Does the Barbie house ever go out of style? No! They’ve literally been producing one version or another since 19-freaking-74. While its’ longevity indicates they’ve been doing something right, I think it could be better.
If you’ve ever tried to play with a doll house of any kind with more than 1 or 2 kids the problem becomes abundantly clear. There simply isn’t enough space for multiple bodies and hands to really play together. There’s also NO storage. You have this giant pink plastic house and then bins, baskets, or just a strewn out mess of dolls, clothes and accessories. The mess even starts to creep when the playing gets going, because again, there just isn’t enough room for a few kids to play in the house at once.
Solution: Barbie needs a ranch! While it does initially take up more floor space, the house stays tidier and can be MORE fun. By eliminating the walls and going horizontal, multiple kiddos can play together at the same time. For an added bonus the storage is right underneath. It’s like Barbie has a basement! The cubby storage is perfect for keeping all the dolls and overflow accessories as well as parking space for her ride. And since everything is all together and set up to play, it stays pretty much right where you put up. Mess begone!
To create your own ranch-style dream Barbie house I’ve linked everything I used below. Some are affiliate links, some are not. Either way you pay the same price (I just sometimes receive a small commission).
Barbie House Supplies
Basics
- The foundation of the house is made from two IKEA Kallax shelf units.
- For the floors & walls I used peel and stick wallpaper to make it more realistic. Products included this floral wallpaper, brick wallpaper, faux wood wallpaper, and some marble and geometric patterns I had on hand from previous projects (similar options can be found here and here).
Bathroom
- The bathtub and vanity were things we already had and worked just fine here.
- The toilet, funnily enough, is for WWE wrestling figures.
- You can also find a Barbie tub or this shower/vanity/toilet combo if you don’t already have anything that will work.
Bedroom/Nursery
- Nursery set
- Closet
- The bed & rug came in an adorable set (also includes a blue cabinet, small orange table and red chair pictured in other parts of the house).
Living Room
- The couch & brown chair came with the Frozen castle we purchased a few years ago but IKEA has a cute living room set. I would probably would have purchased it but it wasn’t available in store when I was putting this together.
- The fuzzy chair (similar version here) is actually a cell phone stand.
Kitchen
- The dining table set is a little flimsy but I think it works pretty well. I hot glued the plates, silverware, and cups to the table because they would be otherwise lost in no time.
- After comparing several options, I went with this kitchen set that I ended up spray painting and think it turned out pretty cute. I hot glued the individual components together to prevent it them from tipping over every time a door was opened.
- If you want to find some more food I recommend Mini Brands or Shopkins Real Littles. They are super cute and so realistic.
- I found the window behind the table at the Target dollar spot. It just printed a photo of a backyard and glued it to the backside to make it more realistic.
Classroom
- Classroom Playset
- Teacher Barbie comes with a globe, laptop, and other accessories.
- Mini Backpacks
- Mini notebooks are actually keychains. With a pair of pliers I removed the keychain metal and now they are perfect school books.
- I also picked up the Our Generation Biology Accessory Set from Target but can’t find it online. It included a double helix, anatomy torso, and biology book.
- The side table was just a ribbon spool left over from the holidays!
My girls and their friends have been having so much fun with this space! For more playroom inspiration see this post on Playroom Storage for Organized Fun.
For your pinning pleasure:
