You can find tutorials for these projects and more on my DIY Dollhouse Pinterest Board!
My 7 year-old niece had one dream for Christmas: a dollhouse for her American Girl dolls. With an official American Doll bed at $150 alone, though, Santa wasn’t bringing a full dollhouse anytime soon. My sister, McKinzie, decided to visit Pinterest to find DIY American Girl Dollhouse alternatives to the pricey originals.
My daughter’s big wish for Christmas was a dollhouse for her 18″ dolls. I quickly realized I needed something compact (a lot of DIY American Girl Dollhouse options were bookcase size) and affordable. Pinterest was my friend for this.
McKinzie discovered this awesome DIY Collapsible Room Tutorial from Green and Gorgeous and decided to follow it to create a house full of rooms.
Her daughter already had a doll bed and grandma was gifting a stove, sleeping bag, doll clothes, and play food for Christmas. McKinzie discovered this cardboard furniture tutorial and created furniture to enhance the living room, bathroom, and kitchen.
The couch and chairs were made by searching for DIY American Girl Dollhouse couch and chairs on Pinterest using recycled cardboard boxes and sewing craft material I found around the house. I glued them together with hot glue rather than sewing. A lot easier. The side tables are made from Laughing Cow boxes glued together on cardboard legs. The table top is made from an old cork hot pad for pans that I found at Value village, glued onto of a painted vitamin bottle. I also found the rocking chair at Value Village.
My lucky niece even had a creative grandpa who made this amazing horse stable for her American Girl horses!
The three best features of this DIY American Girl dollhouse, in my opinion?
- Space Saving. The rooms can fold in for storage, if necessary, and the furniture kept in a container.
- Affordable. This project uses materials that many people already have around the house, so the cost is minimal, especially compared to retail costs.
- Upcycling and Recycling. Many of the materials my sister used came from her recycling or scrap bins.
Jill S says
So cool. Santa brought a giant wooden doll/car/stuffed animal/fairy/kids sitting on top of the dang thing… house… for our kids this year. It takes up about half the room.. just kidding.. kind of…
but they’ve loved it so far!
The Inquisitive Mom says
Doll houses provide so much room for creativity and joint play. I am all for them!
Melanie says
Cute ideas. My daughter has her AG dolls. I don’t think I even realized that they had actual doll houses.
The Inquisitive Mom says
I don’t know if any of the doll houses are “official” AG, but they certainly sell furniture.
Penny says
They don’t have official AG dollhouses; they offer limited addition single-room stuff like a camper or a pastry shop. They sell beds and tables, but I’m all for checking out swap meets for furniture that’s built to scale. And I’ve found a lot of cute accessories at dollar stores, many not even intended for dolls, like a metal mesh pen holder that’s perfect for a doll-sized wastebasket. Crafts are a great way for kids to use their imagination to create things for their doll collection.