Create a Totally Rad 80’s Bedroom for Your Doll.
As an 80’s girl myself, I was very excited to put together this bedroom. I grew up more in the 90’s but cassette tapes, boomboxes, walkmen, matching lunchbox and thermos sets, posters all over your walls, was definitely the trend. I had Care Bears, a see-through telephone, acid wash jeans, Lisa Frank trapper keepers and the fanny pack. Putting together this room in miniature brought me back to my childhood.
What you will need:
- dollhouse room
- blue paint
- white trim paint
- quarter round
- white paintable caulk
- hand saw
- furry yarn or fabric
- fabric glue
- superglue
To create an 80’s bedroom for Courtney I started by crocheting the carpet. Using an H (5.00mm) hook and Red Heart Hygge Fur Yarn #5 Bulky (2 skeins) in Eucalyptus I made a chain row the length of the room and then added one more chain. To start the first row, I worked a single crochet in the second chain from hook and in each chain across. I continued to work single crochet rows until the piece measured the width of the room. You could also work this piece with half double crochet stitches to speed up the process! I wanted to crochet the carpet because I really liked the texture of this yarn and I had some to spare! Instead of crocheting, you could cut out a piece of furry fabric to match the dimension’s of your doll’s room.
Dollhouse construction should only be done with the help of an adult.
While I was working on crocheting the carpet, I painted the room a royal blue and using a hand saw, cut the quarter round the length of the walls with a 45 degree angle on both ends of each piece for the baseboards. I painted the pieces with white trim paint and used Loctite to glue the pieces to the wall. I caulked the pieces in and touched up the blue paint where I had caulked. After the walls were painted and the baseboards in place, I attached the carpet. To attach the carpet, I used Elmer’s Fabric & Paper Glue and starting from the front and working toward the back, glued the carpet piece to the base.
Laying the Foundation
- Crochet the carpet
2. Paint the room and attach baseboards
3. Attach carpet and touch up paint
Once the room basics are complete, start decorating! The bed, lunchbox and boombox are part of Courtney’s collection from American Girl. The dresser I purchased on Etsy from Made in Madison Co. A couple of weeks later I happened to see this very dresser in Hobby Lobby unpainted in their wood project section. I’ve found several cute little things to use for dollhouse projects in the wood section of Hobby Lobby. If you would like to purchase the painted dresser, you can find it here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/934878013/18-inch-doll-furniture-american-girl.
Since this is the 80’s, I needed to have posters covering the walls. I spent an entire weekend drawing, coloring and cutting out all the posters to hang up in Courtney’s bedroom. If you like to get creative, create your own posters! I used cardstock paper and Prismacolor markers. You can also print these hand drawn posters by clicking here:
80’s Posters
Finally, there is the little bears. I wanted to crochet something sweet for Courtney and since she is “more of a stuffed animal kind of girl” according to her story, I was inspired by the Care Bears to create a pattern for the little rainbow colored bears. You can purchase the PDF file crochet pattern here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/938869173/pdf-crochet-pattern-cuddly-bear-toy-bear.
