As
a collector, one of the most frustrating aspects of finding realistic furniture
for Barbie is that most of the mass produced furniture on the market is truly
too small.
I’m here to take the guess work out of it for you. I have
bought & sold hundreds of Barbie furniture pieces over the years. My
personal collection has grown quite substantially during this time. I have
gotten fairly selective in what pieces remain in my collection. Not every piece
that stays is 100% suitable for Barbie to use. However, my goal is to create
realistic miniature scenes so the realism of the piece outweighs the usefulness
of it. I own a mix of mass produced doll furniture pieces and a large
collection of non-doll items suitable for playscale use. In this post I will
detail the mass produced pieces that I use on a regular basis. These items will
be easier for you to find on the secondary market. Some pieces are rare and may
command a high price. However, do not be discouraged. You can usually find
gently played with items at garage sales & thrift stores. All they need is
a little cleaning & maybe a coat of paint and they will be good to go.
Opinions
expressed in this post are genuinely my own. I am not affiliated with any doll
manufacturer nor am I compensated by them. Let’s get started!
My
number one, most favorite 1:6 scale realistic furniture piece(s) is the My
First Kenmore Kitchen set. This is NOT produced by Mattel and was not made
expressly for Barbie. However, it is perfectly made in scale to fit Barbie and
friends. Made by Sears and sold in 2005, this limited run playset was very
popular among doll collectors and remains so today. There are a number of lower
cost knock off’s of this kitchen in a variety of bright colors. I have not
purchased any of the colorful knock off sets, but have heard from other
collectors that they are a good substitute.
Here
is what the set looked like as sold in stores:
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| My First Kenmore Kitchen Playset New In the Box |
Here’s
an example of the set in use in my studio. Notice that I painted the cabinet
doors a solid white color rather than the black fake glass that was originally
there.
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| Customized My First Kenmore Kitchen Playset |
My
second favorite piece is the My Scene My Café play set sofa. This piece is
gorgeous in person. The scale is perfect to pose dolls on. The tufting detail,
the rolled arms the turned feet, make this a prized piece in my collection. My
only complaint is the back of the sofa. There isn’t one. It’s hollow. If you
only need a piece that will be photographed from the front, then this is it.
The
sofa is from this set originally:
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| Barbie My Scene My Cafe Playset New in the box |
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| Barbie My Scene My Cafe Playset details |
And
here is a pic of the sofa in one of my diorama scenes:
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| Barbie's guard dog. |
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| 2008 Mattel Barbie Kitchen Fridge & Cart Playset |
Here's the same fridge used in a diorama scene:
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| Barbie's Farmhouse Kitchen |
Rounding out the top five favorite mass produced furniture pieces for Barbie is the wicker settee found in a variety of 1990's garden playsets.
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| Barbie So Real So Now Summer Garden Playset |
I have several of these wicker pieces and have updated with paint. Here is an example painted white:
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| Kelly Ladybug Picnic Diorama Scene |
And here's an example stained brown:
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| Barbie's Christmas Porch Scene |
Whew!! That post went a little longer than I had intended! This list is far from all inclusive and I will continue my list at another time. What are some of your favorite mass produced doll furniture pieces to use in Barbie scenes? Do you agree with my favorite choices? I will have to say though that part of the reason for my choices thus far have to do with the fact that I LOVE kitchens!! They are my favorite rooms to create and photograph. Probably why I have such a large collection of Rement miniatures as well.
Until next time....
Stephanie
