Apologies for sideways photos. I keep forgetting to rotate on the computer before uploading here. I've forgotten how to do it here, if I ever did know.
I came across this while idly browsing through Amazon. It's the Color and Play House, it was on sale for less than 90 bucks, so I snatched it up. In fact, I snatched two because I know my dolls are gonna need more than five rooms! They live in large family groups!
I was confused by the listing. Some of the wording contradicted the pictures and the video. But hey, for that price, I'll take my chances. Decent Barbie-size houses at a reasonable price are few and far between. (Decent by my definition. Your mileage may vary.)
Rainbow High is one of those doll lines that has giant heads and eyes but really cool stuff.
This is what it looks like freshly assembled. The ad calls the exterior a "blank slate" for kids to draw and color on, with the included washable markers. This is the main thing that confused me. I expected a totally white exterior!
That said, this is might be the most aesthetically pleasing dollhouse exterior I've ever seen. I can pretend this is trompe l'oeil artwork! Most dollhouses, if they bother with exterior decoration, look pretty dang cartoonish.
Here's the other view. Each room is partially colored in just like the outside. I rather like it, just as it is, and was relieved to see renovations would be minimal. For that price I was willing to trot out my craft supplies. But it turns out only the first floor needed work.
(Cropped from an online picture because I accidentally deleted mine)
This is the majority of the "living room" wall. A huge television mounted on the back wall. And those faces. I've seen too many horror flicks to allow faces emerging from the wall! Giving me the creeps.
Top floor is meant to be the bedroom.
There is more trompe l'oeil artwork throughout the inside the house.
Oh, and a deck.
Second floor is meant to be a kitchen and dining area.
Contact paper in the living room area. No emerging faces or giant always-on TVs allowed!
I put the wall between living room and bath in backwards. No wonder it was so hard to screw together! I left this side of the diving wall alone because the horse picture takes up most of it and no faces were emerging. That horse looks like he's made of crystal! Since the walls here were already mismatched, I covered the back wall with another contact paper.
Shaping the wallpaper around that fake plant was a nightmare. This wall will be totally covered in the second house. I doubt either of them will be a bathroom. I dislike dollhouse bathrooms - why's everyone so determined to make Barbie poop?
I do have a folding-house bathroom and toilets in two of the campers if I someone insists.
Bad shot of the crystal horse painting.
This does come with furniture and stuff, but y'all gotta wait til I'm moving the dolls in to see that. My plan is to have them side-by-side. First floor will be living, dining, kitchen, and library. Second and third will be bedrooms and/or a playroom. One deck will be just that.
The other will be walled on both sides so might be turned into another room. We shall see.
