A Very Tiny House in the Middle of the Woods (or Playroom)

Several months ago, I had a chance to combine two of my favorite hobbies--woodworking and making doll things for my granddaughters. While browsing Ana White's woodworking ideas for a different project, I happened to see plans for building a cabin hangout for 18 inch dolls. It seemed like a perfect joint present for two of my granddaughters who are sisters and have birthdays just a few weeks a part.

Here is a photo of the project from her site and a link:

https://www.ana-white.com/woodworking-projects/camp-hangout-18-or-american-girl-dolls

I already had some of the wood I needed, but my guess is that even if I had started from scratch, building the cabin itself would have cost less than $50. The current list price for a similar, plastic cabin at a retail store is $185. Accessories add to the cost but can also be done on a budget. More about that in a moment.

I followed her plans as outlined with one exception. Instead of painting some of the wood white, I chose to paint only the back wall (forest green) and then, after sanding, I coated the rest of the cabin with clear polyurethane. I like the look of the natural wood but wanted to protect it as well. Here is a picture before I added the roof and the back wall:

And here is the completed cabin.

The Ana White site also has plans for accessories, including a darling cot. I chose to go a different direction with things I already had. Instead of building a cot, I created a hammock out of the cover that came with a hammock I purchased for our back porch. It stretches across the cabin from the left back to the right front. I simply used cup hooks. When it's not in use, it hangs out of the way in the back corner:

Knowing that I might build this at some point, I purchased several cabin appropriate ornaments after Christmas last year. One of the funnest things I found was a small string of  battery operated fairy lights decorated with twigs and pine cones. I hung it along the eaves and secured the battery back with velcro strips on the back of the cabin. It is out of sight but easy to access to turn the lights on and off.

These lanterns are a little large scale wise, but I love them and used them anyway. I hung one on each side of the cabin with small hooks.

The gingham bear picture, tackle box, fishing tales sign, and checked backpack are all repurposed Christmas ornaments. I made the wooden shelf from wood scraps left over from the project.

Both the fishing pole, resting in the back corner, and the picnic basket were thrift store finds. (The picnic basket was my five year old granddaughter's absolute favorite part of the cabin.)

Happy Camping!