zoe's dollhouse

A couple of days ago I got an email from Kate of South Africa. She and her husband, Alan, used my doll house plans to make a doll house for their daughter Zoe. Their doll house is so rad- I just had to share it with you!

The flooring, carpeting and window boxes are all extras left over from her house renovation. I love that they added casters to the house. Such a great idea! Alan put lights in – the switches are at the back of the house. He even added speakers that an iPod can plug into (you can see the speakers next to the fireplace in the living room).

Ack! Curtains. Love it! Kate says, "The curtain rails I made from wire hangers and then drilled a tiny hole and pushed them into the walls."

Kate's dad built all the furniture. Amazing!

Kate knitted the living room rug with two wooden kebab sticks!! The fireplace is fantastic. I wanted to do one in Sutton's house but wasn't sure how to do it. Kate used tile (same as in the bathroom) as the fireplace surround. She then printed a picture of fire and hand painted over the picture to give it more life.

Kate said, "Zoe did announce to Dad that he had a problem as there was no ways to get upstairs, at which stage the elevator was added." Sutton made that same argument about her doll house not having stairs or an elevator. I told her to use her imagination. Kate and Alan are so much cooler than me!

Kate used contact adhesive for wall paper.

More handmade furniture.

Cool portraits on the wall.

Another great set of curtains!

I think Sutton's doll house will be needing a renovation in the future- lights, a fireplace, curtains, casters and maybe even an elevator!

Thank you Kate for sharing your darling doll house with us!

christmas morning

I know Christmas is over and everyone is currently talking New Years resolutions but I couldn't finish up the year without sharing Sutton's reaction to the doll house. Especially because it wasn't exactly what I had been expecting.

This is what our house looked like Christmas morning. The doll house is obviously for Sutton. The basket ball hoop is Ezra's, he is our little athlete and has LOVED the hoop so far. It looks like we don't love Liam, our oldest, since there is no large, non wrapped present for him but he is only interested in Legos and Star Wars and Star Wars Legos so all of his presents were under the tree. :)


Sutton came down the stairs, tossed the "babies" she was carrying for her brother and walked to the doll house. She said, with complete nonchalance, "It's a doll house. I like it."



This from the girl that when her Dad announced yesterday we would be eating pancakes for lunch, her eyes grew huge and she squealed. I definitely expected her to show more excitement but she played with it all that day and in every spare moment since so I think it is safe to say she loves it. It is actually being loved and enjoyed by all the kids. Liam and Ezra try to play with her but Sutton isn't super keen on that though because Ezra tears everything apart and Liam gives the barbies swirlies in the pretend toilet.

Sutton is now the proud owner of eight Barbies (she had one, she received six hand-me-downs and a brand-new Barbie from my sister). She plays with all of them at the same time. It's like a sorority house for princesses!

mod doll house plans

HAPPY NEW YEAR! I hope that you all have enjoyed a safe and happy Holiday season!


I finally finished the template for the doll house. I didn't think it would take so long but we have been spending every spare minute with family! Not that I am complaining, we've had lots of fun. I even had a couple of hours of good contractions today. Maybe this little one will arrive a little early. That would be a first for me!



A few tips:
1- I bought a 4'x8' piece of 1/2" plywood and was barely unable to get all the pieces cut from that one piece of plywood. Luckily, we happened to have a scrap piece of MDF on hand and didn't need to buy more wood but if you make a dollhouse from this template you will need more than one piece of plywood if you don't have some scraps hanging around.

2- Michael cut all the pieces with a jig saw but a table saw would work well too.

3- The top edge of the side wall (D) needs to be mitered slightly to match the slope of the back wall (A).

4- The back wall (A), side wall (D) and the front wall (E) are all secured to the top of the base piece (B).
5- To assemble the house we used 1" finishing nails and a hammer. It is much easier if you have someone to help you with this part. Michael and I laid the base piece top down and pounded nails into the wood (about 1/4" from the back edge, side wall edge and front wall edge) just until the nails were barely visible on the top side of the base piece.

With the pieces on their sides, I lined up the back wall (A) with the base (B) where the barely visible nails were while Michael hammered the nails down. We continued with each wall piece. Measure and mark where the 2nd floor piece (C) will go and again hammer the nails into the wood until barely visible, hold the 2nd floor (C) into place and completely hammer the nails down. The roof pieces (H & I) were last were done in the same manner. Lastly we installed the interior walls (G & F).

6- Our cuts weren't perfect. Once the house was put together there were lots of gaps at the roof line. The house was secure but it didn't look pretty. I used caulk (make sure it is paintable!!) to fill in the gaps knowing it would never be noticed once the house was painted and wallpapered.
7- We eye-balled the window placement once the house was all put together. The windows are about 9"x6.25" except, of course, for the triangular window which is as wide as the other windows but only a few inches high and the long edge of the window matching the angle of the roof. The windows were cut out with a jig saw.


Cost break down:
furniture- eBay $15
vintage kitchen- eBay $29
bath fixtures- eBay $17
plywood $20
paint- sample from Lowes $3
carpet- sample from carpet store $2
linoleum- Home Depot $3
faux tile bathroom floor- Hobby Lobby $3.5
scrapbook paper for wallpaper- Michaels and Hobby Lobby $7
wood beds- unfinished wood pieces from Hobby Lobby $8
mod podge (with coupon)- Hobby Lobby $4
Krylon plastic spray paint $9
flowers for flower boxes- Walmart $3
1x2 wood for flower boxes $2

Total $125.50

Quick links to the other dollhouse posts:
part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4


If you make a dollhouse for your little one I would love to see it!

making a doll house - part 4

It's done! And with a whole day to spare! I am actually glad I didn't finish it weeks ago now I won't have to wait long to see Sutton's reaction when she sees the dollhouse for the first time. It's all she has asked for for Christmas.

I have been working on it in my bedroom but Sutton started getting suspicious so Michael (who is a much better liar than I am) came up with a cover story. He told her I was making a bird sanctuary for Aunt Jen. I could tell that she totally bought it because she was so disappointed that what I was working on wasn't for her! Normally, I don't lie to my kids but Christmas presents are an exception!

Anyhow, I am really happy with the finished doll house. Check it out:

I added window boxes.

I bought a piece of 1"x2" wood for $1.68 and cut it down to size with a 50 degree angle on the ends. Then I drilled holes for the flowers. The flowers were $3. Then I used Gorilla Glue to attach the boxes to the house.

I mod podged a picture of windows to the middle bedroom. It really helps to distract from the shoddy wallpapering job. :)

I made the bed from unfinished wood pieces from Hobby Lobby and then painted it white. I made the bedding using scraps of fabric from my stash.

The yellow bedroom got an identical bed and some scrap bedding too.

I love how the flowers are visible from the inside.

I also made a few throw pillows for the couches and chair.

I mod podged another window above the sink. Now Barbie has something nice to look at while she washes dishes. P.S.- I wish my backyard looked like that picture!!

Done and done!

I can't wait for Christmas morning. I swear, I haven't been this excited about a Christmas since I was a girl. Having kids makes giving Christmas presents so fun!

After Christmas I will do a Part 5 post with the "blueprint" of the house for any of you that would like to make your own. I will also do a cost break down.

Sutton's preschool teacher gave us some hand-me-down Barbies which I totally appreciate but they are all naked. I had intended to make a bunch of clothes like Jess did but I have run out of time. I am too cheap to pay store prices (not to mention how slutty most Barbie clothes are) so we will have lots of in 'the buff' Barbie playing at our house! :)

making a doll house - part 3

Part 3 is my favorite so far! Furniture and fixtures.

This is the kitchen. It is vintage 1960's. It's called "Barbie Deluxe Reading Kitchen". I love anything vintage but this style kitchen is special to me. My mom had this set when she was a girl and when my sisters and I were little she would take it out of the box and let us look at it and play with all the little pieces. I loved this kitchen and it left an impression on me. So when I decided to build Sutton a doll house I knew I wanted it to have a kitchen just like my mom's.

Unfortunately, they are quite the collectors item now and complete (and in good condition) sets can be very expensive. I was able to get a non-complete set that is a little broken for a great price on eBay. I am okay with it not being complete and some of the upper cabinets broken off. I figure my kids will inevitably break it anyway!


I hot glued the kitchen pieces to the back wall of the house. Hopefully they will last a little longer if they stay in the house!


The table and chairs are not original to the set. They were orange when I got them and I used Krylon's plastic spray paint. It was the first time I had ever used it and it covered like a dream!


I forgot to take a before picture but this is one of the listing pictures from the eBay auction. You can see one orange chair.


Using the plastic spray paint again I painted one of the couches and lounge chair purple and the other couch white.


The painted furniture in the house.


If there is one thing in the house that is over the top and unnecessary it would be the bathroom. I just couldn't resist, it's too cute!

(keep it clean Barbie! this is a family friendly blog!)

The toilet cracks me up! I hot glued the bathroom fixtures to the floor/walls like I did the kitchen. The rest of the furniture can be moved around.


Part 4: 'the finishing details' coming soon!

making a doll house - part 2

First off, my apologies for the super crappy pictures. I took them last night and the lighting was terrible. Normally, I would wait until morning to take pictures but I knew that would be pointless since it is a dark and rainy day today.

WALLPAPER: I simply mod podged scrapbook paper to the walls.

The empty spot where the plywood is showing through is where the "kitchen" is going to be.

On top is the yellow bedroom, beneath that is the living room.

The middle upstairs room was the first room I "wallpapered" and I just slapped it on not even trying to match the pieces. It REALLY bothers me so I was much more careful with the other rooms. I am trying to not let it bother me so much that have I re-do it.

FLOORING:

I really love the black and white checkerboard kitchen floor. I cut two 12x12 pages of card stock into 2" squares and mod podged it on.

For the "wood" floor of the living room I bought three stick on linoleum tiles ($0.88/each). I didn't like the parquet look so using a box cutter, I cut along the lines to get planks.

I had to then cut a few more down to fit the room, peeled of the backing and suck 'em on.

The "bathroom" floor is a plastic faux tile floor used for miniature doll houses. I bought it during a 50% off sale at Hobby Lobby.

I made a template for the carpet by taping pieces of paper together.

Traced the template onto the back of the carpet.

Cut along the lines with the box cutter and hot glued in place. I got the carpet samples for $1 each at a local carpet store.

Part 3 coming soon!

making a doll house - part 1

I am the second of four girls. When I was growing up my parents made us a Barbie house. It wasn't anything fancy but we loved it (in fact, I am sure I played dolls long after I was too old to do so). Before the doll house my parents also built us a play kitchen. My parents are great DIY'ers and have inspired me many times.

The last six months or so Sutton has really gotten into Barbies so I decided to build her a doll house for Christmas. I have finally gotten started. I couldn't do this project without the help of my husband. He's such a good sport to help me with my (often harebrained) projects!


First, I sketched out a the house design. Then we bought a $20 piece of plywood. I measured and drew all the pieces onto the board. I actually measured, drew, erased and repeated about twenty times and once it seemed right Michael cut it all out. My repeated measuring mostly paid off there were only a few pieces that need to be cut smaller. Thankfully none were too small!


Then we assembled the pieces.


The house started to take shape. And I got all giddy with excitement. She is going to love it!


Next I primed and painted the exterior, roof and ceilings.



Part two: "wallpaper" and flooring!