For a Christmas gift for my two oldest daughters, I'm giving my childhood dollhouse a little makeover.
Did I say little? I mean huge.
It's so much fun and is complete instant gratification because instead of saving up for new stuff in my own house, I can basically remodel a whole "house" for pennies.
I got the dollhouse for Christmas when I was about nine. It was a nineteenth century farmhouse for me, but I wanted something more modern for my girls. I didn't take any pictures before I started, but here are some pictures of my progress so far!
 For the living room walls, I used some fun floral scrapbook paper to wallpaper two walls and painted the third a pale yellow. The "hardwood" floors are made out of laminate flooring samples from Home Depot that I cut into planks and then used spray adhesive to glue into place. |
 I made a fireplace out of a 5x7 picture frame that I cut in half. The cute bike print is from an old wedding invitation. |
The rolltop desk was one of the pieces of furniture that I had as a child--I'm painting it white to update it for my kids. The picture of our little family is from a wedding photobooth a few years ago!
Here is the little kitchen! I used more laminate floor samples to make the tile floor. The counters are from an old dollhouse bookshelf I had as a child that I cut down and painted white. I used beadboard wallpaper for the walls and made a drum light fixture by wrapping scrapbook paper around a paper towel tube trimmed to size.
The exterior of the house is completely transformed! When I got it out of storage, it was painted with white primer, scribbled on all over, and very dingy and dirty. I painted it mustard yellow and drew scallops onto the roof to mimic shingles, I added trim painted in olive green for shutters and around the door. The windowboxes are kitchen cabinet drawer pulls turned upside down. The "glass" in the upstairs windows (that the wreaths are glued to) is just thick plastic packaging that I had around the house and cut to size.
The house is deocrated for Christmas with a Christmas tree, wreaths, and battery-operated star lights strung along the eaves. I can't wait to see their faces on Christmas morning!
So far, I think I've only spent about $10 on this dollhouse. Nearly everything was either free samples or things I had around the house. The upstairs of the dollhouse is still a disaster, but I am not going to do anything to it because I think part of the fun of the gift is working on it together :)
