American Girl Stable

I have this insane need to make things. Sewing, glueing, sawing. I need diversions to keep me sane and happy. One way I do this is making presents for my kids.  Every year, I build them something for their birthdays and for Christmas.  This year, I undertook a stable for their American Girl dolls and horses.  The "legitimate" AG stable looks like this: 

I think it's stupid. There's hardly any versatility to this thing. Also, it costs $110. That's the price of one of their dolls. Ridiculous.  So, I decided to build my own. Because I'm insane.

First, I looked at what was available online in terms of tutorials. My daughter Hunter (5) really liked this one from Ana-white.com

It's neat, and inexpensive to build, but let's face it: my house is not that big. This thing takes up a lot of floor space, and you can't stack anything on top of it because of the slanted roof.

So, I started thinking about what I valued in the toy. I knew my girls would want fencing that they could re-arrange.  I knew they'd like a "barn" portion, preferably one with hooks for items like bridles, blankets, etc.  I knew I wanted something that could be easily stored away. 

My co-worker Nancy, in her infinite wisdom, suggested a folding backdrop.  So I went home and fiddled around in Sketchup.  I created this:

I decided to use plywood to make a folding backdrop/barn, and then create individual fence pieces and an entryway/gate into a "corral".  Needing to keep this project cheap, I first went scavenging in my Dad's garage. He had some 1/8" plywood. Using this thin of plywood would allow me to keep the weight of the piece down, but presented some unique challenges which I will talk about later. Building on what I've learned from the amazing Ana White, I bought 2 1"x2" furring strips at Lowe's. These things are great- they're $.99 each. I also bought 2 2"x2" furring strips for $1.98 a piece.  I scoured the paint samples for a jar of white Vaslpar paint for $2.98. I knew I wanted a hinged gate (even though I didn't both to model it) so I bought 2 packs of small hinges.

I have to do all my building in the garage when my kids are asleep, so the next steps transpired over a couple weeks.  First, I assembled the plywood for the back. I cut a 24"x24" inch piece for the back, and two 12"x 11" pieces for the sides. Because the plywood was so thin, I couldn't use hinges on it (no way to screw them in). I used all purpose Loctite (Loctite Go2Glue) to adhere some scrap leather strips to the back of the plywood as hinges. 

Once all that was assembled, I set upon making the fence pieces and gate. The fence posts are 2x2s cut 8" tall, and the slats are 1x2s cut to 10" long. I decided to make 6 fence pieces (after I took this picture).  Make sure you measure and mark where your slats should go. I learned the hard way after I seriously messed up one of my fences. And always pre-drill your holes, even if you bought expensive screws that say you don't need to. 

  I knew I wanted the gate piece to be freestanding and independent of the rest of the fencing to allow for more creative play options, as well as easier storage.  I built a 24x12" rectangle with no bottom out of my extra 2x2s then added 8" long "feet" secured by some plastic IKEA shelf brackets I had laying around.  This allows the gate to be freestanding and stable.

This is the backside

Once everything was assembled, I started painting and decorating.  I thought the barn plywood was too light, so I mixed some light brown acrylic paint with water to stain it. I used popsicle sticks over farm scrapbook paper to make the "windows" and cut out some hay from the same scrapbook paper.  I used more popsicle sticks to decorate the bottom of the barn. The hooks were a problem, because the plywood was so thin I couldn't screw hooks into it. I found these Command Utensil Hooks at JoAnn's. They were kind of expensive, but I had I 60% off coupon. They're just the right size for doll horse accessories. 

Hobby Lobby carries doll sized galvanized buckets, and when I was there they also had tiny straw bales on clearance for $.29.  I knew those would  be a mess, so I coated them with 3 layers of Mod Podge to help minimize the shedding.  I sewed tiny feed bags out of burlap as well, but forgot to take close-up pictures of them. 

Finally, I painted everything and added the pink and rhinestones I knew my girls would adore. Nevermind that I hate pink, and rhinestones. This is a present for the daughters I have, not the daughters I want, and the daughters I have are ALL ABOUT PINK AND SPARKLY. Mind you, they also love Spiderman, Star Wars, bugs, mud, and spiders. But my youngest in particular is all about the glitter.  So, I added it. Because I love them.

Here's the end result:

 So, there you have it. One stable, plus accessories. The total thing cost me less than $30 to make, including all the accessories, and I think it's way cooler than the officially licensed and overpriced version.