Other Topic: Kick Ass Kitchen Play Set

Though the blog is intended for just the California Contemporary A Frame DreamHouse, after 80 or so posts I am branching out into related topics. For you diehard blog purists, be sure to check out the earlier posts and work your way up to the later ones. This post is about doll kitchens from that era, most specifically the Sears kitchen center also known as the Wolverine kitchen playset. True, it does not fit into the 1978 Barbie house, so cannot technically be used with it, but as I like 1970's kitchen playsets I was intrigued enough to purchase one. They can run very high depending on condition, completeness, color scheme and if it has the box or not. I was outbid on a green and white one that went for $100 on feebay, getting the brown and orange one a few weeks later for $30 total, including shipping in a HUGE box that the dream house itself could have fit it, so shipping had to eat up almost all the $30 rendering the playset itself cost-less. Weighing in at 8 plus pounds, it has a large bag of accesories: food, cookware, kitchen stuff, all very well made, as is the kitchen itself. It is slightly larger scale than Mattel Barbie items and makes her look like a very height challenged person, or tween. The photo includes the 1978 Fridge and stove so viewers can see the difference in scale (read quality) and overall feel. The main reason why I am making special note of this playset is because we appreciate the quality and design of the A Frame house and furniture so much, this set deserves special kudos for the same reasons, and as it came out in the same time period is direct competition. While I degraded other dollhouses for quality reasons, I have to acknowlege this set for going over the status quo for toys. I dont know of any other color variations produced besides the green and white one and mine, but I LOVE my brown and orange playset and especially the harvest gold mixer and avocado blender (did not come with this set but is a perfect addition). Notice how the Wolverine/Sears set dwarfs the Barbie yellow appliances, especially the stove. Mattel never did make counters or a sink for the '78 dollhouse. The food containers are so well made too. I put the Mattel 1978 fry pan and spatula next to the larger brown ones, but the photos dont do it justice, the brown set is far superior to the orange. The food containers are cool and most have different grapics on te other side and are good replicas from the real 70's food they imitate. There are many tupperware containers with lids and a two piece butter dish etc. The set even dwarfs my 13" Aquaman, if that gives you any idea the size, its almost too big for 11-12" dolls, especially given the size of the blue iron and makes the Mattel appliances look like they are for Blythe, not Barbie. Well that is more than enough rant for now on this one. UPDATE: the top photo is a 1996 Kitchen Littles battery operated fridge. It is larger, better made and features clear bins and divider. I like this better then the yellow side by side issued by mattel in '78.

Extremely rare blue cabs, white appliances, translucent dishwasher door. Probably last year issued. 

Ebay: Free Lunch

Though the cliche, "There are no free lunches", is true most of the time I have found an instance where it is false. The technique which I am about to tell you about has worked with the famed A Frame as well as countless other small listings I have found on evilbay. Basically, what you do is buy a 'lot' of items that has at least one item you are hunting for and selling the rest back, usually marking up shipping, to esentially cover the cost of the one item you wanted out of the lot. For example: For the 1978 DreamHouse specifically, at least one house I bought had furniture with it that I did not need or want,  so I sold it off seperately and rcouped about 30% of the cost of the house by selling the furniture. I have bought cheap $5 and $10 floor pieces and sold with refurbed houses as a patio and made another $50 for the sold house because it had a patio and the others for sale did not. One recent purchase was a 1979 Strawberry Shortcake Berry Bake Shoppe that came with a dirty Strawberry Shortcake herself doll. The lot was bought for $20 total, including shipping. The playset is worth $20 alone, plus the cleaned up doll is worth at least $15-$20. I waited a long time and lost alot of auctions, but finally nailed that one on a slow week shortly after Christmas ( a great time to scour for deals since people are preoccupied paying credit card bills from Christmas, making it a buyer's market at least for a few months) So, I sold the doll back (after deep cleaning) on ebay for $20 including shipping, marked up of course for more profit and to recoup ebay and paypal fees, rendering the SSC playset free. The original seller did not know the value of the doll and including it in the sale was my opportunity to make my money back on the playset. I also have a clear orange pots and pans fetish which originally came with the best friends generic kitchen playset in 2001, now sold with direct from China issued Barbie 4 or 5 rooms in one package. They are rare, sought after and average $15 per kitchen lot sold (barbie food dishes) is the search term commonly used in the description. Since they always come with a bag of other food items and the seller does not know the value, I bid high and hope for the best. I have obtained 4 sets of clear orange cookware for nearly free this way since I sell the rest back. Good photography works well for selling before other lots and for igher value. I have even bought direct from China Gloria accesory sets for $5 including shipping and marked up to $13 total when resold back on feebay, helping to make a few bucks during lean selling times. So, I recomend to try these techniques for yourself and see what works and is comfortable for you. It helps pay for my collecting and if nothing else I can upgrade my average condition thing for a mint one just by buying it several times over and reselling the lesser grade ones.

Shout Out: www.morrisonfurniturestudios.spaces.live.com

I came across this 'Mad Men' themed diorama on Feebay under an 'eames' search. The website link directed me to this amazing site with lots of detailed color photos depicting their craft. Here is a sampling of the work though there is much much more on the website. Brava, Morrison Furniture Studios for excellent work. This is a 70's house website, but we couldnt help but acknowlege the quality dioramas and furniture produced by you. =-)

2010 Mattel Special Offer: A "Refurbed" House

Oh, Em Gee! Could it be that they are re-issuing the classsic home we all love? Here is the ad Mattel has recently put out. I tried to confirm this notion and the website was down. Rumor has it that it is not a re-produced house, but rather a refurbished house retailing for $2,000. That is, just one that they have 'redone'. I have re-done 5 of these in the past year and average around $165 plus shipping for a complete house, no box. I am curious as to Mattel's process used to refurbish one of these beauties and wonder how flawless the final product is. It looks like they are either test marketing a reissue or just offering a fluke for the heck of it. Any info from the readers would be greatly appreciated. In the meantime, Oh how sweet it is to be validated on one's obsession. I still say they should at least reissue spare parts like the patio triangles, closet, plants, windows and doors.

keyword terms: barbie doll house dollhouse vintage 1970s 1978 1979 a frame malibu chalet orange yellow red white pink hot free for sale ebay pinterest etsy new old renovated dolls fashion clothes clothing lot estate parts wall walls door doors window windows part balcony closet flower flowers planters planter plant plants box boxes accessory accessories small pieces info information instructions how to put together where to find buy purchase locate available collector collectible gold silver platinum label individual post posts covers sides custom 3 three section sections patio triangles floor floors dark light build scres pictures club group rare custom ook htf oop in mint clean complete 1980 1981 cottage 1982 1983 1980s color colors anniversary 1984 1985 1986 large bog 3 ft 4 feet long high tall huge large open moveable arrangeable craigslist online forum question questions 40th 50th 45th 55th 60th 35th reproduction remade retro nostalgia nostalgic memories childhood play display mini miniature set up sections  mid mod mid century modern 60s kitsch fun playful open new design designer interior decorator decor designer  

architect architects idea ideas goal aesthetic eames eichler palm springs by the sea malibu granola earth tones earthy autumn wexler wood slats open playful fun 1960s 60s open playful play timeless heirloom 

Renovation: Replacement Closet and Doors: How To...

When faced with an incomplete house and no budget to buy replacement parts there is a solution you can do. At the dollar store you can find large sheets of thick paper and smaller sheets of craft foam squares. I simply traced the original onto the sheets and cut out. For the doors, I reinforced the foamboard with yellow paper to which I made a simple door handle out of which wasnt hard given the molded shape of the original. I am still working on a good way to transfer the pattern of the front door to the replacement. The closet takes a little longer but is worth the time. Be sure to use the shiny side as the outside of the closet and score along the outer edges for clean edged corners and add tabs for attaching the corners. I used a clear ruler to ensure proper scoring and taped the tabs on the inside so they dont show. Follow the same procedure to make the shelf, and I used a small wooden food scewer cut with wire cutters to length and glued with elmers glue. You can click on the photos here to enlarge them. I had a clear rear patio door thats edges were faded to white. I found yellow tape from the hardware store, aligned it with the inside edge of the frame part and used an exacto knife to trim off the excess and it turned out well. I dont think theres a way to make the inside go from brown to clear again, but the renewed yellow edges do freshen it up and contrast nicely againsts the white walls. You can see the tape in the left photo, below it is clay from the craft store you can bake in the oven and it cools to a plastic like durability. I am going to try rolling it out with a kitchen roller, imprinting a door on it, baking it and seeing how it turns out post the results. =-)

Replacement entire house

Alternately, one can measure and fit a piece of foam board in it's place, using a carpenter's square helps ensure a perfect rectangle to snugly fit into the opening. 

Miscellaneous: Things That Make You Go, 'Hmmm...'

There are many unanswered questions I have about the Mattel California Contemporary DreamHouse that I'm sure many of you have as well. For one, just why are there so few patio triangles? How ironic is it that ebay sellers throw away the big pieces to sell the smaller ones where the value is, when they are selling it to buyers who love these houses and are buying them to complete them? Why is the 1982 Cottage so hard to find? Why do some houses turn brown, and others are almost as bright and white as the day they rolled off the factory assembly line? Why is it that when you buy a house there is more than one window with heavy scratches that look like they were cleaned with a brillo pad? Was ruining one not enough? Same thing with broken hinges. Why dont more people stage these houses with green outdoor carpet that looks like a lawn? Why cant I find a suitable driveway? Why didnt they make a staircase for this house like the 1974 Bionic Woman Carriage house, or subsequent Barbie houses in the 80's and now? Why does the pink house currently cost as much as the original? Its a regurgitated holdover because Mattel was too cheap to design a new house for the 1980's (the Me decade of Dallas, Dynasty and Wallstreet coudlnt even get its own house?). Why do some weeks on ebay I have bought them for $10 plus shipping and other weeks they sell for hundreds of dollars? Why is the 1980 pool so hard to get ahold of, while the 1973 pool is all over the place, with box for like $15 bucks? Same thing with the 1976 Camper versus the 1971 camper. Why are there so many sellers out there that think its okay to use no packing material (or just thow a few walmart bags in there) and a box thats falling apart, when I would never dream of doing that? I pack it extremely well and only get any feedback at all about 1/2 of the time. Why cant I ever find one at a thrift store to save on shipping? Why didnt they ever make another such wonderful house? A pink, hinged victorian does not come close, nor does Hannah Montana's 'swingin' pad'. Why couldnt they have issued different color furniture (besides pink/lavender) in America instead of just Europe? I would love to have an orange and white China hutch and dining room set, or a red and white bedroom set or yellow desk. And why does the couch look like a bean bag chair? The bedroom set comes with a single size bed, so where does Ken sleep? Why didnt Dallas ever get his own stable? Thats all I can think of for now, but I am sure more questions will come up.

Magazine: A Frame DreamHouse Makes Magazine Cover

This is a 1958 Alexander built Swiss Miss in the Los Palmas neighborhood of Palm Springs, CA. The downstairs windows on the left side look like the eight rear windows on the Mattel version. See how southern California landscaping (palms and golden barrel cactus) suit the house very well.

Furniture: Foreign Issue: Record Values

Who would have thought foreign issue color variations would fetch so much mulah. The sale of one of these pieces would completely pay for at least TWO houses. What a great line of work this could be.

Ebay: How to Pack N' Ship This Mamoth Structure

Easily store the house in a 44 gallon christmas tree tote box, its roughly the same dimension as the factory box, and keeps out humidity and bugs. 

(top 3 photos-how I get them. bottom phot0- how I send it out)

Unless you have a UPS business account and get a hefty discount, I have found USPS parcel post with added size surcharge (boxes over 84" net size), insurance and tracking to be the most cost effective. The final weight of the box will be a hair under 30 pounds, so round up to 30 so it doesn't get sent back for 50 cents worth of underpaid postage. I live in California and shipped one to Indiana recently and it was $33 plus $2 for insurance. Though one just went to a town 1.5 hours away for $15 since it didn't have to get on a plane. Its the plane ticket that runs it up to $63 per shipment. Thats another reason why you want to use a large moving box and extra bubble wrap you have laying around rather than buy it all so it wont cut into your profit. This is actually an important topic since damage can occur if done improperly, not ot mention negative feedback on ebay seller accounts. What I receive is in stark contrast to what I send out. I get garbagey boxes re-used and taped together, with newspaper (if they used any packing material at all) and parts falling out of it as the postman hands it to me. All you can do is dump it all on the floor and seperate the garbage from the product. When I am done my hands are black from the newspaper or walmart bag ink. Usually the post covers are shattered from the sellers negligence. You also have to pick through all the crumpled up newspaper and bags since one tiny screw or flower may have gotten in there. I still cant believe sellers actually do this, its so offensive. I always use a nice, new large moving box (approximately the size of the orginal toy box) and do my best to re-create how Mattel packed them in '78. The main difference is that I use bubble wrap instead of cardboard partitions. I wrap all the smaller items in plastic baggies and tape them to secure it all, finally adding a thank you note and small bonus item they were not expecting like clothes hangers (since my buyer pays top dollar) before sealing all the sides with high quality string paper tape that you have to wet to adhere. The paypal shipping label adds that professional touch as well. Overall, out of 5 houses I bought in 16 months, only two were properly packed.

Another junky, partially open box packed with dirty newspaper used to ship my doll house! 

Renovation: How it all Happens...

Some of you may be curious as to my exact process from begining to end of resoration. Though I have posted before about the buying and re-painting of homes, here is some things I did not cover in detail. At the top you can see the shoddy, falling apart box as it arrives with parts/screws litteraly falling out as the postman hands it to me. Because its a big, garbagey mess, all you can do is dump it all out on the floor. Most of the post covers are smashed to smitherines during its long journey, and after I seperate the garbage packing material from the actual house parts, my hands are black with newspaper ink. I soak it all in a hot soapy tub for a few hours and use very hot water for the windows because its the only way to really deep clean off 25 years of crust, rust, crude and bug carcasses.Case in point, see the black ring around my tub in the photo. Merely wiping it all down does nothing besides schmeer it around. Its especially necessary to soak if you are going to repaint the white walls. The clock is to show that time is important to let the water penetrate the hardened dirt in all the nooks and cranies. You cannot rush a masterpiece! I really think thats where I earn my profit since all this takes the better part of an afternoon, including the windex and q tip treatment on the glass doors and windows after its thoroughly dried. It also takes over an hour to pack this property properly once you are shipping it to another person or buyer. The things that take the longest is the multiple coats of white when covering cheesecake colored walls and bleaching stained floors back to clean, bright yellow as detailed in earlier posts. Its physically demanding, but if I didnt enjoy it, I wouldnt do it. From what I remember 2 houses have arrived packed nicely with bubble wrap, a good sturdy box, confirmation and was a good experience. 2 didnt have any packing material at all, taking a few weeks to arrive, and one came in icky newspaper pictured above with smashed post covers.

Custom Configuration: Outdoor Kitchen Addition

Everyone may not like this customisation, but I think its a good use of an otherwise obsolete playset, the 1982 McDonalds restaurant. Mixed in with a 1984 Arco barbeque set and World Cost Market drink stirers with the stems removed. (If you do this, I used a dremel tool to file off the bottoms to make them level). Check out my earlier post, 'Compare & Contrast the '78 A Frame & the '82 M Frame'.

Parts: Inventory

Here is what 3.5 houses look like piled up together. All these pieces ave been cleaned, repaired and are ready to be marked up.

Renovation: New & Improved Planters/Flowerboxes and Fence

I'm happy with the embeleshed greenery. Some are from the dollar store, and some are pet store brand so should be available and affordable to everyone. There is monstera, other green plants, yellow and red flowers (not shown) that round out the factory assortment. I hope this gives you some ideas for your '78 California Contemporary. I am not a 'factory purist'. I think there is some room for improvement, plus it shows creativity. In the upstairs photo you can see the bedroom dresser I have thats faded to a really unique shade of salmon with pale orange drawers. The fence I am guessing goes to either a 1960's Barbie house or some kind of Arco backyard set. I dont know what the cardboard plants and stone planter are from but its a perfect match.

I noticed my 1978 Star Wars Cantina play set has a brown version of the flagstone floors and it got me thinking...How about his cool, miniature zen herb garden retreat upgraded add on for Barbie's house? The little blow mold form table counters are very reminiscent of the 1978 Sundae's Liddle Kiddle line. They are easily obtained on ebay rather inexpensively and of course can be customized in any way your imagination can think of: