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| 1982 box |
Just when we thought we know of all the factory variations of the product line I accidentally discover this anomaly. We all know the harvest gold stove was reissued in the 80's as pink and white along with the rest of the Dream Furniture collection. What was unclear is what year did each of the above stoves come out? From my research I have found that the pale pink stove on the right was in fact the 1982 re-issue, and I am supposing the hot pink one on the left is a 1985 final year issue. Here you can see that one is definitely HOT pink translucent doors and the other a softer bubble gum pink, the stickers are different in several ways. Personally I like the silver stickers over the pink and the black backsplash over the white and pink one, also the number pad on the microwave works better for me. The pots and pans are reverse colors as well, one set is white pots/pans with pink lids, the other the opposite. I am assuming the refrigerator has similar differences in the pink versions, The last photo is my recently acquired hot pink 1985 set 99 cents each plus shipping, ;-) Notice the difference in time? The original was 5:36, now its 8:35. So either Barbie is making dinner way later than before or she bakes breakfast.
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1982 box accessory photo.
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| The hot pink version 1985 fridge and stove. Other than the Kitchen littles line, I can't think of any other quality white side by side fridge out there. |
in response to There are quite a few versions of the Dream House, the first one came with the mirrored closet doors, furnished version came with the patio triangles while unfurnished version did not...later version of the house did not included the mirrored closet doors and the furniture also was missing the mirrored finish (the coffee and end table) Then they changed the furniture color to the pink, same Dream Furniture but in a different color scheme (pink & white) The house was updated in 1986 in a light pink color,the light pink color version is the hardest to find today it was produced for a year and then Mattel used a more raspberry colored roof instead of the soft pink. Also the windows changed from the clear with the light pink trim to darker pink trim to and all light pink window and the last version came with the all hot pink windows and an almost hot pink roof to match!! The last Dream House was manufactured in 1991. Quite a long running production..the house first appeared in 1979.
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| Here is the pink 'vette, cottage and dream pool. |
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| 1985 Barbie Mattel Living Room Accents Grandfather clock . Surprisingly well made and rare today. |
1978 Mattel A Frame Barbie Dream Doll House Red roof yellow floors mod groovy 1970s 1980s custom OOAK
Everything reissued in pink for the 1980s pink version of the home, wouldn't it have been great if in the 90's there was a blue house with all blue furniture issued?
i love seeing the variations. thanks so much for posting them :)
ReplyDeleteHello! Your blog is awesome and I've really been enjoying it as I try to solve the mystery of my old A Frame! I just recently re-acquired my old pink A-frame dream house (after it floated around the families of my childhood friends) and have been trying to find the original furniture that came with it, and in the process stumbling across all sorts of research--especially your super cool blog! What furniture I still have from my dream house along with the various sets of things I have found online, and including an unboxing YouTube video of a never before opened box have me all sorts of confused as to what kind of Frankensteined set I actually received.
ReplyDeleteHere's what I know:
I received my brand new house for Christmas of 1992 (I recently found a picture of my grandpa assembling it and my dad chain-smoking while he tried to decipher the instructions!)
The house has the light pink translucent window, not the hot pink, and I don't think it has the hot pink roof either.
It had the bed, weird phone/tv nightstand, the pink version of the old green vanity, a wicker looking couch, the sweet roses dining table, and the same pink stove and refrigerator that you find all over the place. The stove sticker had the 8:35 sticker decal with it. Also, there was no china hutch included--I definitely don't have a memory of that!
The thing that is really throwing me for a loop are the cushions on the couch. The cushion looks like it went with a different sweet roses couch set (that maybe I had and completely forgot about), but not the original blue floral cushions that I see in pics on Ebay. I really have no memory of the blue cushions.
All of this has me wondering if by 1992 they were even still producing this dream house, and if so, were they just throwing in pieces from other sets?!
Anyways, it's been a lot of fun playing with my old house again, especially with my 1 and 4-year-old daughters, and the historian in me is just dying to get to the bottom of things! Maybe you can help me with my questions, or maybe my memory/knowledge of my set can add to your knowledge of the timeline of the pink A-frame.
Cheers!
Betsy
Hi Betsy! Thanks for following the blog, glad you enjoy it. Yup, things would be easier if our entire childhood were still in storage time capsules. Piecing things together from internet searches is an adventure. While I'm pretty familiar with the Dream Furniture line from '77, my expertise doesn't go too much into the 80's-90's time frame. You might look at vintage toy catalogues, pinterest or google and what is grouped together on ebay. Sometimes local sellers on facebook garage sale have what is needed in groupings that have been in storage for 40-50 years. What I do know is the pink version was available till the late 80's when other houses were starting to come out and it was finally discontinued for good. The 1977 Dream line that had a pink vanity also had a slightly modified green desk, the seat was the same piece just in different colors to match. Mattel was often remolding things in different colors to go with different toy lines or reissuing it from time to time like with He Man, Big Jim and I know I saw a Barbie townhouse re designed into a super hero headquarters. Hope this helps, happy collecting! Ken, Bloghost
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