American Girl doll bunk beds (18" doll beds)

[eyekode]

This Christmas I made 4 beds. 2 for my girls and 2 for their cousins. They were only 18" doll beds but except for finishing I bet it takes as long to make one as a full sized bed .

I did the design in SketchUp

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The model is uploaded to 3D warehouse so you can download it from there.
I only made the following minor modifications from the plan: changed the turnings of the top posts, added small flats to the bottom corners of the headboard and foot of the bed to avoid a sharp peak that is easy to break.

Here are some of the unfinished beds

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(oops, I didn't notice before but I didn't actually have these fully seated when I took the above picture. They actually come together with no gap at all.)

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The tops of the bed posts are removable and a pin can be used to bunk them together. Due to inaccuracies in the process they only bunk one way . Even off 1/16" of an inch over 20" makes it too sloppy for my tastes.
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The bed slats are some oak I had lying around and are friction fitted.

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The headboard and footboards are mortised into the posts. The rails are as well.
They are made out of poplar. And finished with milk paint. I did a pretty poor job of painting the first set but even then it looks nice and rustic .

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If I had it to do over again I would have used maple. Poplar didn't hold the detail I wanted in the turnings. And it split pretty easily when the tenons were slightly too big (more on this in a separate call for help thread ).

Thanks for looking!
Salem

 

[cptully]

As always in our chosen hobby, we are our own worst critics! I can't count the number of goofs I've made over the years that nobody else even notices (before or after the repair!).

Chris

 

[PChristy]

Very nice:icon_thum

 

[Bill Clemmons]

Those are really nice Salem, and the picture of your daughter w/ her doll on the bed is priceless. :eusa_danc

Bill

 

[eyekode]

Thanks Bill, your bandsaw fence helped me resaw the poplar for the head/foot boards .
Salem

 

[BKind2Anmls]

Those are wonderful! I remember my Barbies at that age and I know she is going to treasure them.

 

[Trent Mason]

Excellent work Salem! :eusa_clap:eusa_clap:eusa_clap:eusa_clap:eusa_clap :thumbs_up:thumbs_up

 

[Canuck]

Great work there, Salem!!!!!!:eusa_clap

The scale of the beds looks bang on. I can certainly see the work yoiu put into these. Just like a full size bed with the same joinery techniques. but on a much smaller scale.

Betcha they will be treasured and enjoyed for a very long time!

Thanks for sharing the great photo's!

Wayne

 

[toolferone]

Wow! Those are great. The detail and scale are awesome. I bet you could make some real money selling those.

 

[eyekode]

Ha! Thanks for the compliment but my family would starve at the pace I could turn these out . But there may be an r2 edition: my kids already broke one! Not too bad though. They had them bunked and one of them fell on the beds splitting out the top of one of the bed posts where the pin goes between them. There just isn't much wood there at the collar. Glue and another coat of milk paint and it is good to go.

 

[ashley_phil]

awesome