We LOVE seeing what our doll friends are up to and love it even more when they share creative ideas like the one Angie sent me last week. She took a computer desk (armoire) they no longer use and turned it into an American Girl Doll house.

Angie’s note to us:

My name is Angela Blake and I am the proud mother of a nine year old American Girl enthusiast.  Elizabeth received her Kit doll and bed last year for Christmas.  We were amazed by the quality they offered.  In fact, I was disappointed that we had waited so long.  I have always been fascinated with the world of dollhouses and miniatures and couldn’t have been more thrilled to share it with my daughter.   I am certain that it is the attention to detail in AG’s realistic accessories that has her playing for hours.  With Christmas money Elizabeth also purchased a cloth Our Generation dollhouse and Kitchen set for her new friend Kit.  Everything fit perfectly but it wouldn’t last.  We were heading to Baltimore in the summer and with all the luck the D.C. store was opening just the weekend before our trip.  Elizabeth had a year’s worth of report card money burning a whole in her pocket and we may have missed the grand opening but we had a blast picking out new items for her collection.  With holidays, Birthdays, and straight A’s it didn’t taken long to run out of space, which left me looking for another storage solution.

I searched and searched online looking for something bigger, sturdier, neater, and yet affordable.   I found your website and the amazing dollhouse built by the pilot.  I tried to follow the link but it ended in a dead end.  My wheels started turning.  I had already become accustomed to re-purposing household items like doilies and jewelry boxes for Kit sized fun so it was like a duh moment when I walked past the old armoire that had turned into an over-sized junk drawer.  I emptied it out and started to work.

First, I removed the backing.  Then, I started on the floor with some leftover flooring from a home improvement project.  Because Elizabeth already had enough furniture to fill it up I opted to keep the keyboard tray to provide additional room.

Next, I converted the original CD storage area into a closet with a couple of screws and a piece of PVC.  I left an opening for a door on the bottom floor because the entire backside which is now all wood doubles as a cheaper alternative to Kit’s tree house.

I replaced the above monitor storage shelf for additional storage but the girls thought it made a great bunk bed.   Lastly, I  tried to wallpaper and paint but nothing seems to stick to that slick black surface so we used wall decals and hung a few pictures.

Kit moved in and Rebecca visits often.  The kids love to play in the mansion but… Christmas is around the corner and I happen to know that storage is going to be an issue.  This remodel has given me the confidence to think bigger.  I have a master plan and would love to share it with you once it’s complete.  I hope that like the Pilot’s house I can give others some ideas.  Thank you so much for letting me share.

And more photos:

Kit’s  bedroom

A closer look in the dollhouse.

I love their doll’s kitchen!

The keyboard drawer in the kitchen pulls out to make space for the dining room table. Perfect!

And here is another look at the dollhouse Angie made for her daughter’s growing American Girl collection. What a great use of space and a neat way to store all your doll things and create a creative place to play!

As always, if you have doll storage solutions you want to share or any doll related photos you want us to feature, just email them to share@dolldiaries.com.

Now that we have shelves to display my daughter’s dolls when she is not playing with them, I realized we need more doll stands. She has four or five of the nice dark wooden based doll stands from American Girl (that I picked up when they went on sale), but it seems that American Girl has replaced them with a new stand that has a white square base. Since I am not willing to pay $16 per doll stand, I went looking for better options.

On eBay you can find everything. I found people selling lots of 2 and 3 of the old dark base stands and then there are tons of stands that are not American Girl (custom search for American Girl doll stands). I have also seen them at AC Moore and Michael’s for much less too. And I just found them online at Create for Less for less than $3 a piece – in a dark finish and white – you can’t beat that.

I may get the dark based ones for the shelf with her historical dolls and the white based ones for the shelf that holds Chrissa and the other Limited Edition/Today dolls.

If you’re never sure where to put the ten Disney princess dresses your child loves to dress up in, then this is the perfect solution.  The Disney Princess Costume Organizer features a bar for hanging costumes and divided bins for smaller items. By having a costume organizer it means that you’ll have a specific rack, and its sleek and space-conscious design means it won’t take up the entire room.

The best thing about it is that you’re likely to make the child feel similar to how you feel when a box from Seventy-seven Diamonds turns up in the mail – very, very happy and excited. It’s an entire clothing line, just for their princess moments! Adorable, affordable, and space-saving. Win-win-win.

Ever since my girls were very young, one of their favorite activities has been playing dress up. We have a huge bin of costumes and accessories that they drag out and use for everything from tea parties to “rock concerts” – depending on the day. We have always stored them in a big plastic bin, but it is messy, the dresses get wrinkled, and it doesn’t really add to much. The costume organizer is a solution we need!

Click here to order the Disney Princess Costume Organizer directly through Amazon.

Looking for some great princess costumes for Halloween or just daily dress up fun? Check out my showcase of more than 30 of the best princess costumes for girls.

A Doll Diaries reader, daezy3, sent in a photo of the custom storage solution her Dad made for her dolls. Pretty cool! The cabinet is about 4 feet tall and looks like it holds a ton of stuff!

The left part of the picture is what the cabinet looks like closed and the right side is all the different storage areas.

You can see more creative doll storage ideas like:

• Bitty Baby Storage Ideas
• The Ultimate Doll House
• Doll Displays and Storage
• Do Your Room Dollhouse Bookcase

If you have a great way of displaying or storing your dolls and their accessories, take a picture and send it to share@dolldiaries.com.

I recently redid my youngest daughter’s room and decided that she no longer needed a gazillion little toys stored in her storage caddy. Instead, we organized her Bitty Baby (and Bitty Twins) collection into labeled bins so she could easily find the items she wants and she knows where they go back, too.

If you have doll storage ideas you’d like to share, drop us a note at share@dolldiaries.com. Feel free to included pictures – we love pictures.

You can see some more doll storage ideas at:

• The Ultimate Doll House
  
• American Doll Storage & Display
• American History in Miniature’s Storage page

Thanks to Sonya for sharing these great photos of her daughter’s doll house. What a cool way to display and play with all your American Girl Dolls.

And a picture of Kit’s “attic” that didn’t quite fit in the other photo:

As you can see this is a very large house, since each compartment is 24″ tall, but it is so perfect for the American Girl dolls. Each section is large enough to set up a scene and allows for play room, too.

You can find more doll storage photos at my other site, American Girl Doll Resources.  If you have a creative way of storing or displaying your doll collection, we would love to see it! Just leave us a comment or send your photos to share@dolldiaries.com.

For more great doll houses for play, visit our dollhouse page.