House Make Over

This is a long one, so settle in, y'all.

This is the doll house my sister brought me that has thrown my doll corner into chaos.  Fun chaos, but chaos nonetheless.  She picked it up at a yard sale for the use of "one of" the couples talking marriage in Barbieville.  Of course, it's used, but still in very good condition.

Research Whore tells me that it's a Kacy's Department Store by a company called Fortune East.  This picture is from the Internet and shows the product new.  As you can see, the staircase is missing from mine.  No problem - the Pikes have an invisible stairway hall and so can these folks.

To make for easier renovations, it had to come (at least mostly) apart.  Sorted the screws into bowls for later ease of assembly.  I love those silver pillars!  Gonna start with the first floor and rebuild the house as I work.  

I left the side walls on rather than unscrew the eight million screws involved there.  This bit is the first and second floors.

When I saw the food market, my first thought was Pike's store, but later experimentation convinced me that simply wasn't practical.  The water stains along the bottom edge helped me in the decision to make this floor all one room.

Why all one room?  Because Kacy's had the shoe department right beside the food.  Even if I was gonna make this be Pike's workplace, they are a grocery.  No shoe department.

Covered the floor with adhesive shelf liner and the walls with wrapping paper.  Did I mention I love the pillars?   This will probably be the living room. 

The second floor has a bite taken out of it!  Just kidding, it's the space for the missing staircase.  Also, it needs covered.  

A few layers of cardboard cut to fit and a "linoleum" floor will have it ready to play.  Should even stand up to the weekly catastrophe that is The Boy.

WOW!  My choice of wallpaper here is... um... bold.  It was the closest I could get to matching the printed-on coffee shop.  I wanted to keep that while covering the clothing department.  I hope some kitchen appliances will reduce the impact of the stripes.  The coffee shop will be a fun mural in the dining room.  And those pillars!

Third floor will need two types of flooring because one bit is a balcony.

The little bit of faux marble from Sunburst's tables fit almost perfectly.  

Different kind of marble for this floor.  Somebody's fancy.

I like all this except for the couch.  I hate printed on furniture.

Same for this couch and end tables.  Love the polka dot walls, though.  

This wall, with the balcony door, is perfect as it is. 

Used the same marble as the floor and gave the room a wainscot/ledge for the lamps and bowl of fruit to sit on.  The description at Fortune East's website called it the penthouse.   So Kacy lived above the store and had a Warhol-esque portrait of him/herself?  I'll invent an in-universe reason for the artwork.

Here it is!  All rebuilt and ready to play!  

On the inside, anyway.

Most of the exterior will be against a shelf and the side of the entertainment center.  Gotta do something about the parts I can see.  And you never know - the new residents might like to hang out on the roof.

The roofers were here.  Good to go.

A little bit of water damage and the store sign on the side that will be visible need to be covered.  Bummer, though.  I do like that door.

This home features kitchen linoleum, shingles, and siding that match.  I hope to add some shrubs or something eventually, just to add some color.

I'm a Stephen King fan, so I had to give it this address.

The former Frito-Lay display was no longer needed after I reorganized the doll corner.  The base became a full size bed.   A long daybed - roughly 15 inches or 7.5 feet in Barbie scale.  It'll replace the red bed in the Pike boys' room because their room is huge.  

Two of the other shelves, combined for strength and cut to size, also became a day bed.  It's a single and not as long because I made it to fit in the new house.  I knew that insane sports wrapping paper would be good for something.

Used photo frame mats and one of my backdrop pictures to make a window in the living room.

And in the kitchen. Combined with a section of my Unassembled Dollhouse, this will make a cozy little home of three bedrooms and two baths.  I wish some giant would build me one of those.