and about 1cm (0.39 inch) longer than the window's width. It could even be more, but this is about how I made it.
The other 2 (squares) are 5x5mm (0.19 x 0.19 inches).

Glue one of the "big" pieces right under the window, perpendicular to the wall.
Then glue the little squares on the sides, as if they were on that bigger piece.
Finally, glue the last big piece perpendicular to the other one to close the balcony.

Later I decided to add a windowsill to the front window, so I cut another little rectangle (just like the big one I used for the balcony) and glued it below the window.

Step 9: Paint

It's time to paint the house now!

You can choose the colors you prefer, I used two shades of brown: light for the walls and darker for the roof and balcony/windowsill.
I then painted the door and windows in green.

Step 10: Cover the Roof

To give the house a more realistic look, I covered the roof with tiles.

Remember the miniature tiles I made a while ago with clay? You can see the instructable here.
Since I used that kind of tiles for another miniature house, I decided to use that same method to create a different kind that looks like stone tiles.
These are actually easier to make than the regular ones because they are just little squares and rectangles made with clay.

So cover the two parts of your roof with these tiles, always starting from the bottom side: glue the first row normally then overlap the second row of tiles a little bit on the first row. Do the same for the next rows until you reach the top.

Paint them a little in gray to make them look like stones, but don't be perfect here, the more casual it is, the more realistic!

Well, you are done now!! :)
If you want to add more details you are free to do it and your house will look even better!