Big Project For Me - reconditioning a used and abused A frame

After reno

during

taking inventory

I made a seperate post about discoloration since there is so much to cover on the subject of obtaining and reconditioning a house. This one (at the time) had been bathed, spray painted and was awaiting spare parts. No cracks or splits, only one window missing. The catch for my great price of $29 plus shipping was that none of the many glass doors were there. The plants were in good shape though. In order, the picture is the after (with house #2's spare parts added) , the during, and just after clean and paint.

How houses usually arrive in the mail. 

1978 Mattel A Frame Barbie Dream Doll House Red roof yellow floors mod groovy 1970s 1980s custom OOAK 

Harvest Gold 1978 : Further Ramblings On About My Appliance Fetish

I originally bought the 1978 stove and fridge together on ebay as a lot for less than $20. It included the color brochure for the '78 Dreamhouse and furniture line so was an exceptional deal. It just goes to show you that it is helpful to buy lots of random stuff because there is often unkown treasures included. I bought 3 more stoves and 2 more fridges in order to upgrade to a mint set which usually involves buying 4 of something and swapping out parts. I have nearly a complete set now with just a few tiny pieces missing, but I do love a challenge. For one fridge I renovated, there was no orange stickers left on the door handles so I used espresso wood contact paper and filled in the recessed part and it looked actually better than original and the buyer was perfectly happy with it. (see 'bloggers own house' post) Another random bag of food I bought had a flat yellow square I didnt know what it was until I realized it was the bottom shelf of the fridge I needed. The cookware eventually came in red, white, pink, and blue in addition to the original light and dark orange. The fridge right side door top hinge is almost always broken off, i cut off a que tip and stuck it in with a little glue and it works perfectly now- 2 minute solution. I bought another oven and fridge, and made up one minty complete set, and a second not so great set. The lesser set helped me get top dollar for the lesser A frame i sold. Interestingly, the oven in thsi picture had noticabley darker orange doors, so not all ovens are created equal. I cant get enough of the clear orange! Love it love it love it. I am not sure what the shiny sticker is supposed to be on the back, maybe stainless steel? We had a side by side but it was avocado, my mom's kitchen aid was harvest gold though. Check out this italian MIB example... http://www.flickr.com/photos/30317431@N08/3905806867/in/set-72157622032896796/ COLLECTOR TIP: For those bent/warped oven doors you can bring a pot of water to a rolling boil, using tongs submerge oven door in water for about 1 minute till slightly soft, bend flat again (quickly) and reattach to oven. Repeat if necessary. For broekn upper door tabs, a small wad of gum or putty in the joint works terrific.

Complete, minty, shiny set of orange/red cookware. I still dont have the orange spoon, or a scratch free pots and pan set. I do sort of prefer the clear orange cookware circa 2001. 

Lighter orange without the flash. 

Darker orange, with the flash on. 

The fact is that the orange pot/pan incarnation was molded in reverse colors. You can see there is a random dark orange pot amongst the mix, the kettles are reverse colors, the utensils are in different shades of orange and the cookie pan is also in reverse colors. We know already the pink line most certainly reversed the colors and there was also a purple and blue incarnation before they completely reinvented the Barbie kitchen cookware line in the 90's. A Chinese company has copied the design in all pink with dishes and crystal glassware for $5 including shipping, quite a bargain! 

Rarest color issue: purple. 

The redder of the reverse orange set. 

Orange set on top, red set on bottom. 

Better shot of redish colored bottoms and orange lids. 

Nicely made, great alternative to Mattel appliances. 

I really like the shiny chrome and attention to detail. 

Here is the likely real life inspiration behind the orange pot set:

Turns out the refridgerator fridge was issued new until 1989 somewhere in the world, in this Brazilian ad you can see it:

Would love to see it reisued in todays colors, maybe with reflective stickers for the front for that 'stainless steel' look.

Spa time: The 1977 Bathroom Furniture & Accessories

I love that Mattel thought of this. I would have preferred it to have a sink as well, even if it meant sacrificing the chest and towel rack. We had a squared off seventies toilet but it was teal. I dont own this set yet, but isnt there a 'flushing' mechanism or sound feature? I would have loved a lower profile tub, like they made a lower profile bed since it takes up a lot of space, but its passable in my book. It probably emulated the jetted 'jacuzzi' style tubs that were begining to come out then in homes. The pink toilet came out first, then the plumb one in '82. The towel rack also changed from yellow to white. It seems the plumb boxes were the precursor to the 'pink box era'. I still dont know why they chose pale pink for the bathroom set rather than white, maybe because so much of the house was white already. These generally go for the same price as the living, dining and bedroom sets and the boxes are not uncommon.

Factory fresh toilet:

Now in blue: 

Finishing Touches Accesory packs for 1978 Barbie Dreamhouse

I dont think many people bought these. I am not crazy about them. It has alot of pink on the packaging, another thing I think is best left in the eighties. Its best redeeming quality is that it is associated with the A frame smallhouse for Barbie. I think it was Mattel's way of saying, Okay you rich folk who spent over $100 on the house itself, plus dolls, clothes, accesories, etc, here is one more way we are trying to squeeze you for a few extra bucks. I think they go for about $6 bucks on ebay now. Notice the food paper cut outs.

Living Room Furniture with Green Desk for Barbie A frame Dollhouse

Here is a nice example of the Barbie A frame dollhouse living room furniture. I love the green, not so crazy about the peppermint candy stripes, but the green contrasts nicely with the house colors and makes sure you remember what decade it is. I dont love that the chair and couch resemble bean bag chairs, I prefer more crisp mid century shapes, but it is what it is. You very rarely find the box for this. If I had the TV i would change the chanel though, no offense B! I recently puchased a vintage yellow dish set and it included the vases/pitcher and cups seen here. I am still hunting for a complete desk set. The living room set came in combinations of green and orange, the German version is yellow with a brown, yellow and white fabric pattern (see variations from across the pond). ANd naturally was regruged as Pepto Abismal Pink for the 1985 re-issue of the orange, yellow and white A Frame.

How rare is that for it so have its original packaging still? Let's hope the buyer doesn't get too excited and remove the plastic parts trees and set it up. 

I am guessing this is a German issued set. Love the lamp and plant, not sure why these parts didn't make it to America. 

It is still possible to find 'never removed from factory packaging boxes online with accessories still on the plastic mold trees:

How Now Brown House? A Little Bit about Fading

This is what happens when the Barbie A frame is left in the attic for 25 years or direct sunlight। Everything turns a creamy brown-the yellow, the white and the orange. BROWN BROWN BROWN-bad bad bad. I brightened my Strawberry Shortcake Gazebo with soft scrub with bleach, but that didnt work on my A frame. You have to bath it (and yes it left a ring around my tub, ew!), clean and dry it really good with toothbrush and q tips, then spray paint it. I used a high quality Krylon all in one safe for plastic white spray paint. I have used primer and clear coat on past projects with disastrous results. something with how the different chemical layers react to each other leaving bubbling and crackling. The A frame I painted came out great, a bit powdery and not factory smooth but it went from brown/beige to bright white. I always buff out the texture to almost as smooth as before with an old tee shirt or extremely soft cloth. Totally worth it. You can see here how some windows fade to white while others are still yellow. if you want that crisp factory color for your A frame, after painting all the main structure parts white, you can simply reverse the windows and doors for the non-faded side (or apply yellow hardware/craft store tape trimmed to fit, see replacement parts post). You can get a crisp minty house for the price of a faded uncared for one. Suzy Orman would approve you! (for more detail on this check out the Brown vs White post)

Unfortunately, the windows are not immune to yellowing. Obviously, for the solid doors you can repaint, but for the clear all I can recommend is to cover the trim with yellow detail tape (as outlined in another post), if the pane yellowing is so bad then perhaps a complete custom replacement is in order. 

This house is a prime candidate for a color change.

1978 Mattel A Frame Barbie Dream Doll House Red roof yellow floors mod groovy 1970s 1980s custom OOAK

Substantial Pool Playset

The rare A frame pool with slide and shower. I guess they really were into the white railing with planter boxes. I would like to know what this cost originally. I dont own this one yet, but think it would go great between the main A frame house and the guest cottage house. In the factory photo, you can see the usually lost yellow side panels. UPDATE: top photo is the rear cover of a coloring book from unknown year.

The 1982 Cottage (Casita for those in California)

Here is a great example of a furnished A frame cottage. I like to think of it as the guest house rather than the house for poor kids who's parents couldn't afford the big house. Here is a link to a european cottage furnished with european issue furniture. http://www.flickr.com/photos/33359755@N00/2419187956/ and check out the german brochure pictures... http://www.flickr.com/photos/barbiecreations/3791337999/

The best feature of the larger house: making villas from side pieces. I wonder if the popularity of that sparked the idea for Barbie's 1982 Cottage doll house. 

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