Saturday, September 1, 2012

My New Doll Rooms, Post #1! (Hayden and Jenna's Room)

 Hi everyone! :)  I'm super excited to share my newest doll rooms with you! :)  I'm sure most of you remember the room that my dad made for me (as featured in this post).  Some of you may remember me mentioning that my dad was going to make a couple more for me.

Well, we got the rooms finished a few weeks ago, and since then I've slowly been decorating them and getting them set up just right. :)  I still have a few finishing touches to add, like hanging posters and pictures, but other than that, they're pretty much complete! :D  Thanks, Dad!! :D

I have to take some pictures of the two new doll rooms in their almost finished state, so today I'll just show you Jenna and Hayden's finished room.  The other rooms will follow in future posts. :)

And to start today's post, here are a few pics of the rooms in-progress. :)

I love the beautiful light green on the walls of this room.  My dad even found some real wood flooring to put in the bottom. :)  This room will belong to Emma and Charlie.

This room will belong to Maggie and Rachel.  It's white on the upper walls and ceiling and a beige/tan on the lower walls and the floor.  After this picture was taken, my dad put in a wooden chair rail with a nice, light stain.

I had recently found another American Girl doll bed on Craigslist for just $5!  (I believe it's the trundle bed from 2000.)  It was identical to my other bed and was in pretty rough shape, so I decided to repaint it.  My dad had this really cool silver spray paint that was the perfect choice for a unique bed. :)

My mom, dad and I all had a great family day together.  We all took turns painting different sections.  Later in the day, my mom did painting crafts with my daughters so that Dad and I could finish things uninterrupted.  I'm so thankful for both of my parents.  I will always think of the fun we had together when I look at my doll rooms. :)

After the paint had dried overnight, my dad delivered the two new rooms to my house (see the chair rail on the bottom room?).  They were slightly wider than my original room, so I decided to keep that one on the top.  Now, it was time for the hard part:  getting everything to fit just right! :)

So here is the first (mostly) completed room, which belongs to Jenna and Hayden.  You'll remember that before, this room was all Hayden's.  I loved her room the way it was set up before, but I knew that all of the rooms would work the best if I put two dolls in each.  I actually had a really cute little mini room set up for Jenna on the bookshelf by my bed for a while (I just realized today that I never got a picture of it before I took it down!), but I really wanted all of my American Girl dolls in one place.

This room was one of the hardest.  Hayden has by far the most stuff out of all of my dolls (basically because she's so fun to collect for!), so paring down her things was a little tricky.  The nice thing is that Jenna, as the newest member of my AG family, happens to have the smallest collection, so that helped.  Still, I felt like I was working a giant Rubik's cube! :)  But at last, the pieces all came together and I ended up with a room I'm quite pleased with. :)

Jenna enjoys her new room.

Hayden looks pleased as well. ;)

So here's the first side of the room.  The white shelf and closet in back is the wooden medicine cabinet I bought at Salvation Army ages ago, when I first started collecting.  Before this, I've used it for Emma and Charlie, but I thought it would come in handy in this room.  In front of the cabinet, we have Jenna's fold-out futon/chair.  

Here it is without the coverings.  It's pretty bright, which is why I chose to dress it up a bit. ;)

It is American Girl brand, but I haven't been able to identify it specifically yet. 

The thing I love about it is that it can spread out to a full bed size, which will come in handy for photo stories.  But in the meantime, I can fold it up and have more space in the room.  (Oh, and do you see Jenna's Chococat suitcase?  It stays behind her bed.) :)

Behind Jenna's chair/bed is the piece of "furniture" that finally solved the puzzle of the room for me.  It's a wooden crate turned on its side.  It may not sound like that big of a deal, but it was just the right width to fit Jenna's Chococat vanity mirror.  Suddenly, everything was more open and room-like.  Yay! :) 

Jenna's stuffed Chococat and My Melody on her bed.  You can see her Rebecca Rubin doll in the background.

She's standing on Jenna's carousel horse tin with a mini carousel in front of her. 

Her sparkly Rainbow Dash, her coin purse, and her American Girl magazine sit next to her mirror.

The top of the shelf has 3 of Hayden's Breyer horses, two picture frames (one with a doll picture, one without!), Hayden's Orange Blossom figurine, 3 of Jenna's carousel horse figurines, and a pail of pink flowers.

Later on, I added their My Little Pony collection across the front of the shelf.  Pictured here are Fluttershy, Shining Armor, Princess Cadance, Princess Celestia, Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, and Big Macintosh. :)

The closet door with a collage of items that the girls (mainly Hayden!) love. :)

Inside the closet, I put a little dresser that holds some of Hayden's extras in the drawers.  Jenna's extra carousel horse, some purses, Hayden's tiara, and a Disney Princess tin are on the top.

I stuck a push pin into the inside of the door so that I could hang Hayden's hat.  It works perfectly! :) 

Hayden's nightstand (a little wooden storage box made by my dad) holds her mirror, jewelry box, rose hair accessory, glittery Twilight Sparkle, pencil, journal, and Lisa Frank sketch pad. :)

At the foot of her bed, she has her stuffed tiger, her mini Strawberry Shortcake doll, her plush Ariel doll, and her vinyl Aladdin and Jasmine dolls.

Her stuffed horse Chester and her Pre-Mattel Felicity doll are at the head of her bed. 

The shelves pretty much are all about Hayden. :}  Like I said, she has the largest collection!  So this shelf has some of her Strawberry Shortcake and Aladdin collections.

The bottom shelf has her books (held up by Souffle Skunk) and a bin for extra toys.

I also put Hayden's princess puzzle mat from Dollar Tree on the floor.  I think it looks really cute. :)

I have a few posters and things to hang on the walls, but I'm still figuring out the best way to hang them without damaging the doll room.  I'll update this post when things change. :)

Stay tuned for pics of Emma and Charlie's room, Maggie and Rachel's room, a BFC Ink/Hearts 4 Hearts Girls "room", and Tess and Hailey's new and improved room on top of the dresser. :)

To see a video of this doll room, click HERE.

Click HERE for the next post in the series! :)

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Love the room and your creativity. What are the dimensions of the rooms?

Anonymous said...

hello. I love what you did!

I know this is totally off topic, but I could really use your help. I bassicly added with comment twice (three times now) and I don't know if it's because you haven't gotten it, or you just didn't want to answer (which is fine) But I was wondering if you have the time, could you please try on some of the (especially the shoes) madame alaxander my life stuff on the princess and me Rapunzel? you're the only person online who I know for sure has both things. I really want to know because my Princess and me is my precious treasure (i would love almost nothing more then an american girl doll, but pricey-pricey) and I really love Madame alaxander my life's new things. Thank you if you do so. God bless you and your family.

Anonymous said...

Awesome .. turned out so cute .. cannot wait to see everyone else's as you get them done .. Wish I had good rooms for the girls .. someday I will. LOL!!

Hugs,
TracAn

Hannah Prewett (beastsbelle) said...

Thanks for the comments, everyone! :)

Anonymous #1, the rooms are 24 inches tall, 24 inches deep, and 37 inches wide (although the top one is just slightly narrower). We chose the dimensions based on the available space I had, the materials my dad had available, and what I wanted to try to fit in each room. I would suggest taking into consideration your space, the height of your dolls, and the height and width of any furniture you want to use if you're thinking about making your own. :)

Anonymous #2, I'm sorry, but the My Life shoes are too wide for the Disney Princess and Me dolls...their feet are much narrower than standard 18" dolls. Some BFC Ink shoes fit the Disney Princess and Me dolls, but those can be difficult to find, and some of them are a little too snug to fit properly. I hope you find something that works soon!

Hi TracAn...great to hear from you! :) Glad you enjoyed the first room. I hope to have posts on the next few within the next couple of days. :)

Anonymous said...

did you by any change put her in the gymnist outfit? please don't go out of the way to go do it, but I just thought I'd ask....

Hannah Prewett (beastsbelle) said...

Hi Anonymous. :) I didn't, but I can tell you without even trying it on that she'd be swimming in it. Her body size is almost identical to the BFC Ink dolls, which are much narrower than the American Girl and Madame Alexander dolls.

You can see an example of the difference in their body sizes in my post here: http://nevergrowupdollguide.blogspot.com/2011/08/bfc-ink-dolls-including-comparison-to.html

Sorry to disappoint you again. :(

Anonymous said...

aw well. thank you for your time. I guess it's back to making clothes from scratch!

Hannah Prewett (beastsbelle) said...

No problem! Sorry I couldn't give you the answers you were hoping for! :{

Claire said...

I have the exact same orange futon that you have for Jenna (a friend of my mom let us have it when her daughters went off to college). Since you and I have the futon, I decided to look it up - it's from the American Girl of Today "Room Decor" set from 2000. The original set came with a rug and lamp as well...I wish I had them so I could have the complete set!

And as a little addendum to the end of this long comment ;), Hayden and Jenna's room is absolutely fantastic! It suits the two girls very well. ;)

Hannah Prewett (beastsbelle) said...

Thanks, Claire! I found it too, after your help. I must have just glossed over it. :} I actually ended up with the rug and the lampshade as well. I just didn't realize they were from the same set, and I'm still trying to figure out a place to use them. :)

I'm glad you like the room. It's one of my favorites, too. Great to hear from you! :)

Anonymous said...

Where did you get Hayden's toy bin?

Hannah Prewett (beastsbelle) said...

I found it in a set of four or so at Tuesday Morning. It's been a few years since I found it, but there are usually lots of fun little things at Tuesday Morning you can use for your dolls, even if that particular thing isn't there. :)