DIY Doll Bed

Am I the only person who has noticed an overuse of "DIY"? It's not a verb (i.e. "Just DIY it!" doesn't make sense). If you're not sure what I'm talking about then just peruse Pinterest for 3 seconds and you'll see what I mean...thought I do love Pinterest dearly. Anyhow, let's talk about, yes, a DIY doll bed!

My little girl has been pretty clear about her Christmas wish list this year. On it are three items: a baby doll, a bed for the baby, and a doll house. That last one has been hiding in my closet now for over two months courtesy of FisherPrice.com, but the other two I'm still working on. Or rather, I was until just a few days ago when I finished #2 on the list: a bed for the baby.

I went to Joann's a couple weeks ago and found an unfinished wooden crate. It was not on sale, which meant I could use my 50% off coupon so it ended up costing $6. I knew I had white spray paint at home left over from another project and I planned on making bedding with fabric pieces I have in my stash. I also bought a package of large wooden ball knobs ($4) to glue onto the bottom of the crate to make it look a little more like a bed:

 I just used hot glue to stick the wooden knobs to the bottom then it was time to spray paint. I don't have photos of that step because it went poorly--the nozzle on the spray bottle broke, then the paint got drippy and the weather wasn't cooperating. Enter Plan B: hand paint it. I used some leftover no VOC interior satin latex paint I had from when I painted some wood trim in my living room. It took two coat, painted an hour apart, followed by a day for it to dry and set completely.

For the bedding, I ended up getting lucky and saving myself some time. I had a crib bumper from my daughter's crib that we ended up never using (since when it was made I didn't realize that crib bumpers can be a safety issue). I used the shortest piece and, as luck would have it, it fit almost perfectly around the inside of the bed.

For the "mattress", I just measured the bottom of the crate and made a pillow cover and stuffed it with Poly-fil. Nothing fancy.

The crate is pretty large and can hold most dolls--even American Girl dolls would fit just fine. Dolls and accessories are not cheap, and if you tried to purchase a wooden doll bed of this size it would likely cost at least $40-50 (much more for certain brands, like American Girl). This version cost $10 (if you needed to buy paint it would add about $7-8 extra) and a total of around two hours to make. So I guess what I'm saying is that in this case I'm not just Santa, but also one of his elves :)

Happy Crafting.