Resurrecting a 1966 Barbie Family House

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I've had this for years....but had no place to set it up. I think I paid $6.99 at a thrift store with a few pieces of furniture. The roof was badly cracked. 1966 plastic doesn't survive if left out in the sun, but the the vinyl walls and floors were still vibrant and in great condition! WIN! WIN!

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Here is the outside of the case open, the graphics are so MOD FUN!

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Inside you have three very small room areas when it is opened up...here I'm trying some furniture bits and pieces. 

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The couch is original to the house, the rest are odds and ends of this and that.

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This vestibule makes the whole thing sturdy but isnt' large enough to use for much of anything. I'm thinking of placing an apartment kitchen across the doors. 

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Stingy in size this barely fills a 16" shelf. The wall brackets for the shelves steal another 3/4". 

To the left of the house now on the shelf...was this space.

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Since the doll room is in the basement I run this fan constantly and it waves back and forth making this 10" or so to the left not really useable. But, how about adding a bunk room? since two room mates would be sharing this tiny structure.

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I did some measurements and sketches and grabbed some odds and ends of foam core, papers and tapes.

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I had bits and pieces and a few sheets of printed scrapbook paper I thought would blend with the decor of the existing house. (these are the leftovers) 

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To assemble foam core walls I use duck tape, white  on the inside and (where no one will see, heavier silver duct tape to hold the corners together. I'm free floating this next to the house as I don't want to ruin the vinyl walls.

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These walls are pretty straight forward, as deep as I could make it and as wide as possible and the angle of the ceiling was designed to allow the fan to blow and turn above it.

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The scrapbood paper is applied with double stick tape.

I have a few pieces of flourescent orange/pink pieces to use for furniture, so I planned around them.

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I jutted little rooms ceiling all the way to the shelf above.

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All the assembly is on the back or outside. The colors worked really well together and blended with the vintage vinyl walls of the 1966 'Family Home'.

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Many years ago I invested in a large SQUARE measure for cutting perfect straight lines and angles. I also have a small one and a cutting mat where you always have a ruler edge.You could cut on a cardboard surface but eventually it will be shreds.

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I cut the ceiling with an extra 1/2" overlap on the back  so I could cut a notch and place the wall flush across the shelf bracket and still keep the room from moving around. I ran some loops of tape on the back wall to go on the shelf bracket also for stability.

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Eventually, I'm going to cover the pegboard bits showing with paper.  So, now there are 4 tiny rooms, lol for my room mates to share. Billie needs a small studio painting space, they need a dining area, a 'desk' and clothes storage. A challenge and will definitely need some careful arranging. 

Now of course there isn't any bed that will fit exactly so I made them one. Back in 1960 all my friends and myself made poster beds with pencils and a shoe box.

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 The box for the bed and the cover for the top of the poster bed supported with new pencils. Basically that is what this is, only with different materials.

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I used a Barbie shipping box to make a bunk bed. I covered the brown cardboard with white contact paper and then added popsicle sticks through slits for supports.  This is upside down....

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The edges are clamped holding the sticks that were put through slits in the cardboard base and top. I'll eventually paint the sticks when I decide on the  color. 

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Here's the bunkbed in place upside down while the glue (E-6000) sets. I just used measurements for how much room I had. The bed is shorter than 12" but EL and Billie are both petite size.

Now I have to ask them what they want in their new home? 

I'll post again when they get done moving in and decorating  their under $10.00 vintage home! 

Thanks so much for visiting,

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BarbieOldNewGreenRedo, is an ad-free blog.  

I do not endorse or receive any $$ for any products I may use. I enjoy showing how I use products, 

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Sandi

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