WoW!! As I have said before, there are some really talented parents out there and some very lucky girls who love their dolls! Laura shared some photos of the doll house she built for her daughter’s dolls using thrift store finds, things she made herself and other great craft store finds. She made the clock, curtains, and windows.

A view of the whole doll house.

I love the detail of the side of the doll house right down to the windows and the fence.

The doll bathroom – complete with ducky pictures on the wall.

The very beautiful doll bedroom.

Doll family portraits above the bed.

The living room with a cat, fireplace, chair and Christmas tree.

A close up of the fireplace.

Inside the kitchen.

Look at the cookie cutters and pastry bag! Oh, how cute are these!

Great look at the table and chairs.

Thanks so much to Laura for sending these in!! You did an amazing job. For more photos of doll houses for American Girl and other 18″ dolls, visit our Dollhouses category.

I just LOVE sharing all these photos that our fantastic readers send in! Here is yet another doll house for American Girl dolls and it even has a garage for little brother’s cars and trucks! That’s one creative Mom!

The note from Jessica reads:

Your site was helpful when doing this project, so I thought I’d share and give back… and brag a little. I made this for my four year old daughter and 2 year old son’s room out of an Ikea Bookcase.

Now let’s take a look at what she created!

Using the Ikea bookcase is a really smart way to build a house for your dolls – especially the shelving units that have adjustable height placements like Jessica used.

Here is her American Girl doll’s bathroom. I love the attention to detail – right down to the “tile” floors and walls.

How sweet is this closet? Again, the detail in the carpet and wallpaper make it so special. The dresser looks like one of the storage containers you can easily find at the dollar store, too.

This is the kitchen which looks to me like the Our Generation kitchen set.

In the dining room, her American Girl doll invites a little friend and her cat over for some lemonade.

A garage for little brother’s cars – BRILLIANT! That is how you get your kids to play together.

Even the garage is neat and tidy – complete with all the details of a checkerboard floor and hubcaps on the wall. Too, too cute!

Thanks so much Jessica for sharing your beautiful doll’s house and garage with us. Your kids will get years of enjoyment from it and there is room for the collection to grow, too! If you want to see even more photos of this project and how Jessica made it, check out: http://mombrag.blogspot.com/2012/01/american-girl-sized-doll-housetoy-car.html

There are some pretty crafty people out there creating some really nice dollhouses for their American Girl doll collections. I actually have a few more dollhouses submitted by readers that I need to post, but first, I want to share these photos submitted by Addie of the dollhouse she and her husband made for their daughters’ American Girl dolls. They are just beautiful!!

The kitchen. I just love the window treatment and banner on the wall.

Can you say WOW?? This has to be one of the nicest doll houses for American Girl dolls that I have seen yet.

One of the bedrooms. Again the details are just perfect right down to the bunny in the basket.

Kit in the conservatory playing her piano.

What a beautiful doll room! I spy Lanie’s camper, too. Imagine the fun you could have in this room!

The doll bathroom. Love the laundry hamper under the table and the robe hanging up. So cute.

What doll would not want to practice her music in this loft? How about the cute laptop too?

I would like to thank Addie for sharing these beautiful photos! What a wonderful keepsake she and her husband have created for their girls!

UPDATED!! Scroll down for the winners.

Drumroll please…. This is the final giveaway for 2011 for Doll Diaries!! Don’t worry – we’ll have plenty more in the new year, but this is it for now. We are giving away a portable doll room from American Doll Room to two (2) lucky winners! All the information about how to enter is at the bottom of the post, but first a few photos and insights into this fun extension for doll play!

American Doll Room is a new company that sells portable play rooms for 18″ dolls like American Girl. The concept is that you can simply flip open the sturdy room, set up your doll scenes and play, then when you are done, you fold it back down, pop it in the very cool carrying bag and carry it with you. Brilliant!!

The set up above is actually two of the rooms side by side. Each room has painted walls (you choose your color when ordering), floors that look like hardwood, removable carpet, removable curtains and the outside looks like vinyl siding. You can get pretty creative! In our scene above, Kailey and Kit are decorating the Christmas Tree in one side of the room while Maria and Chrissa are relaxing in the other side of the room.

Each modular room measures 24″ tall by 24″ deep by 24″ wide making it the perfect size for American Girl and other 18″ doll furniture.

Springfield Girl Abby is getting ready for a nice long bath. Having removable carpet and curtains makes the American Doll Room even more versatile.

The carpet adds a cozy touch! In this bedroom set up, Springfield Girl Madison is hanging out with Tender Hearts Emma and all our American Girl cats on the Emily Rose trundle bed.

Flip the modular room around and you get another look all together! It’s the great outdoors! The stone patio and exterior walls are perfect for hosting a backyard barbecue or party just like Chrissa, Julie and Emma are doing.

When you are done playing or if you want to take your American Doll Room to a friend’s house, place all your dolls and accessories in the large duffle bag.

Fold up the room and place it in its heavy duty, purple carry bag and you are ready to go! Because the entire room folds down flat and fits into its own carry bag it it is very easy to store under a bed or in a closet when its not in use.

The American Doll Rooms sell for $89 each or you can get multi-room packages. They are so much fun for setting up scenes and really extending doll play!! So, now are you ready to win one?

Congratulations to our winners – Geri and Christina!!

What We Are Giving Away

• We are giving away an American Doll Room set including the portable doll room, its carrying case and a duffle bag for all your accessories to TWO (2) lucky winners.

How To Enter

• PRIMARY ENTRY: Visit American Doll Room’s website and take a look around. Then come back here and LEAVE A COMMENT answering one or more of the following questions. What do you think of this concept for extending doll play? Would you like to see other wall color options? How about different curtain choices? Let us know what you like and what you think would be good to add to the collection in the future.
  
• Get BONUS ENTRIES by letting your friends know about our giveaway. Get one extra entry for each of the following, but come back and leave a second comment telling us where you shared it:
  • Post about it on your own blog, in a forum, tweet about it or share it with your friends on Facebook
  • Follow us on Twitter (we are @DollDiaries) – please send us a tweet letting us know you are following us and introduce yourself, too.
  • Like us on Facebook (we are DollDiaries and AmericanDollRoom) – again, feel free to leave us a note on Facebook saying hello and that you are entering the giveaway.

Rules

• Leave your comment(s) no later than midnight December 18, 2011.
• Make sure your email address is right. We only use it to contact the winners and we will NEVER share it or publish it.
• You must be 18 or older to enter. If you are under 18, just ask your parent, grandparent, favorite aunt or uncle to enter for you!
• Due to shipping expenses for this large item, this giveaway is only open to US & Canadian addresses and may not be guaranteed for Christmas delivery.
• We will be using the “And the winner is” plugin to select two (2) winners at random.

Disclosure: American Doll Room sent us a doll room package for purpose of review but the opinions of the products are our own!

P.S. Check the sidebar for all the giveaways we currently have running!

One of the most enjoyable parts of doll play for many girls is the part where you set up elaborate scenes. All you have to do is check out the photos that readers send in or take a look at the photos on your blogs and it is obvious, creating scenes is fun! We have also seen some very elaborate homemade doll rooms and doll houses for 18″ dolls like American Girl and have featured quite a few of them on the site. The Itz Purple company has taken it one step further! They have created a line of portable doll house rooms and buildings that store flat but set up quickly for hours of doll play.

American DollHouses are MADE IN AMERICA and come in three different models – the one-room Ice Cream Shoppe, the two-room doll house with a barn scene and a four-room house that includes a kitchen space as well as living spaces.

American DollHouses sent us the Ice Cream Shoppe to review and I absolutely love the artwork in the wallpaper and the outside of the shop. The owner, Kathy is an architect and designed every aspect of all the products.

The product comes packed flat and contains a vinyl play mat and the two walls to needed to make the scene. The nice part about the way it is constructed is that when you are done playing it stores flat and fits under a bed or behind a dresser easily. In the picture above you can see Natalie setting up a a scene with her dolls. Her best friend came over and the two of them had so much fun serving treats to their dolls and coming up with interesting scenarios.

The vinyl mat that goes with the set makes the sidewalk outside the Ice Cream Shop look real – down to the chalk drawings in the sidewalk! And I love the old time look of the artwork on the outside of the shop. The walls are made of a light weight durable substrate made in the USA that can handle being assembled and reassembled by children. The custom watercolor graphics are printed directly to the substrate and can handle gentle cleaning. You do not need to worry about peeling images or graphics with the quality printing applied directly to the board.

Here is another view of American Girl Gwen and Maplelea Saila getting ready for more customers to come into the store. The treats are from our personal collection of American Girl treats and goodies from the Queen’s Treasures.

A view from the outside of the doll house room looking in. Julie wants to place an order for her treat.

Kanani wants ice cream now! This is a view of the doll house room from the outside. Kanani is also wearing some super cute glasses from Springfield Doll.

The American DollHouses cost $74 for the one-room package, $99 for the two-room set and $114 for the four-room set.

You can see more video of the American DollHouses in action at the Chicago Toy Fair and on a Chicago TV News station on the American DollHouses website.

We always love it when our readers share their doll collection photos with us. Annie sent in some really great photos of her Playmobil Grand Mansion and a review/tour of it, too.

This is the Playmobil Grand Mansion, mine is displayed with the extension floor, and if you buy the doll house, it only comes with the first, second and fourth floors shown here. The doll house otherwise comes with everything in this photo, but the things on the inside were bought separately. If you add 2 AAA batteries to the house, the doorbell actually works. Doll house will be available in America this summer. It measures 24″L x 17″W x 24″H.

Now for a tour of the inside…

This is the doll house kitchen, complete with fridge/freezer, sink, coffee machine and everything else you need to make a wonderful kitchen, for play and display! The table, chairs and mat shown in this picture were purchased with the Dining Room set, but everything else came with the Kitchen set.

This is the house’s music room, I used the Piano Set and two plants from other sets to make it more interesting and colorful. With 2 AAA batteries, the piano plays two songs when you press the two buttons. The piano set does not coordinate with the doll house line, but I thought it would be a nice touch on the house.

The Living Room Set shows father and son watching the news in their comfortable living room. With 2 AAA batteries, you can make the fire place light up, then glow and crackle just like a real fire place. Everything shown in this picture is included with the Living Room set, besides the people, puppy and cheese platter on the coffee table, which comes with the Kitchen Set.

Now going to the second floor, the first room is the Guest Room. It’s put together by random pieces I found in my Playmobil boxes, the beds I believe come with the Playmobil My Take Along Dollhouse, as do the night stands. The table and chair came with the Kitchen set, but I decided not to use them in the kitchen. I don’t remember what the laptop or the girl came with.

Next door to the guest room is the Bathroom. It has everything Playmobil need to get ready for the day, or just wash up. Everything in the room came with the Bathroom set, besides the girl.

Now moving to the third floor. The Master Bedroom has everything Mom and Dad need in it. The lamps on the bedside tables turn on with 2 AAA batteries, so they can read in bed.

Next door is the Girls’ room. This room is a mix of Children’s bedroom, and Baby’s Bedroom sets. The princess bed, desk, chair, shelf, farm toys and play-mat came with the Children’s Bedroom, and the crib, baby rug, changing table, baby toys and baby came with the Baby’s room. The girl didn’t come with either.

Now to the attic, which is converted into two rooms. The first one is the boy’s room, which is made with the other half of the Children’s Room set. The bed, backpack, toy basket, boat, guinea pigs and bookshelf came with the children’s bedroom. The castle, pirate ship, night table, books and boy came are random parts from my collection.

Last but not least, The Laundry Room. This set includes everything the mom needs to keep her home clean, and to do her family’s laundry. Everything except the mat and chair came with this set, the mat and chair were included with the kitchen set.

Thanks Annie. WOW!!! What cool dollhouse! One of these days I want to get one of these for my dollhouse collection – but I think I am going to have to wait until I can dedicate an entire room to just dolls and dollhouses! You can find most of the Playmobil sets on Amazon and at higher end toy stores.

After I posted the pictures of Tara’s gorgeous American Girl dollhouse, I got another set of photos from Gerry sharing her American Girl doll sized dollhouse. Have I ever told you readers, how much I “luvvvv” you? I love getting pictures of your collections to share (email them to share@dolldiaries.com)!

Gerry is an adult doll collector. Her dollhouse was built by Enchanted Cottage Dollhouses, specifically by a retired Air Force pilot that she has known since the early eighties. The dollhouse is huge and houses many American Girl dolls as well as their furnishings and accessories. The attic is very detailed with rafters and real wood floors. There are real windows, a working door, hand split cedar shake roof and real hardwood floors throughout the dollhouse. It is pure enchantment!

Can you say “WOW”?? My daughter would be in heaven with a dollhouse like this for her dolls.

Kit’s bedroom is in the attic of the dollhouse.

Closer view of the first and second floor.

Closer view of the attic with Kit, Ruthie, Nellie and one more friend enjoying their girl chat in Kit’s room.

Emily, Samantha, Molly and Kirsten celebrating Molly’s birthday in the kitchen.

Again, thanks so much Gerry for sharing these amazing pictures with us! Your dolls are very lucky. If you want to see more pictures of Gerry’s dollhouse and her doll collection she has a video on YouTube:

Need more dollhouse ideas? Check out:

• The Ultimate Dollhouse
• The best wooden doll houses for girls
• Dollhouses for little girls
• American Girl Doll House

One of the Doll Diaries readers, Tara, just sent me the most amazing photos of the American Girl doll sized dollhouse they built for their daughter. Talk about one LUCKY little girl and some very pampered dolls!

They started by building four rectangular boxes each measuring 4’ W X 2’ H X 2’ D. Two of the boxes have a removable center wall. Each room has a ceiling center battery operated light.

The American Girl doll sized rooms are perfect for play. I love the doll shoe shelf on the end, too!

Now for a tour inside.

Samantha’s bedroom tops off the house with her Scenes and Settings as the background. There is also a horse stable on the top of the house.

Moving down to the second floor. The purple Living/ Craft & TV room has a purple bathroom rug, a trundle bed for company (Tara made the bedding), Chrissa’s craft table and a box used as a flat screen TV with interchangeable pictures cut out of the American Girl magazines.

Also on the second floor is the Yellow Tea Room which has a laminate wood floor bought at Lowe’s. The room’s furnishings are from The Queen’s Treasures (a fabulous site to find neat stuff for your dolls).

On the ground floor there is a pink room which is the Salon. It has Molly’s vanity, a shelf to house all of the hair goodies and a home made sink made from a box and a small round mirror and a small glass votive candle holder for the sink.

Next to the salon is Felicity & Elizabeth’s bedroom complete with bunk beds. The beds and desk/table are from The Queen’s Treasures. Tara made the bedding and used tack paper for the floor. Their picture is hung in a Victorian style frame.

The blue room is a guest room featuring Molly’s bed and night stand. It has hardwood floors with a Mackenzie Child’s napkin for a rug. Tara also made a blanket, pillow and drapery to hang behind the bed.

The Rainbow room is Lanie’s. The walls are blue with painted clouds, flowers and a rainbow. The floor is painted green. Her furniture is Kit’s bed and desk and Lanie loves it!

I want to thank Tara and her daughter again for sharing these fabulous pictures with us!! Now I have started thinking about how we could adapt some of these ideas for our own doll space.

Need more dollhouse ideas? Check out:

• The Ultimate Dollhouse
• The best wooden doll houses for girls
• Dollhouses for little girls
• American Girl Doll House

My daughters and I are captivated by dollhouses, the collector type dollhouses are just amazing with their detail and accuracy, but the most popular dollhouses are the ones made for play.

1. KidKraft Doll Houses

KidKraft doll houses come in a large variety of styles and are made to be played with by children of all ages and the designs stand the test of time!

2. Melissa & Doug Dollhouses

Melissa & Doug make some of the best toys on the market today. They are well made with quality materials and designed with creative kids in mind!

3. Wooden and Eco-Friendly Dollhouses

Complete with 6 rooms on 3 stories, this doll house comes completely furnished and has 5 people too. My daughter’s preschool class had this doll house in the classroom – both the girls and the boys spent hours playing with them. Not only are they eco-friendly, but wooden doll houses are imagination friendly too.

4. Barbie Dreamhouses and Fashion Doll Playsets

My daughter got this Barbie Dreamhouse for Christmas a few years ago and it gets played with just about daily.

5. First Doll Houses and Doll Houses for Little Girls

Basically, when it comes to dolls, their houses and play, most little girls, wasn’t picky. There are so many great dollhouse options – everything from life-size to carry along – it is just a matter of knowing your daughter’s likes and dislikes and where you are going to store it.

BONUS -

And from my own collection, here is the long retired Little Tikes dollhouse from the early 1980s. It is still one of the best play dollhouses ever made and my kids still love to play with this one – when I let them get it out.

For even more popular dollhouses for play and collecting, visit our Dollhouses 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.