Anyone that grew up in the ‘60s knows Barbie.
I think I learned my ‘interior design’ from playing with them because my family wouldn’t buy me the Barbie Dreamhouse and accessories, I transformed my Mom’s old glass door china cabinet into my version of a Barbie House complete with the garage at the bottom. I couldn’t afford her Car so I cut up an old orange plastic doll car to turn it into her convertible.
I made a kitchen and living room on the next shelf where I used some off-scale doll furniture but I hand-made the kitchen cabinets and used clippings from an old Eaton’s and Sears catalogue for artwork, lighting etc.
I used the top shelf for her bedroom with a “custom-designed – kleenex box‘ bed and crochet bedspread. I even designed an ‘elevator’ out of a milk carton to take her from the garage to the rest of the floors. Apparently, I believed in an “Age in Place” home with an elevator even then!
I had the vintage Barbie and Midge, the Living Barbie, Midge, and the original Skipper. I wasn’t crazy about the ‘Ken’ doll so I used the GI Joe doll as her boyfriend. Man, I wish I had taken pictures of it but it lives fondly in my mind and I still have the cabinet in my office only now it holds my craft fulfillment centre.
The upcoming Barbie Dreamhouse movie behind the scenes makes me love artists, creators, interior designers and movie makers even more.
Well done!
Cheers to the awesome set designers for this movie – takes me back to my childhood!
Jan Addams
(Designer, Author, Treasure Hunter)
Glowing Older & Shining Brighter
Comments are closed