Part 2: DIY Barbie Remodel Paint Reveal

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Our DIY barbie Mansion Townhouse redo, to be joined with the Victorian Mansion.

I really wanted them to blend and look like one large dollhouse.

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Great weather is wonderful for painting. I quickly taped up everything I didn't want

 painted on our first day of beautifully weather.

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This is the original house at GoodWill in all its magenta/hotpink/lavendar glory, for $7.99.

Since I am the one that has to live with it, between the Grand's visits, 

most of the hot pink/magenta had to go.

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First was gloss white on the magenta shower stall.

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Then the same on the Hot pink flooring on the third floor I sprayed in ivory. Worst part was underneath the ceilings were that dark color making the house very dark.

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The grid ceiling on the top floor, took the ivory spray paint (for plastic also) very well.

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This is the original graphics I didn't paint over on the third floor, even this is the room for the guys. 

You will see later what we did to preserve this.

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The backside exterior has so much detail, eventually we will work on that. I blocked the windows, with paper to preserve the graphics inside. 

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On the second floor, the fireplace has electronic fire and crackling 

noises and got three coats of gloss white. That's what it took to completely cover that hot pink. 

My opinion is pretend play should relate to real life. 

Really, no one would live in an all pink/magenta house, especially Ken dolls. 

A little pink goes a very long way. 

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Heres the completed shower, original floor we left in lavender. The shower magenta floor is original. When someone takes a shower, you get water sounds and singing in the shower while standing on it.

This goes well with the original graphics I kept on the second floor

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We had to paint nothing here, I simply papered and taped it off and the very pretty 

original fixtures. The toilet, makes a flushing sound when you press the button.

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Here is the second floor bedroom next to the bath. The fireplace has two small pink tiles, one is actually the press button to start the fire sounds and the light. 

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Here's a close-up. I have a tiny bit of touch up to do on the lower left. 

But, it is awesome in cottage chic white.

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Vintage Barbie furniture looks great next to the shower wall.

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The fire looks real, almost. Puppy enjoys it.

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I would love to paint the details in the faux book case, but it is really bolted in there, and will have to just stay that way.

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The best is the white ceiling instead of pink. Makes the room bright. 

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This room has become Chelsea's, which is nice because her clothes can be separate from the Barbie's.

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Back down to the bottom floor, you can see the pillars all covered and most of the elevator. 

Excess overspray was easily  cleaned off. The elevator just wasn't able to be completely covered.

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It did clean up very well after the tapes were removed. Like I said, a little pink goes a long way.

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I taped off all the cabinetry/stove/refrig/sink, so here it is all original surrounded in ivory to blend with the Victorian Mansion. Ryan is all ready to serve the crowd for Chelsea's birthday party.

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The large kitchen above is perfect for breakfast and doing laundry. 

I painted over the graphics, waiting to do

wallpaper and accessories here. 

We will retile the floor, I didn't want the hot pink glowing through the white tile contact paper.

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Here you can see the dining room with the tile paper, this will extend to the left.

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The old kitchen in the back, may just become an entertainment bar, with a little tweaking, and some wall paper to tie into the mansion kitchen to the left.

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Next will be the void above the dining room---and a new second floor in the Victorian mansion and removing the existing green/tub-vanity to make room for a closet.

 Lots of dolls have to find room to sleep and store all their clothes.

Thanks always for visiting. 

I will try and respond to every comment and answer every question.

All the opinions and photographs in this blog are my own, I have not been paid or reimbursed in anyway for my opinions, posts or any products shown. Please do not use photos without linking back to this blog without my permission. Thank you for your cooperation, Sandi Magle

I will be sharing at these fine Parties!

Nifty Thrifty Things
Finding Silver Pennies
Amaze Me Mondays
Creative Mondays
Best of the Weekend
Snickerdoodle Party
One More Time
Busy Monday
Metamorphosis Monday
Show and Share
Inspire Me Tuesday
Bernideens TeaTime
Celebrate Your Story
Talk of the Town

Sandi

Part 1: Another DIY Barbie Remodel

First of all, I really am not a crazy obsessive Barbie or Mattel collector. 

I'm a Grandma, who likes to play pretend 

with my granddaughter and a few other little girls. 

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Here is the Barbie Victorian house we have been using, that is a bit cramped for all the dolls and activities we have been doing.

My son texted me this from the local GoodWill. I had been whining that I was having a hard time finding a 'toilet' for the Victorian house, expensive, or only available with pieces I didn't need.

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My son texted me this from the local GoodWill. He said, "This one, everything works and has a full bathroom, the toilet flushes and has sound-it's $7.99, do you have room for it."

OF COURSE WE DO!

Without the furniture it was a steal, at $7.99. Everything functions, the elevator, a doorbell, a singing barbie/water sound in the shower, flushing toilet, roaring fire in the lighted fireplace, a timer in the kitchen the tick-ticks and rings, and two slots for lighted chandeliers 

which I can order from Mattel at $3.00 each. 

Only drawback was the color scheme of magenta, purple, and that horrid pink.

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Here is the Victorian Barbie house from the same GoodWill, I paid $4.99. 

We have been playing with this one,  but really isn't big enough

 for the 'family' (12) of dolls that are involved in our pretend games, or their wardrobes, 

accessories and pets, which has now grown to two dogs, and a cat. 

The boy dolls had been banished to two shelves on a printer stand, with the dolls wardrobes on top.

Almost everything used in the house is vintage, except a kitchen, a bunkbed set, and a tea cart. Everything else was purchased at thrift stores, online- or garage sales, super cheap. 

The rest is hand-made or 'pretend'. Double bunkbeds will be hand-made. 

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So, last weekend we had one gorgeous day---

almost 60 degrees, (in January in Chicagoland???) sun, and very little wind. 

Regardless of what else I had planned, I grabbed the opportunity to paint!

TIPS FOR PAINTING Barbie PLASTIC.

1* First I scrubbed the entire mansion down with degreasing kitchen cleaner--with attention to detail.       I used que-tips to get into all the tight places and inside the appliances.

2* Then I wiped ALL down with alcohol, very quickly and---wear gloves for this. 

3*  I spent 3 hours taping up the pillars, electrical connections, the lavender second floor, the clear shower door and the pink shower floor(where the switch mechanism worked by the doll standing on the tile for the sound, the toilet and bedroom/bathroom walls, fireplace small facing bricks(one-is the switch to turn the fireplace on) the sliding up and down large screen tv, and the kitchen appliances. (It has a very nice sink, dishwasher, stove, oven and refrigerator (refrigerator and dishwasher were things on the search-for list.

4* I sprayed light coats with sweeping motions ending past the surface you are painting-this way you aren't double spraying when you move back over a surface, starting with the ceilings first from every possible angle. Wait 10-15 min between coats on a dry day. We had warm sunshine and a very slight breeze.

5* After 3 hours I removed maskings or covered areas, where I could. Then, allow paint to cure for 12-24 hours depending on humidity. Touch up by spraying paint onto a non-porous surface and applying with a brush or que-tip. (still have do this), but I know this works from past projects.

Investment- 2 cans of ivory spray paint at $3.87 each, 1 roll of blue painter's tape- I used maybe $1.00 worth.

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The plan is to have this house slide up next to the other one. Sort of an inner city 

add on--mansion. 

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So 1/2 can of white gloss on the pink bathroom shower.

Hard to see, but the rafters were all HOT pink, the colors of the floor above. 

Not my favorite color, and certainly not realistic, plus it gave everything a hideous pink glow.

So ivory spray paint on the ceilings. The graphics on the walls are kinda cute, so I covered them all with paper to preserve the graphics.

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Here is the fireplace/TV above taped off. The Pink glow---is really mostly from the ceiling. But a second coat of white completely covered it.

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Here the is a shot of the downstairs floor and how well the ivory paint covered. LOVE the spray paints for plastic, as Barbie would say---Totally awesome! I use satin, though it doesn't look like it, the satins have a tight finish.

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The back side has lots of detail which we will eventually get addressed,

 but for now it is no longer magenta and blends with the Victorian Barbie house.

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The elevator was too hard to cover, though I blue taped the pillars and the guide rails.. I was afraid of running out of sun and warmth outside, so the elevator got dusted with some spray. This I removed with que-tips dipped in alcohol. 

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The elevator really works well and the grand can operate it. The crank elevator in the old house works, but is difficult for a child to use, so we will be placing a bunk bed right over the elevator space  on the second floor!

On the first floor a rug will cover that space. 

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The Barbie family can't wait to move into the remodeled digs, but as it is a project remodel, ya just have to live 'in' the mess.

We are planning on gutting that green bathroom and making a walk-in closet, and adding a 'hot pink' tub to the new bathroom in the Dream house. 

Maybe the green tub can become a hot-tub in the yard, 

Another project will be new floors for the second floor in the Victorian house, 

and the new first floor dining room

 and two new double bunkbeds! 

Lots to do, stay tuned for the painting reveal.

Thanks always for visiting. 

I will try and respond to every comment and answer every question.

All the opinions and photographs in this blog are my own, I have not been paid or reimbursed in anyway for my opinions, posts or any products shown. Please do not use photos without linking back to this blog without my permission. Thank you for your cooperation, Sandi Magle

I will be sharing at these fine Parties!

Nifty Thrifty Sunday
Finding Silver Pennies
Amaze Me Mondays
 Creative Mondays
Best of the Weekend
Snickerdoodle Party
One More Time
Metamorphosis Monday

Sandi

Canning Tomato Sauce in January?

Last Summer in the middle of our Farmhouse Kitchen REDO---or gut and start over, our garden was bursting with big gorgeous tomatoes. Every few days we picked these giants and put them in plastic bags and threw them in the freezer. 

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Our GREEN garden produced tons of tomatoes. Now in January I still had enough for a huge kettle of red tomatoes. 

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And a half-kettle of (Jubilee and Amanda) yellows. I just simmered them down, skins, blemishes and stems 

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Here are the 14 empty gallon bags, lol.

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Our reds were Beefsteaks and BigBoys. Of course then you simmer and simmer and simmer.

 I skimmed the foam off the top every 1/2 hour or so. 

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Yellow tomatoes have a sweeter flavor, they are delicious. 

I decided to try an herb sauce recipe, which I tweaked to our tastes.

Here the yellows have broken all down, this process took a few hours on low. Both kettles were cooled and put outside in 40ish degree weather overnight to cool.

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Next morning we put them through our NEW hand crank food mill. If I have cored and skinned tomatoes, I would throw them in the chopper and let it go at that, but the cranking food mill removes seeds and anything else not soft and edible.

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You can see the pulp mash in the bowl on the right. Too bad we don't have piggies in the backyard, they would be very happy to have that treat. Instead the scraps are going into our compost bin =a GREEN thing to do!

Now the juice and and pulp from the tomatoes needs to simmer. 

After bringing to a boil and skimming again,  I added

 all the chopped vegetables and seasonings. 

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The steamy aroma, got in the way of the pictures. Tomatoes and vegetables have natural pectins in them, so after simmering for another 2-3 hours.

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Cook until the sauce gets this wonderful consistency. 

These recipes are all natural and chemical free and can be made mild enough for children. 

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Filling jars is easier with two people. My job is too apply the boiled lids to the wiped off jars, while hubby's job is filling the hot sterile jars with the boiling sauce. 

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The old 16 quart canner holds the 14 pints in a rack. You can use any pot that you can keep the jars off the bottom with a metal trivet or shelf. Canners show up all the time in thrift stores, make sure

they have the handle rack though. 

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Processing time for this recipe was 35-45 minutes in covering boiling water.

Consult a Ball or Mason website for proper canning procedures.

I processed in two batches. One each sauce rather than stacking the jars.

I want to make sure every jar is surrounded by boiling water.

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My 14 bags of tomatoes yielded 14 pints of Red Tomato Pasta Sauce,

 and 11 pints of Yellow Tomato Herb Sauce-(because of all the added vegetables).

We used some of the Yellow Herb Sauce for supper last night. Adding freezer meatballs to the sauce on spaghetti. We had just enough left that didn't fill a jar. Delicious!

 The Red Pasta Sauce is my standard recipe with the addition of the red wine and red wine vinegar. 

I buy jars out of season on sale, same with fresh lids. Lids can't be reused, 

while rings can if they are not rusted.

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Special tools which make canning easier. 

Really, the food mill is great, 

but you can skin and core everything and just throw in a chopper. 

With frozen tomatoes, that is a mess as the tomatoes mush up as they thaw.

 The plastic funnel tries to keep hubby neat and the sauce in the jars.

The green wand is a magnet for fishing lids out of boiling water and saves fingers.

The rubber jar handle thing---is  the newest version and is worth the money. 

The old design came apart to lie flat for storage...and was a pain. And the rubberized

grips are super for wet slippery jars.

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 Satisfaction---when I label and date my jars.  

Here are my recipes for the sauces in small batches. 

Great sauce takes all day---if you can't baby-sit it, use a crock pot.

I have thrown double the ingredients together on high 

and then put on medium for the whole day, with success.

I have an 8 quart crock pot which is perfect for making 12 pints or so. 

These recipes can be used for CANNING OR FREEZING!

Red Tomato Pasta Sauce    makes 7-8 pints 

2 quarts of cored/skinned tomatoes (Or 2-1/2 quarts of milled cooked tomatoes.

Simmer and skim off foam until little foam appears

Add

2 large chopped onions (1 to 1-1/2 cups)

1 cup of chopped green, yellow, and or red sweet peppers

4-6 cloves of minced garlic or 1tsp of dried garlic powder

1/2 cup of chopped fresh basil Or 2 Tbsp of dried basil

1/4 cup of chopped fresh oregano or 1 Tbsp of dried oregano

3 Tbsp of red chili powder (not hot)

1/2 tsp ground pepper

2 tsp canning salt (or salt without iodine-which deteriorates color)

Simmer until sauce thickens. 

Add

(my old recipe calls for 2 Tbsp of sugar, but the tomatoes were on the sweet side) 

1/2 cup of chopped fresh parsley

1/2 cup of red wine (I used merlot)

1/4 cup of red wine vinegar (for acidity) if you are canning

I added lemon juice to my pint jars and processed them in the water bath for at least 35 minutes, this adds acid and naturally retains color.

Consult the Ball or Mason websites for proper canning directions. Non-acidic recipes should be pressure canned instead of water-bath canned. 

Yellow Tomato Herb Sauce  makes 5-6 pints

4 quarts of skinned/cored yellow tomatoes

cook down skimming off foam and tomatoes are soft. Mill if desired. 

Add

4-6 garlic cloves minced or 2-3 tsp of garlic powder

2 stalks of chopped celery

2 large carrots finely chopped

1 large onion finely chopped

3/4 cup of finely chopped assorted sweet peppers

2 bay leaves

1 Tbsp canning salt

2 tsp dried oregano or 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil or more

2 tsp dried basil or 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil or more

1 tsp sugar (I skipped this) 

1/4 tsp ground pepper

1/2 tsp. of red pepper flakes crushed (optional)

1/4 cup or more of chopped fresh parsley 

2/3 cup of white wine (optional)

1/2 cup of white wine vinegar

1 tsp lemon juice for each jar 

Simmer all this down until sauce is the thickness desired.

Discard bay leaves and serve or can following directions for water bath canning.

Should make 5-6 pints. 

Consult the Ball or Mason canning websites for directions in processing your foods properly.

I water-bathed processed these pints for 35 min. 

Flavorful and delicious---and excellent for a variety of meats or beans and pasta. 

No preservatives or chemicals.  

Thanks always for visiting. 

I will try and respond to every comment and answer every question.

All the opinions and photographs in this blog are my own, I have not been paid or reimbursed in anyway for my opinions, posts or any products shown. Please do not use photos without linking back to this blog without my permission. Thank you for your cooperation, Sandi Magle

I will be sharing at these fine Parties!

Share Your Cup Thursday

Grammy's Grid

Sandi