Elena’s Officially Forever Dollhouse

Description

I have always loved dollhouses and enjoyed playing in my Barbie house when I was a little girl.  Now that I have a little girl of my own, I wanted to create a dollhouse that she could keep forever.  I started small with the IKEA Flisat dollhouse two years ago when she was two and half years old and put it in her playroom.  It was a great little starter house!  The adorable Calico Critter Tuxedo Cat family moved in and hours of play were had.  While the IKEA house was great, I had my sights set on a dollhouse that was front opening, had windows, and one you could close the mess away.  The Plan Toys Victorian Dollhouse was at the top of my list and boy is it AMAZING!  I was waitlisted on Wayfair for it and it finally came up available (and on sale!) so I pulled the trigger and purchased it.  This house is much bigger than the IKEA, so of course some redecorating and new furniture purchases had to happen, right? (wink, wink)

The Plan Toys house comes in a natural wood with a clear coat sealant.  While I like that look, I knew I would want it to match her updated playhouse with a white exterior and pink door.  I got to work sanding, priming, sanding, painting, sanding, painting...I think you get the process.  It was definitely more labor intensive than I originally thought, and if I had to do it all over again I would buy an at home paint sprayer and save myself some time and mess.  But in the end it was so worth it!  The layout and space of this dollhouse was bigger, which meant I could add a bathroom, create a bigger kids space, and reconfigure the kitchen.  I got to work searching my favorite miniature stores for the Tuxedo Cat family's new furniture.  Buying in miniature is so much fun, and way cheaper than redecorating your actual home.  I ran to Michaels Crafts in search of "wall paper" and found the cutest scrap book paper.  I applied the "wall paper" with a glue stick to the kitchen, bathroom, kids space, and living room.  I still have some finishing items I would like to add like light fixtures, a bathroom rug and change out some pillows, but I am loving how it has turned out.

I determined that the perfect place to put Elena's new dollhouse was in her newly updated Officially Forever Big Girl bedroom.  Since my blog post about Elena's bedroom, I have received many questions about the dollhouse.  I decided to create it's own special blog post and give it the attention it deserves!  We have lots of fun using our imaginations and playing in the new dollhouse, it has been a great way to spend time together.