Beginnings of a DIY Barbie House

As a little girl, I absolutely loved playing with Barbies.  I honestly think that may have been where my love for decorating started.  I still to this day remember walking 1/4 mile down the road to my friend Lana's house toting a giant plastic tote full of Barbie stuff so we could play together.  It really was my favorite toy.  Bailey, our daughter, got her first Barbie as a present around age 2 but it sat on top of her bookshelf for a while.  When she started noticing it, we told her she could have the Barbie when she turned 3 and you better believe on her 3rd birthday she was begging us to open up that Barbie.  From then, she has been loving every minute of playing with them.

My mom and I decided to save all of (or the majority of) my Barbie stuff in case I ever had a daughter, and can I tell you that was the best decision we could have made.  Not only is it going to save my husband and I a ton of money on repurchasing those items, it's been so much fun to see all my old stuff.  We were originally going to wait until her 4th birthday to let her open the giant moving box in her closet, but a few months ago I decided to let her have it all now...and this is what we got!

Barbie Explosion!

Once I opened everything though, I realized that we had NO WHERE to store it all.  For a while it all sat in an extra bin from the bookcases in her play room but it wasn't the best solution.  By the time she had everything out and the way she wanted it, it was time to clean it up.  I toyed with getting her the Barbie dream house, but I just couldn't justify spending $170, especially when it didn't really have enough room for everything.  That's when I headed back to my favorite inspiration site, Pinterest, and started my search for a DIY Barbie House.

We decided to get the 3x3 white laminate shelving unit from Target.  Click on the picture below to purchase it online!

Click on picture to purchase on Target.com!

Once we got it home and put together, I decided to use that in place of the 2x3 shelving unit for her other toys then turn the 2x3 unit on its side (3 on top, 3 on bottom) and place it (2x3 unit) on top of the 1x3 bench unit as seen in the picture below.  The bench unit has that little lip at the bottom to lift it off the floor so she can see the bottom row of "rooms" better when she's sitting down.

I originally had planned to use scrapbook paper as wallpaper inside the shelving units but then I had something wonderfully surprising happen!

She had earned a new Barbie toy that day and had chosen the Glamour Vanity Set (here).  As I was unwrapping it all, the cardboard background that the pieces come attached to slipped out very easily.  I started looking at it and decided to carefully remove the pieces without messing up the cardboard.  I put it inside one of the openings on the unit and it fit perfect!  You can see in the picture below how it stays up nicely without needing any extra support.

The Vanity Room from a little distance back.  You can slightly see a gap between the cardboard and the wall but a little double sided tape would fix that.

The Vanity Room up close!  

She is now starting to earn other pieces and I'm purchasing them as they are on sale so we can fill up each room.  But by adding the cardboard backgrounds from the box, I saved myself so much time and frustration.  I can't wait to have all the rooms done so it really looks like a house!

I hope you enjoyed this DIY adventure and as always, thanks for stopping by!

~Ashley Berry