Friday, March 6, 2015

Making a Doll Room Floor for American Girl 18" Dolls






Hello Doll Friends!

So as you may have noticed, I like to set up doll rooms for my dolls. I really dig the small miniatures and always have done. I like doll houses on all scales actually, but I think the 18" Doll sized scale has become my favorite. I have the furniture and accessories for three different types of rooms; a 'living room' or 'library', a bedroom and a kitchen. The living room is old fashioned, just like me, as is the kitchen. The bedroom is more 'little girl' and my dear daughter has a lot more influence on what goes into that room. The way I see it, in 'real life' living rooms and kitchens aren't all 'pink and girly' so why should they be in my Doll House? I digress. So... Recently, my Dear Daughter asked if I could set up all three rooms simultaneously so she and her best friend could play in the 'whole house' when she came over. No problem... Except one. I only had two 'floors'! This was never a problem before since I only set up one room or two rooms at a time. I made my first floor a year or more ago but didn't think to write a tutorial for it then. (Or did I? I'll have to dig in old posts!? I've begun to accumulate them here) Oh well, here is the newest tutorial on it in case I posted one before?

See, here is the floor I made the first time, under my library. It's got green 'tiles' in it. I made it, as I did with the one you're about to see, out of supplies left in my house by the prior owners. They did home improvements and left all the 'extra' supplies in a cupboard in the garage. There they sat until one day I needed a doll floor! So the floor above is the same pattern of tiles that are in my downstairs bathroom in my real house. Kind of fun. The prior owner must have bought several different types of tile to try out because there were several styles... So... I used a different to make the new one. As with before, I used cardboard as my 'base'. The first one I used only 'single ply' cardboard and it's been really durable, but, being me, I wanted to improve on it and make it more durable still. So I used a whole flattened cardboard box so it would have two thicknesses of cardboard. I even went out and BOUGHT a cardboard box because I wanted it to be nice and clean and flat. This is not necessary though obviously. 


Here is the cardboard box I used. It's an 18"x18"x24 inch. The first thing I did was tape, tape, tape!! I taped all the ends together and the tabs closed, using tape to make it an even edge where there was the cut in the cardboard to fold it into a box. 

See? TAPE TAPE TAPE!!

Don't be shy, use a lot because it'll make it last longer.


Here are the 'tiles'. They are the inexpensive ones that are self adhesive. I have no idea how much they cost but I am sure one box, which is all you'll need, isn't too terribly expensive? I'll check and update blog later.


As you can see, I ran out of one type of them with a bit of cardboard leftover... Ooops. Oh well, I ran with it and finished off with a complementary type. I wanted it to be out of stuff I had on hand so... Compromises must sometimes be made. You may notice that the little kitchen is set up with a floor under it at the top of the next photo. I tried, first, to make a second floor on just poster board, hoping that the tiles would be enough to hold it together. Um, don't try this, it doesn't work very well! Ha!

So here it is! It's pretty large, plenty of room for rooms to be set up on it. 

I think it looks great even with the silly change in tiles at the left hand side...


So... Have fun making a floor for your dolls rooms!!


Till next time!! 









No comments:

Post a Comment