DIY American Girl 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.

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

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.

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

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

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: