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Hi Everyone!

We’re on a real American Girl Doll kick lately! My little Diva has us making our own American Girl Doll clothes, accessories and now, we’re even making furniture. Well, I’m not ready to open a doll furniture store soon, but over the weekend, we did make a darling little wooden doll bed for the Diva’s newest AG doll.

american girl doll Isabelle in handmade wooden doll bed


My daughter asked for a doll bed, and when Hubby and I looked at the generic one she wanted, we discovered that it wasn’t even the right size for an 18-inch doll. And, it definitely wasn’t cheap! So, Hubby said he would try to make one, and after looking around our wood stash, I suggested using remains of the garden stakes that we used for the wooden American flag. The stakes were almost exactly the right size and only needed a little trim here and there.

To make your own doll bed, you’ll need:

  • Wooden garden stakes
  • Saw
  • 1 long wooden dowel rod
  • Package of round wooden knobs
  • Wood glue or Tacky Glue
  • Sandpaper
  • Paint
  • Foam heart decals

We trimmed two of the garden stakes so that they were long enough to fit an 18-inch doll. This is not scientific, folks — we just measured the doll and cut the pieces to fit! These formed the sides of the bed.

Then, we cut smaller pieces of wood to form the bottom slats and the headboard, and glued the wood together. We used a long wooden dowel rod for the posts and cut it into four pieces.

I thought the bed needed some extra details, so I purchased a package of small wooden knobs from Michael’s, and we glued one onto each of the bed posts.

wood doll bed made from garden stakes and dowel rods


My daughter wanted a pink and white bed, and she helped with the painting.

painting the doll bed white


I was originally going to stencil some hearts on the headboard, but I didn’t have a stencil that was small enough. So, I used two pink foam hearts and stuck them on the wood. It almost looks like they are carved into the headboard.

pink hearts on headboard of doll bed



And, voila — you have a new handmade doll bed, for a fraction of the cost of a store-bought bed!

white and pink doll bed made from garden stakes and dowel rods


My daughter absolutely loves the new bed, and of course, her doll does too!

american girl doll Isabelle in handmade pink and white doll bed




Thanks so much for viewing our latest American Girl Doll project. Have an awesome day!

Dee 🙂

Update on 11/11/14 – If you’re looking for more DIY ideas, check these out:











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2 Comments

  1. Dee M says:

    You're a wonderful grandma, Trish! These things are so expensive, and that's why we started making our own accessories. 🙂

  2. Trish Martin says:

    This is so adorable. I wish I could show my granddaughter this. She literally destroyed her American Girl Dolls. I should have stopped buying them when she destroyed the set of twins. But no…I am so gullible…I had to go and buy another one…haha. I would love get my youngest granddaughter one. Maybe, when she gets a little older. That bed is such the cutest little bed I have ever seen. And your baby doll is beautiful.