Giving Barbie a Cozy Christmas

I've been slowly making things for the eventual doll house I want to put together for my own doll scenes. One thing I have always wanted was a fireplace. I love fireplaces! That is one of the downsides to the house we bought. It has no fireplace!! So, the dolls will have one instead. I pulled out various wood pieces that I had stocked in my crafting bin. My husband engineered them together to give me a gorgeous fireplace. 

I knew I wanted a ledge to serve as a seat. The closest we got to making it work was this. I covered this with printed out brick patterned paper. It reminded me of a fireplace we had at one of the homes my parents had bought.

After we had this built as the base, I used some Dollar Tree wood cubes on the sides to make depth. I had originally thought this would be painted to look sorta like bricks, but it came out a bit messier than I planned. These blocks are not even close to all being the same size.

So I ended up covering it with the brick paper as well. It worked out so much better this way! There also had to be a mantel on this creation. After all, where would I hang those stockings and set up decorations?

Pillars on either side were a beautiful bonus. My husband even made it realistic with a chimney piece on top. It has depth so that I can add some faux wood and maybe even an electric tealight candle. Underneath, I can store more wood pieces. 

Lastly, I painted the front piece a lighter color for contrast, the inner part is a darker color that resembles soot.

I love the end product! Now, I have the perfect place to hang stockings and decorate for the winter time. 

From Discarded Tray to Doll Display

This old wooden tray was given to me by a friend. It has clearly had quite the life. But that life isn't over yet. So... I got to thinking. What about making it a shelf that will hang and be used as a display that I might even be able to use as a doll backdrop?? My Froggy Stuff creates these small displays quite often. Mostly from foam board. And they are so cute! This one is of equal size, but already built! So win-win for me. It will also be one less thing to end up in a landfill. 

First things first

I had to get it cleaned up and re-glue one of the notched corners. This old tray has been through a lot.

It measures about 10 1/4" wide and about 15" long. After the glue dried, I painted on a base coat so that I can paint it when I design the 'room' look later.

I had tried to make orange paint for a shadow box that I was putting together for my dad. But no matter how I tried, the paint color wouldn't come out right. I ended up with this taupe-like color. Farthest thing from orange! My husband said I defied logic with that one. I decided to make this the coat for the building front I planned to make in this display. But after painting, I had a sudden idea. Instead of making an apartment building front, I wanted to make a closet wall scene. My husband recently bought me these Mini Brands Fashion packs from Ross. And I realized that I need a closet! To show them off. It would make an elegant back drop too. Later, I even want my husband to hang it on the wall for me. 

So, that is when I switched to gluing in some card stock pages to look like a fancy maroon wallpaper. I used a white marble printed page to make the floor look better. Still thinking about my ceiling options. But I'm liking where this is going. 

Or at least I was...

Then disaster struck. I attempted to use doll packaging to make shelves. You know how Rainbow High dolls come with each accessory in those built-in boxes? I thought I could use that to hold the purses at the top of this display. But it was too warped and the purses kept falling out. So... I ripped it out. Which ripped out the paper it was glued to. I decided to give this closet a two-toned wall look instead. I glued in a white card stock, painted cut craft sticks and glued them in to give a border, and now we have a more refined look! 

The clothing rod is made from bits of wood that came in a craft kit my kids didn't want from Home Depot. I just gave them a dark wood paint job and glued them in. I was pretty impressed with how they came out. 

Next, we need shelving. After all, I have purses and hats to show off. I used balsa wood from kits. I 3D printed the cube shelf. I think it works well for shoes.

The silver rack was one from a Dollar Tree set I picked up. I just gave it a paint job. It holds the many necklaces I have right now.

I'm pretty happy with the effect! I think it came out great for a spur-of-the-moment build. What do you think? What would you have done differently? Leave me a comment below and let me know!

Thrifty Doll House Renovating by Robin

My Mom likes to find Barbie houses for bargain prices at thrift stores and yard sales around her town. She had a room that had become the Barbie City that the girls play with in their previous home. But she doesn't just keep them as they came. Especially when they come with plenty of wear. She gives them a makeover to make my little sisters' and nieces play time more fun. She sent me some photos and her tips to help you get some ideas in your own renovating projects! 

Here is the house she decided to change up. This is a 3 story one. With 5 areas, or rooms, included. 

The first thing she did was to pick up these bamboo placemats at the thrift store. She found these for .50 each!

Using a combination of hot glue and E6000 glue, she began to attach them to the floor of the room she was working on after cutting them down to the right size. 

Starting in the middle

She chose to start in the middle room. Don't think you have to work top to bottom or bottom up. Start in the room that speaks to you first! Her ideas for this one were already set, especially with the materials she had on hand.

She also grabbed these large sticker pages from the Dollar Tree. They are $1.25 each. She bought these to cover the walls with. The room already looked amazing after just changing the floor and walls!

And the final part - was the ceiling. After all, that pink clashes hard. She chose to use these card stock pages for the ceiling.

You might still find them at your local Dollar Tree. (More info on those below) For this particular room, she added some furniture pieces she found on TEMU to give it a cozy living space look.

You can find the sofa here. It also comes with storage space. This can be really useful in a small space. There are several other options to browse through too.

 Now for the kitchen...

                             This is what it looked like originally.

She chose to use the other placemat in the kitchen. I really think this look works well there. I almost think of a Japanese-styled kitchen. Not even sure why.

She bought this kitchen playset on Amazon. It comes from the My Fancy Life series of room playsets. Not Barbie. But it is good quality and even came with accessories for a more affordable budget. It is just under $20.

 

She decided to give it a paint job and use it to make a real kitchen look. At first she thought she would use the light green, but then decided she preferred a black and white color scheme.

With the bamboo floor, she added this textured paper to give the walls an awesome style.

And once again used the strips of extra bamboo to give it a more seamless look in the corners.

Her kitchen is going with blue tones in some of the furniture. So far she has some chairs to go with the kitchen wall set.

She added a tile look to the ceiling. Now to make the dining table.

Next, we go to the bathroom...

There is a bathroom. That sure needed some real love. The floor and a wall had some markings on it.

So Mom added these sticker pages from the Dollar Tree to the walls. As well as this sticker tile for the ceiling. It takes on a really classy look.

Gave it a great gold and ivory theme! For the floor, she found this wood grain pattern paper to use.

Then using leftover pieces from the bamboo placemats, she created baseboard trim around the edges of the walls.

Add in this tiny toilet, a tub and a sink. Maybe later, there will be artwork on the walls. Or even a vanity mirror. Then relaxing will be amazing!

She found these at Hobby Lobby to add in later. As she was working on this project, they were also in the middle of moving. So I may come back later with additional photos.

The very top floor

This room needed some extra love as well. 

It was temporarily the catch-all for random things. Until it met some upgrades. 

 

We have this top most floor that is meant to be a bedroom. She grabbed another sticker page to create floor look she wanted. I really liked this pattern. I've even used it for my own diorama room.

This cute dresser can be found here. It adds an elegant touch! And you can choose from that sofa I showed you above as well as find the round chair from the photo above too. She re-papered the walls to give it neutral cream tones.

 The walls look a little loose here. When it comes to attaching paper to the dollhouse walls and ceilings, sometimes you have to test what works best. A glue stick seals it on smoother, but takes SO long. Spray glue tends to leave splotches that are darker. Elmer's glue, the bottle kind, makes for bubbles in the papering. E6000 on the ceiling just came loose. So she ended up have to peel the paper off and then peel off the dried glued bits too. Just some insight into the various kinds that were tried in this project. Now, to check out the room in a more finished look!

This is the master bedroom. Other dollhouses have bunkbeds and baby beds. It was time to have a room for the parents. And this one really looks the part. Like the little negligee on the dresser! The bed was made from wood pieces found at the Dollar Tree. It is only missing a paint job and some proper bedding. But temporarily, it looks pretty good. And it is a queen size one so that the couple can both fit.

Next to the bedroom...

She has this little balcony where they can chill and see the stars. The pattern for the flooring is already good. Adding a wicker chair completes the look. I feel like her Ken just needs a guitar to serenade her Barbie under the moonlight.

Looking closer to a finished home!

At this point, it is coming along nicely. So many beautiful elements. She was still planning to glue the white shelf to the wall in living room. That was two shelves glued together to make a cabinet.

It really does look classy, but cozy. And way more cleaned up! I love the use of things you can find at the Dollar Tree or even thrift stores.

Other wall and floor options to consider

She found these cardstock pages in the craft aisle at the Dollar Tree. They have a textured look that works really well for wallpaper or even for the ceilings. They come in a pack of 3 sheets. I totally plan to go look for similar ones. When I glanced at my store last time, I had only seen the sparkling themed colors. 

Scrapbook pages make projects like these amazing. You can really get a look you love with them. Hobby Lobby and thrift stores make finding things like this much easier and often affordable. 

Pages like this are actually stickers. So much easier to use when all you have to do is peel and stick!

Let me know your thoughts below! Have you renovated a dollhouse before? What elements did you find to use and where did you find them? I'm looking into doing rooms or houses of my own in the future and I'd love some ideas!