DIY Barbie House & Furniture

I will admit, although I wish I could claim the title of "crafty", I really just get most of my ideas and inspiration from Pinterest.  Here is how this one went down:

My daughter is turning four in about a month.  The only thing she has asked for is Barbie stuff.  But, seriously!!! these prices are ridiculous for the cheapo plastic stuff they are making now-a-days.  I bought a $60 dollar house for Christmas a few years ago and I swear I'm fixing something daily with that thing.

I started looking around to find something like what I had growing up: a wooden, simple, sturdy Barbie house.  On a side note, I honestly played Barbies til I was 13 (then Sims came out...which is virtual Barbies). I remember everything I loved about my house and it wasn't the house itself, it was the details!  The little pillows, rugs, and curtains my mom made.  The colors my dad painted it.  The fact that my dad took Christmas lights and hung them on the ceiling so my house had light :)

So what do I do?? PINTEREST!  and come up with this: Its a small bookshelf repurposed for a darling Barbie house.  (yup a blog within a blog-blogception!)  I am going to have my dad build the shelves rather than buy the shelves because I would like to be able to control the depth of the house.


Next thing I do? Blog my progress!  Below is my very pitiful attempt at the "blue prints"

Third thing was to start shopping.  I went to the local thrift store and found the following for a total of $4.00:

On the left is what will soon be the fireplace (painted black with flames and logs), I will be putting deco on the fireplace too

Next is the bed (an old sleigh decoration).  Now my problem is the bed is too small...so I'm at a loss for now.

The grey box is like a jewelry box with a place for a photo at the top.  I want to put silvery/reflective stuff in the picture part and paint the box black..then TADA! An AWESOME coffee table that Barbie can use to store her couch blankets

Below that is the top of the soon to be dining table. Will paint it either black or cherry red depending on cost and what I can find. 

some stuffing (aka fake snow) for all my cushions.

Then below that is kelly's night stand ( I love it! and it also has storage space for kelly to put some books in for bedtime reading)

Then I found the coasters on the end and thought I could somehow make a pool for the rooftop.

My favorite part:

I decided the best way to save money on fabric for the pillows, comforters, window curtains and rugs was the use fabric laying around...but wait! I don't sew often so I really don't have a lot of fabric around.  Then it dawned on me! I have a couple of boxes laying around with my daughter's baby clothes...what could make better fabric??? I can't wait til she is old enough to understand how special those clothes are to me (if you can't tell, I'm proud I came up with this idea). Plus the whole idea of a diy barbie house is to personalize it.

While researching, I ran across this woman who makes  TONS of Barbie stuff from mostly cardboard and it looks fabulous! The rest of this blog is really a compilation of her videos as a guide for what I'm using to make my furniture.

Good luck in your crafty adventours! I'll keep you all updated on my progress :)

I will be making the master bed by using her video found here (this woman is absolutely GENIUS):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrpJbtjd7D8&feature=player_embedded

Stacy and Kelly will be sharing a room.  I have a bed for Kelly though...however, Stacey often has Skipper over for a sleep over.  Thank goodness there is this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFdB88gApq8&list=PL6250CFC81CA2799A&index=6&feature=plpp_video

Lamps will be used by following this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Lmsp1PQ5UA&list=PL6250CFC81CA2799A&index=21&feature=plpp_video

Barbies Closet: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBbzxI-XZHs&feature=plcp&context=C429f8d9VDvjVQa1PpcFMyRxgWHOD0xwbc-qeRPIie3m5FSPMrjRE%3D

The Desk for the Game room:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n921VmtiiaE&feature=plcp&context=C4bb4e8aVDvjVQa1PpcFMyRxgWHOD0x6HaooPO1oPOgtSX07eXyG8%3D

Bathroom toilets:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_MLMocwgfU&feature=plcp&context=C4389f16VDvjVQa1PpcFMyRxgWHOD0xxQh3jqitrHD2MuT4z-LJ3I%3D

Sinks: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bY-I2NY0xp4&feature=plcp&context=C463b8e9VDvjVQa1PpcFMyRxgWHOD0x4WHLLjEwLDmGS6jmIRWaEo%3D

Bath: http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=fvwp&v=ORbliLGsDDM

Plants http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXi1BlydcgY&feature=plcp&context=C4bde182VDvjVQa1PpcFMyRxgWHOD0x6xHDx8wIvLp6s9HfwGUSpA%3D

Bookshelf: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1A1VFThZTA&feature=context&context=C463b8e9VDvjVQa1PpcFMyRxgWHOD0x4WHLLjEwLDmGS6jmIRWaEo=