Designing a doll room

**Bbbren** · October 8th, 2006, 04:21 PM

We recently put in a contract for a new home. It is still being built but we should be in it by Christmas! I am so excited as this is our first home and we are well into our 30's.

I will have a doll room! The only other purpose the room will serve is as a guestroom. So naturally it will have to a bed in it.

Any ides on how to plan this and what furnishings I might buy to display the dolls? Does anyone have a doll room they can share pictures of?

I collect historicals and Bitty and I lean towards cherry wood and an antique inspired look.

Thanks!

brenda

**wrxgirl** · October 8th, 2006, 04:42 PM

Congrats on your new home! [img]smile.gif[/img] I have seen a few people that have walls with built in shelving, to save on floor space... just an idea....However, I have also seen some members with the nicest display cases! [img]smile.gif[/img]

**puppychurro** · October 8th, 2006, 05:55 PM

Congradulatins!

<font color="#33CCCC" size="1">[ October 08, 2006 02:56 PM: Message edited by: puppychurro ]</font>

**uktmw** · October 8th, 2006, 06:01 PM

I would look at curio cabinets that have glass doors to help keep the dust off your displays. It would also be nice if they had drawers or enclosed cabinets below so you could store things without them having to be seen all the time. As mentioned earlier, built-ins would be nice too, but those are usually not included or lots of money to have installed. Good luck with your doll room, that is my dream one day when I get a house! Be sure to post pictures when you find the perfect storage system!

**MOM to JILLIAN** · October 8th, 2006, 06:08 PM

Congratulations on your new home purchase! I agree with others who have suggested built in shelves, bookcases or curio cabinets. Perhaps you could talk to a local cabinet maker to get ideas. It would be so nice to have cabinets made to specific measurements for your AG collection. Have fun planning your room and be sure to keep us updated. [img]graemlins/rainbow.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/rose.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/rainbow.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/rose.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/rainbow.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/rose.gif[/img]

**horsemom** · October 8th, 2006, 06:25 PM

I found a nice cherrywood stained cabinet at K-Mart, of all places. I used it as a doll cabinet for a year until we just moved and now we're building custom cabinets. If you're curious, it's on my website (shown with dolls in it)- in my signature under the "Storage and Display" page. It was about $300 and is big enough to hold three historical collections, but not more than a kitchen OR bedroom scene (i.e., it isn't big enough to hold a bed AND a table/chairs set). It was pretty and decently nice though, and has glass doors so it keeps the dust off whatever is inside (I used the top, too).

At this point, my husband is building custom cabinets for the doll room. They are not built-ins because we want to take them with us when we move. But they will look more or less like built-ins and are not too hard to build. He's making two 2' deep x 4' wide x 6' high ones, one 2x3x6 and a 1x4x2. This is because of the layout of the room and its space limitations. I found the ideal size for fitting one whole historical collection (like a room- all the furniture) is 2x4x6. If you want to use the Scenes and Settings to their full advantage, 2x5x6 is better, but huge. LOL The cabinets we're building will enable me to have eight historical displays and three fantasy doll displays. I also have a hope chest that my AGTs chill on top of and a small storage unit my husband built (also shown on my website) that Susan and Hannah, my 1940s girls, will hang out on.

We go to Home Depot today! Hopefully I'll have pictures and a new website update extravaganza in a couple weeks. [img]smile.gif[/img]

**nicolej** · October 8th, 2006, 07:03 PM

Lucky you!!

You could put a Murphy Bed or a sofa bed or a futon in the room if you don't get company very often or for long. There's no sense tying up the room as a "guest room" if its only used 6 weekends a year - when really you want a "doll room".

I would look at getting some big wall units with shelves like horsemom is describing, 60 cm deep X 100 cm wide X ???, so you can make a bunch of doll rooms. Then I would also look into getting a wardrobe unit to store the clothes so they can hang up. Look at horsemom's website under storage solutions - it has some great ideas.

Have fun planning!!

Polly Marie · October 8th, 2006, 07:04 PM

I would suggest a cherry wood day/trundle bed that doubles as a couch. When company is not there, your dolls can be sitting on the couch(bed). Then when company comes, you can store the dolls on the shelving or have a nice lined basket you can put them in. [img]smile.gif[/img]
P.S. Nicole, we must have had the same idea and posted at about the same time! [img]wink.gif[/img]

<font color="#33CCCC" size="1">[ October 08, 2006 04:06 PM: Message edited by: Polly Marie ]</font>