How To Make A Doll Room Out Of A Box–Part Two

We’re back with our How To Make A Doll Room In A Decorative Box series!

Our last post (How To Make A Doll Room Out Of A Decorative Box–Part One) showed how I made a floor for Cedar’s room that folds down when she is ready to craft but can also be folded up so her room is easy to store.

Decorative Box With Folding Floor For Doll Room
Now it’s time to begin furnishing Cedar’s crafting space, and what better way to start than by making her a little bed!

How To Make A Doll Bed

Supplies Need:

  1. Cardboard (I re-used a moving box)
  2. Scissors (or an Exacto knife) to cut the cardboard
  3. Glue
  4. 2″ wide ribbon (this will be the border or “bed skirt”)
  5. Fabric (for the mattress)
  6. Pillow fluff, batting, or foam
  7. A needle and thread

Because the box is small I need to use the space I have wisely. I would like to make a bed that’s large enough for a doll to lay on, but also fits inside the box and doubles as sort of a “doll stand” and gives Cedar a place to stand when the box is closed.

So let’s get started and see what we can come up with!Image Of Cedar Wood Doll Looking For A Hammer

First, let’s decide how big this bed needs to be. For an 11 1/2″ doll (most 12″ dolls are actually 11 1/2″) the bed should be at least 12″ long. So, for this bed I am going to use a 12″ by 8″ piece of cardboard.

Mark and draw lines 2″ in from the right and left sides of the cardboard:Cardboard Doll Bed With Measurements: 12" tall by 8" wide.

Then score along the lines drawn (making sure you don’t cut all the way through!), and bend the cardboard along the scored edges.Score Lines On Cardboard

This gives you a basic bed frame that is 2″ high and a 4″ wide:
Cardboard Bed Frame For Doll
I will admit, this bed is a tad narrow, but that is only because I am working with such a small area. You can always make your doll’s bed bigger by using a larger piece of cardboard and adjusting the measurements.
I used one piece of cardboard to create the base and sides of the bed and can already tell that the frame needs a bit more support to keep the sides from collapsing in.  So I’m going to glue extra cardboard to each end of to strengthen the bed frame.Add Extra Support At Each End Of Doll Bed
To do this I traced the end of the bed a scrap piece of cardboard. Then cut out two of these sections and glued them into place–one at the head and one at the foot.
At this point, you should have something that resembles a platform bed.  There should also be a large opening in the middle when you stand it one end.
Open Space Beneath Doll Bed
There are several things you can do to make this open area useful–put shelves in it and have it double as a bookcase, add drawers and use it for extra storage, etc….
I’m going to use it as a place for Cedar to stand when the box is closed.  But she can’t stand in something that looks like a cardboard box!  No, the inside must be decorated somehow.  So I need to come up with something that will make a good lining and also compliment Cedar’s creative personality.
Image Of Cedar Wood Describing Her Likes
What about felt?
Doll Bed With Purple Felt
You’re right! Away with the felt!
Purple scrapbook paper doesn’t look all that great:
Doll Bed With Purple Scrapbook Paper
Neither does my trusty wood-grained Washi tape!
Doll Bed With Washi Tape
I was considering covering the inside with plain white paper when it hit me!  A great lining for this bed would be:
Background From Cedar Wood's Box
 Cedar’s box!!
Yes, I had saved the background from Cedar’s box for something special and now I needed just that!  So I cut out sections from the background, and glued the pieces inside the open area of the bed:
Doll Bed Lined With Ever After High Box
This is the perfect place for Cedar to stand!
Cedar Wood Standing Next To Doll BedOkay, so we’ve decorated inside of the bed and turned it into a useful space, but we still need to fix the outside and make it look like, well, like a bed!

Once you have the basic structure of the bed, you can begin covering it with whatever material you like. I’m going to use burlap ribbon to make a bed skirt (I think burlap best fits Cedar’s creative tastes?).

To make the bed skirt, I glued 2″ wide burlap ribbon around the bed and completely covered the sides:Gluing Ribbon Around Cardboard Doll Bed

Then gave the skirt some fringe by pulling few threads and allowing the edge of the ribbon to fray.Unraveling Ribbon Edge

After gluing burlap around all four sides, I trimmed out the top of the bed with a strip of ribbon that looks like a ruler or measuring tape:Cardboard Doll Bed With Ribbon Covered Sides This measuring tape ribbon is actually a sentimental piece of mine. You see, my old sewing box was worn out and the time has come for me to replace it. But I couldn’t bring myself to throw it away…I just loved its sewing themed fabric too much!Pink Sewing BoxJust look at the pretty, pink background…and the spools of thread…and all the little buttons (*sniff*).

I decided to try to salvage as much of the fabric and trim as I could before discarding the box. In the end, I was able to save and reuse most of the fabric.  Unfortunately, I was so focused on disassembling my old box without damaging the fabric that I forgot to take pictures!

Anywho, that’s the backstory of the ribbon you see trimming out the top of Cedar’s bed. What was once part of a sewing box is now the perfect accent for our doll craft room!

Speaking of which, let’s get back to the bed!  It has a burlap bed skirt, trim around the top edge, and now it just needs a mattress. Thankfully, mattresses are easy to make!

How to make a mattress for a doll bed:
White Cotton And Foam For Doll Mattress
  • To make the mattress, fold a piece of fabric in half and cut out a section slightly larger than your bed. Then cut out a section of foam or felt to make the mattress “cushiony”.
  • With the fabric folded in half, sew along one short side and one long side, and leave one short side open
  • Turn the fabric inside out (hiding the seams and making the edges of the mattress look neat), and push your foam or felt inside. Use a blunt object (like the end of a pencil) to push the foam into the corners of the fabric.
  • Once the foam is in place, fold in the raw edges of the open side and sew them together.
Finished Doll Mattress
After sewing up the final side, I went back and added a few stitches to the middle make it look more “mattress-y”.
And here is the finished product!
Finished Bed For A 12-inch Doll
I think it looks lovely! The burlap is so cute and the ribbon adds a nice touch of creative character!
Let’s see what Cedar thinks!
Cedar Wood Testing Out Her New Bed
Cedar Wood: Don't You Think This Bed Could Use Some Pillows!
Yes, I suppose I need to make a few pillows!
Cedar Wood: And A Blanket!

Oh boy…I think I know what I’ll be doing tomorrow!

What else should we include in Cedar’s room?  Let us know in the comment section, and be sure to check back next week to see this box continue to be transformed into a cozy, doll-sized, craft room!

4 Comments

  1. Those are great ideas! Yes, I definitely feel that Cedar needs plenty of wood elements in her room.

  2. Here my ideas of what you should include in cedars room:

    1. since she is the daughter of pinocchio, maybe there should be things made out of wood , and maybe puppets and things like that,

    2. since she was in the ever after high tea party doll line, maybe she should have tea sets and tea pots in her room

    I hope you like my ideas!:)

    -Quinley

  3. When you asked for ideas for fun things to include in Cedar's room, my first thought was to get one of those mini latch top boxes from the office supply that's normally used to store paper clips or push pins and fill it with doll sized craft supplies. Doll sized balls of yarn should be fairly straightforward to make with baby yarn. And scraps of scrapbook paper can be cut down to make doll sized sheets. I believe a two inch by two inch square would be the doll equivalent of a twelve by twelve sheet of scrapbook paper. I'm sure you could come up with some fun ideas of your own. Hopefully I've sparked your imagination.
    Signed, Treesa

  4. Oh yes, you've definitely sparked my imagination! Cedar must have some crafting supplies. I love the idea of using baby yarn for doll yarn.

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