Welcome to the Doll Apartment

When M suggested the idea of making a doll apartment, I was completely on board. A project like this one took me right back to my childhood. When I was not spending my time at the top of a tree and covered in dirt, I loved playing with my dolls. My sister and I used to make doll clothes out of fabric scraps, and we spent a lot of time making miniature books and notebooks with scrap paper and the stapler. She and I still sometimes discuss the darling little details in the current American Girl catalog. Who can resist a doll-sized Blokus™ game and mini pizza slices? I know we are not the only ones who do this. I always find the catalog inspiring. Crazy expensive, but inspiring.

The Apartment

In my best HGTV narrator voice: This studio apartment features a living room/bedroom combo, a full-sized closet, and a spacious kitchen with laundry facilities attached. An additional storage loft is included. The apartment does not have a bathroom, but we do not consider that to be a problem. Dolls are so lucky, and an affordable place like this one is hard to find.

A Closer Look

We were limited to the space under her bed plus the extra portion between her bed and the wall. In order to add a loft, we used a long shelf on cinder blocks. I placed the cinder blocks on pieces of cheap felt so they would not scratch the floor if they got moved. I also put sticky felt furniture pads on the back and sides of the shelf in case it got pushed up against the wall. I did not want the edges to scrape the new paint.

My original idea was that the loft area could be for her babies. However, M did not like that idea. She was worried the babies might roll off. She is a good mom. Instead, she suggested using it for storage.

M really liked the idea of pretending the girls were moving in. She packed up all of their belongings, and we staged a few pictures for that purpose.



We decided that the left side would be a living room/bedroom combo. We added a fake fur rug. My mom made the girls the adorable beanbag chairs. They work perfectly since the girls can’t bend their knees. Poor things.

I bought the beds from a seller on Ebay (this seller). He was wonderful to work with. I bought the first bed for M at Christmas. It was such a great product that I wrote the seller and asked if he would consider modifying a bed slightly so we could stack the beds in order to make them bunkbeds. He was completely on board for that. I bought a second bed with legs that are one inch longer. It worked perfectly.

The rest of the accessories on that side of the apartment were things that M already owned. I thought about making the girls some bedding that matched M’s new quilt, but she was very happy with the bedding she already owned. My mom made the bedding on the top bunk, and my Mother-in-law gave her the blanket on the bottom bunk.

For the closet, we used a box. I cut it the proper height so it would be flush with the shelf above it. I cut out the front, and we covered the sides with contact paper. Then, we went to the hardware store and bought a wooden dowel that was small enough for the doll hangers, but sturdy enough to hold a light load. I cut the dowel slightly longer than the box width. I poked it through each side and secured it with duct tape. We bought the laundry baskets and the little orange bins at the dollar store.

The kitchen and laundry area is my favorite. I initially thought that we should make the kitchen out of cardboard and contact paper. I was not sure if the cost of a store-bought doll kitchen would be a good value for the length of time that M would play in this apartment. After all, she is already nine years old. It makes me sad that she will soon outgrow all of this, but that is the reality. Wow. Now I’m really sad. I will just shove that feeling deep down inside and live in the moment instead.

The kitchen is the Our Generation brand, and it was sold at Target last year. My friend A. purchased the same kitchen for her daughter for Christmas. She said it was a high-quality item, and her daughter loved playing with it. I waited so long to make a decision about purchasing vs. making a kitchen that all of the Target stores were sold out when I finally decided to open up my wallet. I texted my friend A., and she found one (one!) at a local Target. I rushed there after the gym. I found it in a slightly beat-up box above a price tag of $117. I nearly choked. Online, they were $65. I checked the price tag carefully and discovered that it was for another item. The kitchen was $65, not $117.

This kitchen is out of stock now. I feel like I got the very last one. I put one in an Amazon affiliate link below, and the current price is $128 (Don’t be fooled by if the ad displays a lower price. There is not one available for less. That’s kind of shady of Amazon). Even worse, there is someone on Ebay selling this kitchen for $6000. I am not joking. They offer free shipping, so that will save you a little money. I told M about the Ebay listing, and she said, “Let’s pack ours up and sell it right now!” First, I love that she calls it “ours.” Next, I wonder if she owes a bookie some money or something. She seemed awfully eager to make $6000.

For the flooring, I used peel and stick tiles leftover from our house in California. I thought I had thrown those away a long time ago, but they showed up in a mystery box that the movers unloaded two years ago. I discovered them again when I cleaned up the basement. I had exactly six, and I mounted them on foam core.

M and I made the stackable washer and dryer from a box and contact paper. M enjoys doing all laundry (seriously!) so I wanted to make the doll washer and dryer have some fun details. We printed the panel off the internet. I did a search for images, and we printed off several before we found the one that looked the most authentic and fit the best too.

The last little detail was adding a string of lights. They are battery-operated. I used them on the fireplace mantel at Christmas. I attached them with Command clips


There are still some items that we would like to add. Now that the girls have jobs, (Marie is an art gallery owner, and Kanani is a professional paddleboarder.) M wants to add some art and books that reflect their interests. It is a lot of fun to play in the house, but we have just as much fun dreaming up new things to add to it.

The cost for this apartment was reasonable. I always struggle with how to list the cost of a project because we often have the supplies on hand. However, if one had to purchase everything, the cost would rise considerably. There is a big difference between what I actually spent and what I would have spent if I did not own any of these things already. I suppose I would encourage anyone who is interested in a project like this one to scour thrift shops and check with people you know to find out if they have something useful sitting around that you could purchase. They might even give you items for free.

These are the items that I actually purchased for the doll apartment:

White fake fur rug – $16 (Marshall’s)
Doll Kitchen – $65 (Target)
Four cinder blocks – $4.50 (Lowe’s)
Dresser Drawers – $12 (Purchased at a local hardware store)
Dollar store items – $4
Wooden Dowel – $1.20 (Local hardware store)
One doll bed – $19 (Ebay)
Total Cost: $121.70

There are only a few items on that list that were completely necessary. I could have done a better job saving money if I had tried harder. Please don’t let the cost dissuade you if you think this would be fun to do at your house. There are plenty of ways to save money on this kind of project.

As we add more things to the doll apartment, I will be sure to share them here or on Instagram.

This post contains affiliate links which means I may be compensated if you purchase something after clicking on the link.