Ikea Doll Bed Quilt

Do you remember the Ikea doll bed I redid for Elle for Christmas?  
It was a fun easy little project and I made it 2 gifts in one by pre-cutting all the squares to make a doll quilt that would be a first sewing project for my 7 year old.  After laying out the pattern and lots of straight stitches sewing block after block into row after row, we pieced the quilt top together, backed it, quilted it, and bound it.  

Bedding befitting of any girly girl... even the ones whose elbows don't bend and hair is shinier than humanly possible.

Cuckoo Clock

My office is one easy breezy weekend away from finished and I couldn't be happier! Check out this super fun idea I had for the wall...

Mellow Yellow Decor made this vinyl wall decal for me in just the right size to fit the $1.99 Rusch clock I picked up at Ikea. I used a level to mark the wall, carefully applied the decal, and hung the clock. Waaalaaa could it be any cuter!?

Ikea Doll Bed Re-do

$105.95 vs. $20 + a few supplies * insert hands acting as an imaginary scale weighing the difference *

I considered… for about 1 minute… whether to buy the American Girl doll bed for Elle’s “My American Girl” ($105.95 not including the bedding) for Christmas or re-doing the Ikea doll bed ($20) that the doll fits in. Me and my pocket book are very happy with the outcome!

Before

After

Here’s what you’ll need:

The Ikea doll bed

Sand paper

Primer

spray paint

piece of MDF

Optional “stuff”:

12”x19” piece of 1” thick foam

Half yard soft cuddly fabric

Stuffing/batting/pollyfill (i.e. whatever you want to stuff the pillow with)

Vinyl decal of the dolls name

Scrap fabric for the sheet and quilt

• First things first… my 2 year old stepped through the flimsy piece of wood bottom that comes with the bed the first 2 minutes she played with it. So not in the “optional stuff” category for us, was a more substantial piece of wood to replace the bottom of the bed. I brought the broken piece into Home Depot and the helpful staff cut a piece of MDF the exact same size for me.

• Next, I sanded all sides of the bed frame. You don’t have to get too crazy on this step, but it does need to be sanded to rough it up a bit so the primer and paint will stick

• Paint a thin even coat of primer (I used an oil based primer in a spray can) on all sides of the frame and let dry

• Lightly sand any rough or “globby” spots

• Spray another thin even coat of primer if you got a little carried away with the step above. Let dry.

• Spray paint the entire frame with a thin even coat of the color of your choice and let dry

• Repeat the step above if you’re not in love with the results yet

You could call it a day there if you’d like, but I was pretty sure Elle would think Kathryn (the doll) required much more comfortable bed linens than come standard issue with the Ikea bed. So I made a mattress, pillow, sheet, and the beginnings of a quilt Elle and I will sew as her first official sewing project. So here’s where all that “optional stuff” comes in:

• I picked up the piece of foam at Jo-Anns and just cut it to 12” x 19” with a pair of scissors.

• From your cuddly fabric, sew a simple case for the foam mattress (I just left one short end open… like a pillowcase… and tucked it under the mattress)

• Sew a matching pillow and stuff with your choice of filling

• I hemmed a rectangle scrap of fabric and called it a sheet

• I cut a bunch of 4” squares to make a matching quilt. Elle is very much looking forward to working on this project with me! I had hoped we would get to it over her Christmas break but didn’t… so that’ll be a post for another day!

• For the finishing touch, I applied a vinyl decal Gifted Express made of the doll’s name to the headboard.

We had one happy 6 year old on Christmas morning!