Happier Than A Pig In Mud: Free Barbie House to Makeover... And Fireplace Update

I wanted to share a post showcasing the great Barbie House Ma found for free. It's been fun trying to make changes so it looks a little more grown-up and true to life. This is an ongoing project (far from complete), and to date, I've basically just worked on whatever room I wanted to use for pictures. The plan is to create a home for the dolls, furnish it, and just use that for future diorama posts. All while decorating for the seasons and holidays of course:@)

The original doll house:

This is a Kid Craft Supermodel House,

47" tall and 30" wide.

The floors are about 11" deep.

14 1/2" floor to ceiling on the first two levels,

up to 17" on the top floor with the tilted roof.

The first thing I wanted to work on was the... um... color scheme:@) My first attempt at changing the livingroom: (It has changed many times since this...)

Remove staircase, add brick scrapbook paper wall, white poster board main wall, and placemat rug.

A before and after pic:

And the most important room in the house... The kitchen! A very basic beginning: (This too has changed many times...)

Contact paper on the floor, a Gloria 3D kitchenette, and some white paper to cover half of the wall. Once everything is in place I'll permanently hang the window.

The before and after:

As for today's contribution, it's the fireplace. I bought a Gloria fireplace set on Ebay and it is spectacular, but ~huge~, more for a Barbie mansion, not a doll house:@)

Last year I used the insert for my 2020 Christmas pic, but did promise a mantle for future posts...

Well, thanks to my son's help here it is, smaller and more to scale for this doll house:@)

We used a wooden picture frame for the mantle and he cut the plastic insert to fit inside. As time goes on I'll build it into it's permanent spot in the livingroom, add some floor bricks for the hearth, and some charred background bricks for seasons when we don't need a fire.

And Christmas 2021...

Better😊