DIY Barbie Furniture

Lucy asked for Barbie things for Christmas.  I wanted to get her a house, but they are all pretty expensive and seem flimsy so we wrote it off.  The week before Christmas I saw this bookcase in the Target ad and fell in love with it.  It was cute, simple, sturdy and less than half the price of regular dollhouses. The only problem is that Barbie is tall and this is really a bookcase not a dollhouse.  Thankfully Andy is handy. 

Because of the pitched roof Barbie could stand on the top floor.  He sawed a few inches off the vertical shelf to raise the bottom shelf.  Barbie can now stand in the lower level.  She can sit in the middle level. 

Next step: Accessorizing.We decided to look around the house for things to use before we headed to the store.

Our first idea was to use mouse pads as carpeting.  We had a few laying around and Andy had some extras at work.

Next, I decided I wanted to try and make some couches. We happened to have an extra woodworking project from Home Depot which had two sets of rectangles already cut.  I figured we could make a couch and a loveseat.

I simply screwed the wood together to form a seat.  My third screw split the wood I figured it would be covered so it was not a big deal, but I drilled guide holes in the second couch.

Next, we unrolled some cotton balls and hot glued them to make the couch comfy for Barbie. I had originally thought about getting something a bit more plush at the fabric store, but decided just to get them done and use what we had around the house.

Next, I attached the fabric.  I started by gluing the center crease.

Then stapled the sides around to the back.

Then, pulled/folded the corners around and stapled them.

Lastly, I stapled the fabric closed on the bottom.

I had planned on making arms for the couches but decided they looked good enough without them and Barbie didn't really need them anyway.

We all know that Barbie had long legs, so I didn't want the couches just sitting on the ground.  We happen to have a massive button collection which we decided to sort through to see if we could find any good couch legs.

We could not find 8 or 9 matching buttons or beads so compromised with 5 matching for the fronts of both couches and 4 matching for the backs of the couches.  Maybe I will pick up something better when I am at JoAnns, but for now this works just fine.

A little more hot glue and they are finished.

All moved in and already being put to use.

We are hoping to make some other furniture and maybe "wallpaper" the walls.