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| This hospital room constructed inside of a binder is large enough to provide for two 11 1/2 inch dolls hospital stay although much smaller dolls occupy it now. Each doll has a spacious bed, a bookcase with a tiny desk and a window. |
Carry this binder anywhere to set up a hospital playset for Barbie and her friends. When you are finished playing simply fold it back up and store it on your bookshelf. The bed cushions and linens must be stored separately in a shoebox along with the dolls.
Supply List:
- one large binder
- solid colored scrapbook papers
- masking tape
- white school glue
- scrap corrugated cardboard
- solid color or white fabric for bed mattress and cushions
- fuzzy fabric or white terry cloths for blankets
- one wooden paint stirring stick from hardware store
- one bag of fiberfill or foam for mattresses and pillows
Step-by-Step Instructions:
- Choose a sturdy, large binder to work with so that the walls may support whatever you wish to attach to these. I chose to include two beds and two sets of shelves and two windows to my own version. When the hospital is stored away, everything folds up neatly inside of the binder. My binder was at one time used to protect a large folio. It has both velcro to keep it tightly shut and also a convenient handle.
- Cut and glue in the cardboard shelves and folding, platform beds. The beds should fold up against the walls when not in use. Each bed should also have a folding foot board at the end in order to prop them approximately one inch above the floor. Once I add the mattresses the beds will be much taller. Make sure to cut the corrugated cardboard for the platform beds where the internet grooves run horizontal wise to that the bed rail ends may be pasted inside of the grooves. If you don't do this it is okay but the rails may not appear as seamless in the end.
- I also glued a small desk near the bottom of each shelving unit and covered this section with wood looking paper. The small desk is for the doctor to set his or her laptop on while typing in notes and prescriptions during patient consultations. The upper shelves are used to store general supplies that each patient may need like: tissues, soap, eye glasses, books etc...
- Paste in the wall papers before the windows. You can see that I used a bit of tape below to show where the windows would go prior to decoupaging the walls in the photos below.
- I cut 'views' from the hospital windows from a magazine and pasted these behind the frames before permanently attaching them to the walls. You might prefer to use a 'cityscape' for your own version of a hospital. I grew up in a rural area so I chose a peaceful landscape the dolls might admire during a hospital procedure.
- Position and glue in window frames. Let dry with the binder laying on it's back.
- To make the privacy curtain, accordion fold a large piece of durable paper cut to size and glue this to the narrow wall space between the beds. The curtain may be pulled out between patient's beds when one or both are sleeping or if the doctor needs to examine a doll patient prior to surgery.
- Glue a paint stirring stick to the end of the accordion curtain so that it may be caught in the carpet fibers to hold it open during play. This will also keep the paper curtain sturdy and upright and hopefully from tearing too much over time.
- Cut mattresses from solid colored fabrics or white to fit the platform beds and stuff these with fiberfill.
- Make also two pillows from the identical materials.
- Cut a blanket for each patient from the terry cloth.
- Don't forget to secure a small hook for a clipboard at the end of each bed for the doctor's and nurses to keep track of each patients medical procedures!
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| What the hospital room looked like prior to decoupage. It all folds up neatly into this recycled cardboard binder. It can be filed into a bookcase! See also our binder for printable paper dolls here. |
- Love Family Doll Show shows how she made a hidden doll bedroom with a binder here . . .
- Medical Accessories by Lena Wiese for small dolls
- Diy Projex makes realistic hospital items for standard dolls
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| I've cut and pasted the bed frames and bookcases to fit exactly inside of the binder. Read about the day-in-a-life of a Red Cross nurse paper doll here. |
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| Left, the binder on it's side, see handle. Right, pastel mint green papers cover the walls and white paper covers the 'drop down' beds and bookcases. |
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| Foam covered mattresses, hospital blankets and foam pillows for each bed. |
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| See how the accordion folded paper room divider can be extended to give each patient a bit of privacy while the doctor examines them. |
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| The Barbie hospital rooms are ready for new patients! |
