THE Gift

Derek and were talking over what we might want to give the girls for Christmas.  I just knew that Santa wanted to bring them some sort of rockstar microphone set.  I told him this and all of a sudden a great brainstorming session occurred.  The kind where you aren't exactly sure who had which idea first, but it all comes together...it was decided that we would build them a stage.  But not just any stage.  A stage painted with chalkboard paint on the top and a stage that was a Barbie house on the inside.  Awesome.  Derek had recently acquired a table saw that he was itching to use.  I was mentally reliving my glory days of decorating a mammoth Barbie house built of cast-off household items in my parents' basement.
So the next day we bought the wood.  (This was early in December).  Then, we stalled out.  But, finally we decided to have a friend with a wood shop help us do the cutting and then we got started.  We ended up having to buy a nail gun (no project is a good project in Derek's book unless you have to buy a new tool). I did most of the decor with paint, scrapbook paper and mod podge. And it came right down to the wire, but the mission was accomplished by Christmas Eve morning.  This meant that even uncle Davey got to help cut the carpet, but no one had to stay up late to finish!
Here are the pics of the finished interior.

This is the ballroom, complete with disco balls on the ceiling.   I also bought LED lights from Target, so each room has some actual lighting.  

I was particularly proud of the kitchen floor.  One of my fabulous Young Women from church helped me with the floor and also painted the red wall in the ballroom.  

Bedroom 1--the dresser pulls are made of beads. (Sarah's room Libby decided for her)  I told the girls we would shop for bedding and curtain material together.  

Bedroom 2.  Libby's room.  She picked it for the flowers and sparkles in the wall paper.

The bathroom (and yes, the view is the same from every window.  I couldn't find a window I liked, so I created this one in publisher.)

Living room.  The fireplace was Derek's idea.  It is one of my favorite parts.

Garage.  The car fit perfectly.  I got the garage door and storage system  off of the internet.  Printed and mod podged them on.  

  It has created a problem though, Ben wants to play with it too.  And they can't pick it up and move away from him.  It will be interesting to see how they work that out.  I have already had to reglue one disco ball and 2 dresser pulls.  Not sure how long those will last.  But they are having a blast!  Which is good, since I had to return the microphone karaoke machine because the cheap plastic microphone holder on the stand broke.  So, karaoke in a few days when Amazon delivers the new "Block Rocker" that I got instead.  Then we can go back into stage mode.  The chalkboard aspect of the stage has also been a huge hit.  I am so happy!