Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Extreme Home Makeover- Dollhouse Edition


My lil' girl will be turning 3 soon. I can hardly believe it. At this stage, she's loving to play with dollhouses. My kinda girl!

I found this lil' treasure on Craigslist for $30. What a FIND!
It was FULL of furniture too (more than shown in the picture)!



All it needed (okay, didn't really 'need', but I couldn't help myself) was a makeover. One that wouldn't cost much if anything at all. So, using mostly supplies already on hand...I got to work. Total project cost, including the dollhouse: $62.

Here's the BEFORE & AFTER of the dollhouse.


The cherry furniture was lovely,but I spray painted it all. Yep.
I covered the walls with craft paper (using spray adhesive).

Basically, I used everything I already had on hand - EXCEPT I did splurge on a new kitchen  $20, a cute little washing machine for $6 and some craft stickers $6. I just had to do it.
This dollhouse is for me too, you know.


 We love owls. This is the little girls room. I used craft paper for the walls, leftover fabric and some craft stickers. The bed and dresser were originally that cherry wood- but nothing a can of spray paint couldn't jazz up!
The living room. 
Craft paper walls, little craft silhouette stickers (I do not scrap book by the way).
Painted couch with zebra felt (used fabric glue to adhere). Painted chair with leftover fabric.
 I printed the chandelier image from the Internet, cut it out and glued it to the wall.
Spray painted fireplace. Fabric scrap rug. Craft paper walls.
The kitchen.
I used an old picture frame mat for the window (magazine cut out for the scene), painted table and chairs and craft paper for walls and floor. Printed out and glued 'Eat Together'  picture to the wall.

The laundry room (I wish I had for real).
Craft paper walls, parts of the old kitchen furniture painted and printed out laundry stickers for pictures. I just had to buy that lil' washing machine for $6. We are calling it our washing AND drying machine.


The bathroom.
Painted furniture, craft paper walls and a printed out picture- glued above the tub.

Bedroom.
Spray painted bed and cabinet. Cardboard headboard with leftover fabric.
Leftover fabric for artwork. Craft paper walls.

Best part is watching my girl play with it.

There's nothing in here that I'm worried about getting broken or messed up (remember, we only paid $30 for it). If she wants to put the stove in the bathroom- sounds like an adventure to me! Sure, I spent some time on it- but it was fun for me to do. Plus, if things get messed up too badly, I'll always have these pictures to remember how things were!
Case in point. It was bath night for EVERYONE this night (including pets).  
Proud of her for conserving water!
 

13 comments:

Venus said...

Oh my goodness... this is AWESOME!!! Can I move in???

Susan said...

AMAZING! My sister was going to car boot her old dolls house, her kids weren't interested - I am now going to do this for me! Inspiring.

Carrie said...

What a beautiful, inspiring dollhouse! Love the wall paper in each of the rooms.

Unknown said...

Where did the teeny frames come from? The colourful ones in the orange room are fantastic!

heydayliving said...

Thank you everyone, it was so much fun to work on! Katie, the frames (birds/owl) in the orange room are actually craft stickers. I purchased them from our local Jo-ann craft store. I glued them on with Elmer's Glue-All. Thank you everyone for your comments and for stopping by my blog! :) .

Muffin said...

this is amazing! love it!

Anonymous said...

so creative and inovative!

Unknown said...

Fantastic, looking so good.

GingerLola said...

This is gorgeous.... I made a house for my niece using cardboard and paper mache, I keep checking out thrift stores for an old house to makeover. This inspires to keep on looking and checking out kijiji and craigslist. Great job!!!!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the inspiration ...I have the exact doll house and just about the same furniture I was thinking of how to bring the dollhouse to life and you save me the thinking...thank you so much...I'll be looking toward on working on this project...

Anonymous said...

LOVE LOVE your Craigslist dollhouse! Do you know who manufactured the house? Would love to find something similar for my soon-to-be three-year-old also! (OK, for me too!) : ) Your blog is amazing!!

Anonymous said...

loved your doll house! it has inspired me to continue working on my own doll house project!

Anonymous said...

what color did you spray paint the cherry furniture with?

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