Doll House

HI R.
My Dad made my daughter a doll house book shelf. It's not quite tall enough for barbie size dolls. And I know how badly my daughter is wanting them right now.
Here's a cool house tree house I wish we had.
http://www.uniquewoodentoys.com/cart.php?target=category&...
My friend had one and her 11 yo still played with it too.
A. H

Barbie Size! I bought my daughter a doll house for christmas when she was 3 (not yet into Barbies). Within just a few months, all she wanted to do was play with Barbies and so her following Bday, we made her a Barbie house (book shelf style). I wish I just would've went staight to the big house.

Hi, I would do the normal doll house size. My grandfather built one for my sister and I , Her daughter had it and then it became my daughters ( luckely the age difference fitted perfectly ) Vanessa doesn't use it any more so I have it waiting for my grandchildren, or will ship it to my sister if she wants it. A Barbie house would be too big and not have quite the same meaning, in my opinion.

Happy birthday to her, From J., mom to Mark 16, and Vanessa 10

R.,

Your request brought back so many memories for me! When I was 10 my dad built me a dollhouse, a 3 story victorian with a porch and dormer windows, I loved that thing! I continued to enjoy/play with it well into my teen years.

I would build it regular doll house size, when I was younger I had some small "doll house people" who lived in the house, as I became older I just enjoyed getting new furniture for it, making new curtians, decorating it, etc.

Something to think about is wouldn't a barbie sized doll house would take up a lot of room? Anyway I'm sure its something she will treasure forever. I had 5 boys who were not the least bit interested in it, and it is now on "loan" to a very good friend of my mothers for her granddaughters to enjoy.

Probably the Barbie. My daughter had a Barbie "Hotel". She gave that to her cousin when she was 4, because she was hoping for a house (not hotel) for her 5th birthday. I bought her the Doug and Melissa wooden pink victorian house - cost almost $300. It looks very cute in our family room. She loved it. It didn't come with dolls, so I got the dolls that go with the Loving Family House from Kmart. HOWEVER, after about 2 months, she told me she wished she had a Barbie house instead! If I were you, I would look at the Barbie "My House". You buy each room set separately. I didn't like the structure. But, if your husband is going to build the structure, you can buy the room stuff (toilet, beds, etc) from the My House set (look at Target).

I'd say be practical. What type of dolls does your daughter play with most and also have the potential to play with most for YEARS to come. Also the smaller dolls could also fit into a barbie house, but the barbies won't fit into a smaller one...

We had an old bookshelf that was open on all 4 sides with just spindles for support. It made a great apartment building for barbies, and all the other smallish dolls. We played with them all together, and made our own furniture too!

Good luck!

My hubby made a doll house for christmas last year. (All the kids loved it, even though it was for my oldest daughter!) Although he made it tall and barbies may fit in it, we opted for the "normal" doll house size furniture. They really enjoy it!

my brother made my daughter a barbie doll house that doubles as a book shelf. It is kinda big, but she uses it for her barbies, regular little dolls, polly pockets, little animals, whatever she wants.
I found one simular to it on the internet
http://cgi.ebay.com/White-Yellow-Childrens-6-room-doll-ho...
my daughters is the same height, but a little wider with two more "rooms" and it has doors and windows. It is perfect size for our house, and I don't need a book shelf in addition to it. My daughter loves it and uses it almost everyday...
when I was young, my frind had one too, it was just big enough to fit barbies in, and we played with it ALL THE TIME!!! until we were too "old" to play barbies.

Just my opinion, but I've always thought the Polly Pocket sized dolls were so cute.

S.

Hi R.,

My husband is handy as well, and he built my daughter a doll house that looked just like the Pottery Barn one. It fits the Ryans room furniture and now that she is older, we use it for a cute shelf for pictures, special things and the middle section of the house has the cute canvse bins. It has really grown with her. I just showned him what I wanted out the of catalog and he copied it.
I hopes this helps.

I guess the smart thing would be to ask yourself is she is TOTALLY into Barbies, and loves playing with them already, then it would be smart to build it barbie size. On the other hand, if she isn't that into barbie, go the other route. You just don't want him to put all that effort into it, and have your daughter use it as a book case, or a clothes rack.

My girls have the loving family doll house and love it!! There is alot of options for both dolls and furniture. I would go with the Loving Family.
K.