A Look Back At Barbie's Dreamhouse Through The Years
While I think that the 1979 A-frame is probably the most innovative structurally, if I could only choose one, I would like to have the 1974 version. The décor reminds me of how crafts looked when I was growing up. I feel nostalgic just looking at it.
I'd like to have any 1 of these!
ReplyDeleteI know, Roxanne, and look how far they've come. From small simple cardboard to gigantic plastic behemoths.
DeleteI totally agree with you. I had the 1974 version but because of cost, my mother refused to by me the A-Frame. 😞
ReplyDeleteI'd love to have the 1990 version now. It looks roomy.
Tracy, that 1990 one does look spacious... and very very very pink. Like pink on pink with some extra pink thrown in.
DeleteI too would take any one of them, but I think, if I were to choose, I would pick 1979 and the 1990 houses.
ReplyDeletePhyllis, I've seen the A-frame one on a few blogs and it's one I would like to see in person. I bet it's interesting seeing it from every angle.
DeleteI have not seen a few of these. I think my fav is still the A-frame house. I have one that I bought on my birthday this year at a Goodwill. It needs several pieces (doors, windows), but I am up for the challenge. Nice post!
ReplyDeleteGeorgia Girl, you found it at the thrift store?! Even when they are missing stuff, finding them at cheap prices makes it just as fun to me.
DeleteHi Muff, I had the 1974 house as a child and with time I filled it with the 1979 furniture, wich was fabolous! I don't have a single piece of it any more, I gave everithing away when I was 15.....silly girl.....
ReplyDeleteI saw a nice photosession by MissJai about the 2014 house and apart from being too pink, it has quality....
unfortunately I don't have the space now to have one in my home....
Billa, thanks for mentioning MissJai! I went to visit her site and she made that house look marvelous.
DeleteI totally understand about your childhood house being gone. I had no interest in dolls as a kid and 40 years later who would have guessed, huh?
Hi, I actually have a later version of the 1974 house, I think it was made in 1976 and has some changes in the colors and backdrops, without furniture, and in a not so good shape, but it's so nostalgic! The newest house is really fabulous, I agree with Billa, if it wasn't so shocking pink it would be perfect. A great overview Muff!
ReplyDeleteNight Owl, I hope you post some pics of your 1974 house even if it isn't in the best shape. I would love to see the changes they made to the graphics.
DeleteIt's in separate pieces right now (it's rather big), but I will put it together the first moment I can and put pictures on my blog or Flickr :-).
DeleteI really have to go visit an ophthalmologist LOL, I looked up my backdrops and they are the same! I thought I saw BUCKETS in the kitchen backdrop on your picture above, but it were the drapes... The only difference is that my house has white poles and not orange ones. Hmhm, going to make that appointment now... ;-D. xx
DeleteLOL, Night Owl it's hard to keep track of all the sets and doll stuff we have so I understand.
DeleteHi Muff! I like the 1983 one for the furniture and the realistic photo background, but the 1998 one has bay windows. Bay windows are cool ;-)
ReplyDeleteD7ana, the photo real one is probably the only one I feel like they slacked on. It's like taking photos from Architectural Digest and pasting them up. I like the flatter graphics that allow you to put actual furnishings in front of them.
DeleteInteresting to see!
ReplyDeleteAnd wow, that 1979 one is gorgeous - I wouldn't have guessed that a design like that would be an official release, but then I suppose most of the ones I've seen IRL have been in the same style as the 1983 house.
jSarie, I quite like the 3 story and 2 story versions I've found at the thrift store and I definitely wouldn't mind finding that A frame.
DeleteI played with the 1962 version- it was my aunt's dollhouse- made of cardboard and it folded up! I was five or six and she was 11 years older. She would come home from school and she and I would eat potato chips and dip and play Barbie. (she had the cool barbies- from the late 50's early 60's...I had malibu barbie and hippie Ken. I didn't really like them because it was the 70's- no style :( lol) I wanted that dreamhouse 1974 with the elevator but it was considered expensive back then-that is when My mom got me a regular dollhouse. I would love to have the 1979 and the 1990 and 1996 to customize. I have thought of getting one of the 1962 houses just for nostalgia sake, I loved playing with that as a kid.
ReplyDeleteLisa, you really took me back talking about playing with your aunt's 1962 set. I do recall that the first thing I would do when I got home from school was to chuck my books, grab a bag of Lays chips, a bottle of Pepsi with Planter's peanuts in it and sit right down and watch the Brady Bunch. LOL, this response was not sponsored by the snack industry.
DeleteHello from Spain: I like seeing all these model homes. I agree with you. If I had to choose I would choose a house built in 1974. Anyway I like to have them all in my collection. This year I'm going to buy the vacation home of Dream House. I saw the house for sale in toy stores in my city. The trouble is that the house is too pink. I will paint the furniture. Keep in touch
ReplyDeleteMarta, I know you will do a great job at rehabbing the vacation Dreamhouse.
DeleteI had the 1979 version. I can still remember playing with it like it was yesterday. I bought the A frame from a neighbor's yard sale a few years ago. I think I paid $6 for it. A year later she sold the pink version at another yard sale. I regret not buying it. The 1996 version shows up at thrift store's all the time! I have two different ones. I have never seen the 1990 version, but like Tracy, I think it looks pretty roomy, and I wouldn't mind having that one.
ReplyDeleteVanessa, I remember seeing the A frame in your stories and I think the structure alone is pretty cool. I'm telling you, whenever I come across one of these houses (at a great price) I'm going to snap them up so I have no regrets. I wont have any room... but no regrets, lol.
DeleteI guess that is why I like the1962 one. It is more from my time so it looks really cools to me.
ReplyDeleteGrandmommy, that 1962 is pretty cool. I like the simple walls and furnishings.
DeleteMy favorites are the cardboard one -- which looks spacious -- and the A-frame, both for coolness of architecture and for being in realistic colors. I'm not a fan of pinkification.
ReplyDeleteMy childhood Barbies did not have a house, though they had some plastic Danish Modern furniture.
Smaller, I'm pretty sure that my sister never had any Barbie houses growing up because I would have remember seeing something like that around. I wasn't a fan of dolls then but I bet a house would have interested me.
DeleteWell Muff I still have my 1974 Dream House, sure do! I next year all by barbie things will finally be here with me and I'm sure my Mother will be pleased. I have so much fun playing with that house and when I was younger I thought the elevator was the bomb diggity. I have my plane too.
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness, Brini, that is awesome! I bet your dolls were going up and down that elevator all the time. I hope you post some photos of it on your blog as I would love to see it.
DeleteThe A-frame was before my time, but it is one of my favorites. If I could have any of these brand new, it would be that one. I like the 1998 version, too. The 1990 dreamhouse is too pink and the 2014 one is too garish.
ReplyDeleteJewell, I try to look past the pink and see the structure beneath, but yeah, sometimes it's super hard to do so. It would be nice to find stuff exactly how you like it without having to modify every little thing. I found an empty Victorian at the thrift store but it's cool to see what furnishings they originally came with it.
DeleteI spent hours salivating over the 1974 townhouse in the Sears catalogue. I especially liked the elevator. When we got a dehumidifier I asked for the box and used it to make my own Barbie townhouse. I couldn't manage an elevator but I had received a wallpaper sample book from friends so it had nice decor inside.
ReplyDeleteI have the pink 1998 house and the later lavender version. I would love to have a green one as well. The 1990 house is very posh but usually very expensive. The 1979 house is my holy grail. One day I will get lucky on eBay. :-)
LOL, Limbe Dolls, I remember that Sears Robuck and Co catalog! However, when I was a kid I would salivate over the tools, sporting goods, gym sets and seed packets. I also had a thing for moccasin shoes. Man, I was a weird little kid.
DeleteThat's very innovative that you made your own townhouse! When we got a refrigerator box, we turned it into a clubhouse and we pretty much lived in that thing until it disintegrated in the rain.
You made me feel really nostalgic,Muff!! I used to spend ours looking at the catalog they used to give with dolls those days,I am talking about 80's,in those days houses were never available in my country,but these days it's there in the stores as soon as a new home gets released !! :) But I don't have the courage to spend a fortune on the big town house,but I really like it,maybe someday,lol!!
DeleteBtw here we don't have yard sales or thrift store,so you gotta buy it first hand from the toy stores only:/
Pam, I would never have one if it I had to buy it first hand. OMG, the price is just way to much for me. Although, it would be great to have one completely intact and untouched, I just cant open my purse that wide, lol.
Delete*sings* Hey! Hey! Life in the Dream House..
ReplyDelete*sings too* Oh, yeah! Life in the Dream House. Barbie's life... in the Dream eam houseee.
DeleteI like the older versions. The colors of the new ones are like an ice-pick in the eye.
ReplyDeleteLOL, Roville. An ice pick to the eye does not sound pleasant. I don't feel that badly about the new sets. I still would like it if Mattel would get over that color scheme.
DeleteI love each and everyone of these,but I'd rather not be seen carrying these plastic titan-sized houses in our home,that would be quite embarassing xD. I like everyone of these though, but my faves are the 1962,1990 and the 2014 ones. I like 1962's realistic feel, 1990 looks absolutely like my dream home,if only it was black,white,blue or green and the 2014 has lots its awesome points, but it kinda looks more like a mall instead of a house and it's pinkity-pink shade of pink with a few dashes of pink in it to accentuate the pinkness of it's pink.
ReplyDeleteeven though I want them I really can't afford them,plus I think my dolls like their cardboard box home.(Ariel doll says: "dream on human,it's too crowded he-*covers mouth*"
Ampy, now that you say that, the 2014 model does look like a mall! It's doesn't really have the appeal of a home. I think the elevators and doors are super showy and maybe that's why it looks like a department store. Good eye!
DeleteAnd thanks for the Monster High link. I don't follow the regular Monster High series and didn't know that it was going to be restyled as an Anime. It certainly is interesting to see them given the Anime treatment.
Sorry for this random comment but, the official monster high anime is released :D
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bh_4YN1H7Sg