Amaya's Dollhouse

It was atleast four months before Christmas when Amaya decided she wanted Santa to bring her a dollhouse for the special holiday. More accurately, she wanted a bike and a Barbie Dollhouse, as to what she told her teachers at school during a 'what you want for Christmas...' craft.

Okay, bike...check.
Over the summer she's was loving the bike she liked to ride at my Uncle Johns, so I knew she'd absolutely thrilled with that but I was a little hesitant on the Barbie dollhouse.

I have no problem with Barbie and her ever changing careers, style, and life of luxury but I wasn't keen on the idea of a big plastic pink monstrosity taking over my living room and inevitably breaking into a bunch of plastic pieces. Yes, I let my daughter play with plastic toys and she has a whole room full of loud, obnoxious battery operated, character driven plastic toys but I try when I can to go for wood as much as possible.

So on the search I went for a dollhouse with good 'wood' bones and something that Amaya could grow with throughout the years. To be honest, my search was pretty meh with wooden dollhouses being a tad pricey (Ala PB and such) but then I remembered that one of my favorite IG / mommy bloggers, redid a dollhouse for her daughter and boom, there I went.

This is where I give all the credit to my girl Kozy and Co. (IG: @kozyandco) as this was her complete creative vision and I just recreated the broke gals version of it.

Like Jessica, from Kozy and Co., I wanted a dollhouse that:

- was both aesthetically pleasing to the eye from the front and back

- looked like an actual home from the front as opposed to shelving

- that I could paint to fit the colors of Amaya's room and playroom.

The original design of the house comes with pink siding, with a purple roof and window trim, which was cute but not what I personally liked. The primary design of 'girl toys' are all pink and purple and my house is running abundantly with those so when I saw Jessicas design for her daughter Ella's dollhouse I was inspired. I tried to find a different color of aqua so it wouldn't be a complete knockoff but the girl knows her colors and this paired seamlessly. 

I used:

The Apple Barrel Matte Acrylic paint in the colors:
- Key West (for the siding)
- Jet Black (for the roof)
- Snow White (for the trim)

These are all the .99 cent small containers from Walmart, so when I say I'm a beezy on a budget, I truly mean it.

I used the small and medium sized sponge brushes, also $1.00 for a variety set at Walmart, to paint the siding, roof, and trim...and then went over to do touch ups and fix mess ups with a small fine paintbrush.

What a freaking tedious task that was. At times, I definitely felt like I got in over my head with trying to paint little parts of it everyday after work, but seeing her smile on Christmas morning was all worth it.

When it came to the inside, we really didn't do much yet.

We painted a accent walk in the bathroom but that's about all we got around to renovating. Throughout the year, maybe we'll Mod Podge some wallpaper but Amaya could care less at this point. All in all, this project was more for my vanity than any concerns of her.

The one other thing I loved about this dollhouse was that it also came with all the furniture included. Peppa Pig might be taking up residence at this humble abode until we get some different dolls but I think all her dolls are enjoying their new digs thus far.

I'll call it a success!

And again, I want to thank Jessica from Kozy and Co. (www.kozyandco.com) for sharing her beautiful dollhouse last year and giving me the inspiration to do one for Amaya.