DIY Dollhouse Revamp

I decided to use the girls' Barbie furniture to make this proper dollhouse they would hopefully play with again.

The Before. I'm guessing this is how most Barbie houses end up looking.

The After. I added in a cheap white bookshelf to give them more space, and I ended up really liking the caddy-corner design.

First I gathered all of the candy-hued pieces they already had...

...And spraypainted them silver or white

Then I put fun paper up on the walls. I hot-glued fabric together for pillows.

I bought a few framed pictures at a craft store, then printed off new pictures and glued them on top.

I put "crown molding" up in some of the rooms.

One of my favorite rooms...the walk-in closet. To make the shag rug, I cut open an old stuffed animal that the girls didn't play with anymore (the animal's scarf is what made the other pillow in the living room.) Let me tell you, skinning a fuzzy white puppy stuffed animal ended up a bit more emotionally taxing than I anticipated.

The animal pictures are mini versions of the ones already in the playroom.

And the house and tree on the wall are modeled after the ones in Amia's bedroom.

I made the bunk beds out of this dollhouse canopy bed. I took the canopy part off and used it as a pot rack in the kitchen. Then I put a checkbook box on the posts of the bed and covered it in fabric.

Another place I tried to bring in some of our real house, these vintage travel posters that I have in my bedroom.

The cabinets are just boxes I spraypainted, the handles are sewing pins that I poked in. I just painted barbie mugs and hung them under the cabinet.

Pot rack is the canopy, and the pots are hung on paperclips.

The shower curtain is made out of a one of Keely's shirts she outgrew. I dismantled most of the old bathroom set to make the new one.

This was the original bathroom.

Tongue depressers make up the terrace privacy fence.