My six-year-old daughter got a pair of American Girl dolls for Christmas, and they needed somewhere to sleep.
So, after a little internet research I agreed to make them bunk beds, and my wife agreed to make the mattresses, pillows and quilts for the beds (I think that I got the easier job). The photos below are the result, minus the quilts which are still in production.
I decided to make the beds out of red oak since it was easily available in the thin sizes that I needed. They are finished with dark walnut Watco Danish Oil.
I also decided to make the beds "stack-able" so that they could be used as two twin beds, or stacked to form a bunk bed. The stack-able bunk bed design will also allow for additional beds to be added to the top if another American Girl doll were to ever need a bed. Note that each of the corner posts on the beds has a small square block (or tab) on top of the post that fits into a recess in the bottom of each bedpost that attaches above it, Lego-like.
I didn't use any formal dimension or drawings for these, I just scaled them from the dolls and started cutting wood.
Below are the beds separated into their two "twin bed" format:
My wife made the mattresses and pillows from the scraps of one of my old oxford-style dress shirts that had become ink stained. She is working on the quilts now, and will post them when they are complete.
In the photo below you can see that next to the beds is a "riser" level that goes between the beds when stacked to allow for more headroom for the bottom doll.
Below is a closer photo of the "riser" level:
All of the side rails and headboard and foot board joints are attached with mortise and tenon joints for strength.
The photo below shows the bottom bed with the riser level installed:
and finally, photos of the two beds and the riser level snapped together into bunk bed formation.
You can see the stack-able Lego-like connectors better in the photo below:
So far " my client" (my daughter) seems to like the new beds and so do her American Girl dolls, Emily and Molly!
