Jenny Rosenstrach, features director

A few months ago, I started this "doll apartment" for my pretend-play-obsessed 5-year-old when my dad dropped off a box of furniture from my old dollhouse. We didn't have a place for all the goodies, so converted some shelves inside her bedroom's bookshelf cabinet into a two-floor apartment. We've been rounding out the collection together, hunting on ebay for pieces, but mostly we've had so much fun just making things from scraps of paper and junk we find around the house. Her favorite feature is the Stick N Click LED I affixed to the "ceiling" of each floor so she can play in the dark.

The bedroom set (converted into an entertainment center by my daughter) is Lundby, which we can almost always find on ebay; the artwork (Wrapping Paper on Felt with Jewels, ca 2009) is an original (signed!) by my kindergartner. The pink shelving is an old box from a Melissa & Doug toy. We have about eight million of them in the house.

More fun with junk: I taught Abby some basic stitching. She sewed the gold ribbon onto the edges of the felt throw. The photos of her family members are old album outtakes glued on silver paper frames. The dolls, lamp, and bed are from Plan.

Most of this is from my childhood dollhouse. Except the rug under the table which was a swatch of chair upholstery fabric. The wallpaper above the kitchen is Old Navy wrapping paper.

Want more dollhouses? Check out this great DIY dollhouse and these adorable store-bought models.