Making a beautiful house and furniture for Barbie dolls | Magazine of the Fair of Masters

The whole family decided to make a house for Barbie. The purchased ones all looked the same, but I wanted it to be special. My husband made the house himself, and the children and I made the furniture and decor. They started making it before I decided to write a master class, so the first stages, unfortunately, are not captured in the photo. But I will attach diagrams and drawings according to which this house can be repeated. This is the first work of this kind for us, so please do not judge harshly 🙂 And although such an experiment is very different from my main activity, why not share it with you. Moreover, under the auspices of a wonderful master class competition. So, let’s go! The beautiful Princess Merida will demonstrate to us all stages of the work.

I will not list here all the materials that we will need, since there are a great many of them. I can say that anything can be useful in such a matter. Therefore, we began to collect suitable jars, boxes, and decorations in advance. Many materials are interchangeable. The main thing is not to stop experimenting, trying, using your imagination to the maximum. This master class contains ideas taken from the Internet, for example, hangers made from paper clips. But basically, everything was invented by our joint family mind. White, turquoise and pastel lemon were chosen as the main design colors. We were all tired of the pink Barbie colors for a long time, and we wanted the house to be less toy-like and more like a real one.

In the photograph, the husband tried to schematically depict the layout of the house. At the top are the details of the house, and at the bottom is how they should be positioned. All dimensions are given in centimeters. The symbols are deciphered as follows:

FLOOR1, FLOOR2, FLOOR3 – vertical partitions on floors;

L1, L2 – left outer walls (1 – first floor, 2, respectively, second);

P1, P2 – right outer walls;

LV1, LV2, PV1, PV2 – left and right internal walls;

FRONT3 – façade wall of the roof;

LF2 – left front wall of the balcony.

To make the house, two sheets of plywood 0.8 cm wide were purchased. You will also need wooden blocks with a square cross-section of 30×40 mm. We cut out the parts from plywood, thoroughly sand all the cuts until they are absolutely smooth. We assemble the house using blocks. We drill holes at the joints and screw the plywood to the bars with wood screws. I think that men will not have any difficulties with assembly.

This is what the house looks like after assembly. We paint it in the color we need and wait until it dries completely.

While the house is drying, we will make paintings. Cut out bright pictures and glue them onto wood-colored cardboard. We used thick scrapbooking paper. The top was covered with transparent tape to create the illusion that our paintings were framed under glass.

Making stairs. The bottom one will be ordinary, made of plywood. Wooden corner slats are glued to it with wood glue (sold in any construction supermarket). And according to the design, our upper staircase should be spiral. For it we need a wooden stick with a round cross-section and small rectangles made from leftover plywood. We fasten these rectangles with special wood screws. To prevent the plywood from cracking, pre-drill small holes. We first paint both stairs, then attach them to the house.

Cut out 34×20 cm rectangles from fabric and string them on wire. We twist the wire around cute pushpins.

We installed stairs, hung curtains, and glued pictures with double-sided tape. Now let’s add some vegetation. From the carpet of “grass” we cut out our lawn. For us, it will go below along the perimeter of the entire house; for this purpose, we have previously provided for an expansion in the lower tier. We will also decorate the roof with a lawn, where we will have a recreation area. We cut out decor from self-adhesive paper that we use to decorate the façade of the house. You can buy ready-made stickers; now there is a large selection.

This is what our house looks like at this stage. It’s time to furnish it with furniture.

Making a sofa. First, we cut out the future frame of the sofa from cardboard. I made patterns with dimensions for the master class. We need four parts: one bottom (10×20 cm), one back wall (13×20 cm) and two sides (8.5×10 cm). I recommend making them from thick corrugated cardboard.

Now we cut out rectangles of the same size from foam rubber. In principle, you can replace it with padding polyester or other filling, but then you first need to sew the cover, and then fill it. We use foam rubber, so we work as follows. We cut out one back wall, two sides and three bottoms. I have foam rubber 1 cm high. If it is thicker, then you can make 2 bottoms accordingly. Glue it all to the corresponding cardboard parts.

Our upholstery is made of leatherette. But it can also be made from fabric. We actually sheathe or glue our blanks. I don’t have a sewing machine, so sewing is kept to a minimum, and where there is, everything is hand stitched. The main part is simply covered with leatherette. When upholstering a sofa, you need to remember that the side with cardboard remains outside, and the side with foam looks inside.

When all the parts are upholstered, glue them together with reliable glue with strong hold. I used the transparent Moment gel.

Now we make a soft seat and back. To do this, from the same foam rubber we cut out two blanks for the seat and two for the backrest. In the photo on each side of them the dimensions are indicated in centimeters. From leatherette of the same or a different color, we cut out the future cover a couple of centimeters more around the entire perimeter. We decided to make it turquoise.

And with a regular basting stitch we go around the entire cover. Then we tighten it, giving the details natural folds of the skin. Using beads of a contrasting color, we make it look like a real sofa, stitching them right through all layers of foam rubber and leatherette. And glue the finished parts to the frame. Essentially, our sofa is ready. All that remains is to add a few elements.

We make a luxurious fringed blanket from an unnecessary scarf by simply cutting it to the required size. And we make the pillows from fabric. We have four pillows. For each you need two squares of fabric, which we simply sew on three sides, turn inside out, then stuff with padding polyester and sew on the last fourth. The photo shows a pattern for such a square (8×8 cm).

So, our sofa is decorated and completely ready for housewarming.

For the bedroom we need a bed. Again, we cut out two parts from thick cardboard: the bottom (26×18 cm) and the side (9x8x18 cm). From foam rubber we cut out two parts for the side and three for the bottom.

We glue them with cardboard patterns and cover them or cover them with fabric. I selected the fabric to match the leatherette from which the sofa was made. We make the legs for the bed from ordinary cardboard for creativity. We cut the squares, make cuts on them, as shown in the photo, twist, glue and bend the cut tops. We glue these tops to the bottom of the bed. I glued it with a glue gun to be safe. But later I removed the legs from the bed; the children liked the idea of ​​a low bed better. Master-master 🙂

We also make a bedspread and pillows for the bed. Now our Merida has a cozy place to sleep.

Merida is a very hospitable young lady, and she just needs a place where she can have a good time with guests, drinking tea and enjoying cakes. And for this we make chairs and a table.

Here I present a chair pattern that was more difficult for me than the others; I had to tinker before it turned out just right. It is quite long, so I cut out the frames for the chairs from A1 cardboard.

After the base for the chair is cut out, we cover it with fabric. A very important point – when gluing the back, we remove the seams and hide them on the front side, and the seat on the back. We fold our fabric-covered base along the dotted lines and glue it together. As you can see, the front side of the chair back has become the inside.

The last step is to carefully glue the seat itself. We decorate our chairs with contrasting ribbons and fabric.

Now we make the table. I found a cylindrical part from an office chair that had fallen into disrepair, and I decided to use it. But you can make such a part from ordinary cardboard by simply cutting out a rectangle, twisting and gluing it. I covered the blank with white album paper.

We cut out the tabletop from thick cardboard and glue white paper on top. I did this so that the color of the cardboard would not show through under the tablecloth. Using a glue gun, I glued the tabletop to the table leg.

Cut out a tablecloth from the fabric and secure it with ribbon. I glued it in three places and hid these places under napkins in the color of the overall design. This is the table and chairs we got for the dining room.

Let’s decorate our house with flowers. I bought ready-made ones, but you can make them yourself using wire, glue, semolina and paint. For the flowerpots I used corrugated designer cardboard. I cut out rectangles of different heights, rolled them into cylinders and glued them. I inserted the flowers into plasticine and decorated the top with sea pebbles.

I placed the flower arrangement in dried flowerpots and voila! We have three beautiful flower vases.

The children and I made rugs from wool.

I will only show the process in general terms, without going into details, since there are a great many wonderful detailed felting master classes on the Internet.

I made two large rugs, and the children worked on the small ones. A lot of fun for children, so I highly recommend it as one of the options for joint creativity 🙂

Merida has a huge number of outfits that must be stored somewhere. So let’s move on to the closet. For it, I took a cardboard box of suitable size and cut off the two top flaps, leaving only the future doors we needed. I covered the inside with white paper. In general, of course, you can paste it to match the color of the wood, but the children wanted the inside of the cabinet to be white, so they decided on that.

We cut out shelves for the cabinet from thick cardboard, cover them with white paper and attach them with a glue gun.

We make hangers from large paper clips.

I made a beam for hangers from an ordinary cocktail tube. I covered the cabinet with self-adhesive tape in the color of wood and glued foil to the doors, imitating mirrors. Our closet is ready and stocked!

In her free time, Merida loves to enjoy funny cartoons, and we will create a TV for her.

Cut out two identical parts (15×12 cm) from thick cardboard and glue them together. We are preparing three patterns from black self-adhesive; you can use black tape instead of self-adhesive.

First we glue the sides, and then the entire plane of our plasma.

We made the leg from an ordinary cap from a black felt-tip pen. And from two matchboxes the base on which the TV will stand. We first glue this base together, then glue it with paper for reliability, and only then with self-adhesive tape. We attach the leg to the TV and then to the base using a glue gun. So that it stands well and does not fall over, we attach the leg to the base not from the top, but from the back, so that it reaches to the bottom and serves as an additional fixation.

Cut out the picture you like and glue it to our plasma. The TV is ready!

Now let’s take care of the kitchen work surface. I used a box that was the right width and adjusted the height by simply cutting it. The height should be approximately up to the doll’s hips or waist.

We cover the perimeter of the box with white self-adhesive tape, and cover the tabletop with another color that suits us. You can use a yogurt container for the sink. We cut a hole in the tabletop along its perimeter. Place the yogurt container there and glue it.

We cut out soap from an ordinary candle, and a sponge for washing dishes from foam rubber. The cutting board was made of cardboard and covered with self-adhesive in the color of the wood. And the faucet was made from craft wire, simply pushing it through the tabletop and gluing it from the inside. This is the kitchen surface we ended up with.

It was decided that there should be a coffee table next to the sofa. For it we will need a plastic transparent lid for sour cream and an empty jar for soap bubbles. Glue the lid to the jar.

We decorate the table with a piece of leatherette on top, thereby hiding the place where the two main parts are glued together.

Let’s deal with furniture for the roof. First of all, Merida needs a sun lounger to enjoy a pleasant sunbathing. To do this, cut out two parts of the same size (7×27 cm). One is made of thick cardboard, the other is made of regular cardboard for crafts. Bend the thick cardboard along the dotted line. We glue the parts together so that the thin cardboard at the bend does not fit closely to the thick one, thereby fixing the bend of the chaise lounge. I tried to show this clearly in the second photo. We cut off the excess thin cardboard.

Our chaise longue will be made of bamboo, so we take sticks for canapés and cut them into 9 cm long bars. We sand each one well at the cut points with a file or sandpaper, so that in no case will there be any splinters in the future.

We glue each stick one by one to the chaise longue with craft glue or PVA glue. We make the legs from two clothespins, disassembled into parts. The rear legs are halves of clothespins the full length, the front legs are halves of clothespins a third of the length. A cocktail umbrella will decorate the corner of our chaise lounge. And from an ordinary kitchen towel or microfiber rag we cut out a beach towel for our beauty.

The sun lounger is ready, you can sunbathe 🙂

Since there was simply no room left for a bathroom in our house, the children asked to make a jacuzzi on the roof. A large ice cream container is ideal for these purposes. In our family this delicacy is held in special esteem, so without any doubt we purchased a 3-kilogram package. To simulate foam, we use regular box filler. This type is often placed in parcels when delivering fragile goods. You can also take foam balls, but there is a risk that you will have to collect them throughout the apartment. You can also use filler from old damaged toys, for example. You can also pour real water, but I stick to the rule that playing with water can be either in the bathroom or outside.

So, we thoroughly wash our container, dry it and then cover it on all sides with thick cardboard, leaving 1.5 cm of free space at the edges in order to later obtain rounded corners.

After the cardboard is securely glued to the container, we paste it around the entire perimeter with white paper, carefully rounding the corners. Then we apply self-adhesive in a color that suits us. We attach a tap made of craft wire to the corner of the container. To do this, make a small hole in the plastic of the container, insert a wire there and secure it with glue on the back side. We place one red and blue bead on the glue, which will be responsible for hot and cold water. We fill the container with “foam” and our Jacuzzi is completely ready! In it, Merida will be able to splash around with her friends.

It’s time to arrange our furniture and celebrate the housewarming!

Despite the fact that this was our first time doing such a project, we succeeded, which means you can too! Immerse yourself in your imagination, experiment, look for interesting materials and solutions. Such a house is not just a doll attribute, it is something that brings the family together, pleases the eye, and gives happiness to children. The more seriously you take such an experiment, the longer it will serve and delight you and your kids.

The house can be made very expensive and quite budget-friendly. It all depends on the materials that are used in it. You don’t need any special knowledge or skills. The same carpet can not be felted from wool, but sewn from fabric, crocheted, cut from ready-made rugs, and so on. Many aspects can be simplified or, on the contrary, made even more elegant and interesting. The scope for creativity here is incredibly deep and diverse.

If you liked this master class, please click the orange “like” button on the right. I would be very grateful for your support in the competition. This is our first time participating in such an event and we are very excited 🙂

Sincerely yours, Olga Lavro and family.