Wood Barbie Dollhouse

Hello everyone,
for my first article, I will introduce the making of a Barbie doll house for the 4th birthday of our daughter Colyne.

Sorry for my English, but I use a translator (I'm French)


Why ?
For christmas, we offered him a plastic and cardboard dollhouse.
Very disappointed with the quality and realism, I decided to make one myself. I will detail you the building.

Support :
1 hour video ! https://youtu.be/3ycFUePPHiA

(the subtitles are available in the video with translation))

Note :
The house is not finished, I have to finish electricity and create furniture and decoration pieces. Other videos coming ...

Characteristics :
- 8 rooms on 2 levels
- Appearance red bricks and tiles (classical in the North of France)
- Opens in 2 parts and moves easily thanks to wheels
- Opening windows and doors
- Lighting provided in all rooms (LED + Arduino )
- Scale : 1/6 - Dimensions: 80 x 50 cm and total height 104 cms
- Weight: approximately 34 kg
- Main: MDF ( Medium)

Tools :
- Circular saw
- Table saw
- Jigsaw
- Drill
- Screwdriver
- Compact crosscut saw
- Router
- Glue gun
- Hand tools (hammer, files, saw, screwdriver, cutter, pliers, chisels ...)

Step 1: The Walls and the Structure

The house is built with MDF 6 and 10 mm. The schematic is available in the PDF.

The wood panels are cut with a circular saw

Step 2: Door Handle

I created reals mini door handles using a PVC angle "U", an aluminum tube, a threaded rod, nuts and a spring.

Schematic available in PDF.

Step 3: Windows, Door and Bay Window

For windows I used wooden sticks that I dug to be able to embed the glass (polycarbonate).
They are then mounted with hinges.

The bay glass slides in a U aluminum rail.

The entrance door gets 2 windows and the same handle as interior doors.

Step 4: Stairs

The central stringer stairs is made with MDF drops from 6 mm

Step 5: Assembly

The elements are glued and screwed together and casters are installed to facilitate movement.

Step 6: Roof

The roof structure is made from a wood pallet.

Step 7: Decoration

For decoration I recovered pieces of wallpaper and floor coating (laminate and vinyl).

Step 8: Shower

The shower is covered with mosaic and I added a glass shower wall.

Step 9: Chimney

The chimney is constructed from 6mm MDF (Plan in PDF)

Step 10: Vinyl Collage

The exterior is covered with self-adhesive paper (vinyl) imitating bricks and tiles.

I found a brick texture on Internet, I made repeatable (Software: GIMP), I repeated the pattern on the desired surface, I then sent the files to a print worker that creates vinyls.

Step 11: Finish

The main door is installed and sides of the house are connected with hinges

Here, the next step will be the creation of furniture (kitchen, beds ...)

Comments

[MagicManu]

Instructions to create toilet are available !

https://www.instructables.com/id/Making-Toilet-for-Barbie-Dollhouse/

[jaydeechick]

Awesome Instructable.
You are making parent everywhere look bad. I wish I had the time and skill to do this.

[MagicManu]

LOL thanks :)

[Meatlove]

My wife told me if I would run out of inspiration to build a similar house for my two kids.
This one is amazing! Full of inspiration. So if I would ever have too much time on my hands...

[MagicManu]

Thank you ! It is possible to make easier, because I spent 81 hours working on this house.

[Meatlove]

That's some dedication!
If i would build my kids one, it will be a lot smaller since my house isn't big enough for this beauty.
Who knows. :)

[MagicManu]

Oops, I've updated the plan, it was not the correct version, missing doll handlen, windows, chimney...

[WantToKnow]

Bravo! Magnifique! Very well done.

You have had quite some ideas to pre ut realism into this house. I like especially the door handles. You are a maker.

[MagicManu]

Thank you for the compliments, it's nice :)

[Riffifi]

ok, tu es officiellement candidat au titre de papa de l'année!!

c'est le genre de cadeau que tes filles auront plaisir à léguer à leurs propres enfants plus tard...
hallucinant tout ce travail (des poignées de portes qui fonctionnent, bon sang!!), même en ayant les outils adéquats tout le monde n'obtiendrait pas un résultat aussi nickel.

en voyant le look externe je me suis dit "tiens, ça me rappelle ma région"... je pouvais pas tomber plus juste! :D

tu comptes mettre à jour ce tutoriel quand tu auras achevé les meubles?

[MagicManu]

Merci pour ton commentaire, c'est gentil ?
L'idée c'est vraiment de construire en dur pour que ça tienne dans le temps donc je n'utilise pas de carton par exemple.
C'est sûr que ça m'a pris du temps ces poignées, surtout qu'on ne le voit pas sur la vidéo mais j'ai fait les 6 poignées 3 fois ! Car je n'étais pas satisfait du résultat...

Oui je vais créer d'autres vidéos pour le reste. Là j'ai presque terminé la cuisine équipée et les WC.

Tu es du Nord aussi ?

[Riffifi]

je suis originaire du bassin de la Sambre, expatrié en Finistère ;)
heureusement niveau pluviométrie je suis pas trop dépaysé :D
bonne continuation pour le reste de la maison!

[RamblinLane]

what is the tool you are using in the first picture under Assembly?

[MagicManu]

It's a Dremel DSM20 (Europe ref), a handy tool !

https://www.dremel.com/en-us/Tools/Pages/ToolDetail.aspx?pid=SM20

[RamblinLane]

wow. very nice. well done

[MagicManu]

Tthanks ;)