Barbie Dollhouse

by Dana on June 22, 2015

My 8 year old daughter was “dying” for a Barbie house. She has had two different ones over the years, but they were not great quality and didn’t last long. I decided to make a sturdy wooden Barbie house that we can keep and hopefully pass on to other kids in our family.

By: Dana

Cost: $50 approx.

Supplies:

1 x 12 x 96” whiteboard wood (x 2-3) – could use a less deep pine board (like a 10”) depending on how deep you want house. The 12” depth really measures 11 1/4” deep. (Each board was $15).
wooden print contact shelf liner paper – $5.97
Adhesive tile floor (3 sheets) $5 each
primer, paint, Pro-bond glue
nail gun, 5/8” and 1 1/4” brad nails, safety goggles
saw for cutting
clear silicone (for sealing gaps and edges to secure paper and tiles)
picture frame, print out of a fire place
kreg jig plus screws
1/4 round or decorative trim and no more nails for crown moulding
double-sided tape

Steps:

Cut 3 floor pieces (for each level) at 32” and cut the house sides at 33” with 30 degree angles on the top (for where the roof will attach).

Floor and side pieces

2. Drill three kreg jig holes on each end of all three horizontal pieces (the floors).

Kreg Jig and drill

Floor pieces with drilled holes

3. Attach with screws and pro-bond glue, making sure the bottom (base) and two floors are square to the sides of the house. Space the middle floor at 15.5” from bottom and upper floor at 30.5” from bottom.

Sides and bottom connected, second and third floor installed

4. Cut Roof pieces – 26” and 25 3/4” – glue and join into a perfect right angle using linger nails (could use regular nails and hammer to join if you don’t have gun).

Joined roof

5. Prime and paint the base of the house.

6. Once the roof is dry, prime and attach to house using more glue and nails (this is easier to do before attaching the back). Paint the house rooms according to Barbie’s wishes…

7. Install “wooden floors” and tile floors – cut to desired measurements of the rooms and install **I brushed on glue and stuck down, and places heavy books to ensure it dried flat.

Wood and tile flooring

Installing floors

8. Cut hardboard panels to the dimensions of each floor, and attach with glue and 5/8” nails. I measured from the back, and had the backing meet up to half the width of the floor board, so that I had room to have the second back panel attach and have room to nail into the floor running horizontally along the back.

you can cut this board with a sharp exacto knife and a long ruler or level. Keep running blade along cut line until it’s about halfway through, then quickly snap board along the cut line and it should break clean.

Attach backing

9. Take a wooden picture frame (Ikea $3) and cut to desired height of a fireplace. Tape a picture of a burning fire in behind the fireplace and secure to wall using glue or double-sided tape.

Fireplace frame

10. I installed a quarter round “crown moulding” to fancy up the house. Cut to room measurements and attach using No More Nails glue (after painting white).

Moulding