Update Dollroom (aka the Girls Playroom, LOL)

Hey everyone!
About a year ago (YUP), I made an updated "dollroom" video, but never got around to editing it or posting it.  Recently, I was going through my files and found it so decided to post it to my YouTube channel.

Here's the "Before" video if you are interesting in seeing what our "dollroom" used to look like, haha!
(And here is the post I made here on the blog).   You all made such great suggestions on how to better organize this space and I really appreciated that!

The great news is that I deboxed pretty much everything I had!  That was a good thing as it was turning into a little bit of a doll hoarding situation!

But as you will see in the video, we have basically just made it into a playroom for the girls since having a doll room just for me felt like I was selfishly taking up a large space that could be better utilized as a playroom for the girls as they kept getting into my stuff anyway! ;)

Here are a few quick photos of it in a "semi-clean" state.  I will take better photos if I get it cleaned up and organized a little better one of these days. :)
Don't mind the wallpaper in the hallway as we are redoing that this summer!

I have some of my stuff still in the playroom (like a few boxed Barbies and my Limited Edition Disney dolls, but pretty much my entire collection of dolls (American Girl, Disney, Monster High, Ever After High, Barbie and miscellanous) are all safely tucked away in bins so they don't get too trashed from little hands. :)

Since I took this video, Pumpkin Pie (my now 9 year old!) doesn't really play in here anymore, which is sad (she's a tech geek and has told me that she doesn't really like dolls anymore)!  It's still ok, though as Little Button (now 6) loves this room and plays in here almost daily.  I can't believe how quickly the girls are growing up!!
I remember when I couldn't keep her away from my dolls.  She especially loved Monster High back in the day.
Sometimes I will catch older daughter playing Barbies with her sister, and that always makes me so happy.  I deliberately monitor "screen time" with them so it forces them to play like they should!

I know I have complained in the past about how it's hard to collect dolls when you have children that want to play with your collection, but in my heart, I know that my 6 year old will probably grow out of dolls soon as well and then it will feel a little lonely to just have this collection by myself!
Part of the joy in having a collection I guess was actually sharing it with my daughters.  We used to have so much fun going "doll-hunting" and seeing what was new in the toy isle.
Even though I let them play with almost all of my collection and a lot got "very played with",  I definitely am thankful that I did.

I guess time will tell, though when they do grow out of dolls and it might just be a big relief to actually have a space to just have my own collection down the road!  ;)

Have any of you started your doll collections when your children were younger or you had kids in your lives that wanted to play with everything?
Have you always loved dolls all along since childhood or did you take a break when you were teens/younger adults?

I think I have just always loved dolls.  I loved Barbie/Disney into my early teens and although I stopped playing with and collecting them, when I got my first apartment in my early 20s, I discovered eBay and bought a few of my old 80s toys back to keep on my dresser.
Then I had kids in my early 30s and the love of dolls was rekindled and the rest is history!

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy the video.

See you in the next post! :)
xoxo

Farrah

Thrifty Makeovers! (Monster High and Ever After High)

Ok gang, today it's time for a doll makeover post!

Gosh.  I had this entire review typed up and ready to hit "Publish", but blogger froze and wouldn't let me do anything!  When I refreshed, it all disappeared.  Ahh!  

I'll try to do my best to write what I had, but at this point, I think the photos will pretty much just speak for themselves!

The girls and I finally got lucky at our local thrift store and came across a bag of donated Monster High and Ever After High dolls!  

Pictured from left is Sugar Coated Holly O'Hair (EAH), Picture Day Abbey (MH), Posea Reef (MH), Signature Jane Boolittle (MH), Ghoul's Alive Clawdeen (MH) and Signature Raven (EAH). 

It was really fun to clean everyone up and see how much life 2nd hand dolls still have left in them. 

All of the dolls above were only $1 each. 

First up is Ghoul's Alive Clawdeen.  She wasn't too bad, but she definitely needed some help in the hair department. 

Here she is all cleaned up and she's looking pretty good!
She has this gimmick where you press a button on her back and her eyes close and she looks like she is howling.  The gimmick no longer works, but she's still a cool doll. 

Next is Picture Day Abbey and she was pretty much complete in terms of outfit and accessories!  Whoever had these dolls before took pretty good care of them and beside the messy hair, they didn't look like they were played with too much.

This Abbey had VERY gluey hair though and I had to do 4-5 glue treatments on her to get the stickiness out of her hair!
Overall she came out pretty good, but she's actually a double for us, so she may find herself back at the thrift shop!  At least now she's clean and glue-free! :)

                                                                                                                                   
Raven Queen is also a double for us, but I couldn't pass her up.  She was also "complete" as far as her outfit goes, but her hair was also VERY gluey.  She took several glue treatments to finally have soft, manageable hair again. 

It was cool to find a signature Jane Boolittle doll and she also barely looked played with!  Luckily her hair was glue-free so she just needed a scrub with dish soap\/baking soda as well as a hair wash and condition.  I didn't even take her ponytail out as she was in great shape already!

If we're being honest, this Holly doll is actually one of our dolls from our own collection.  I included her in this review as she needed a makeover anyway.  She's Little Button's Holly doll so she has been played with quite a bit.  She was also an easy clean up and luckily we found her missing hand!
I'm not sure where I put her dress though, so she is borrowing a Dutchess "Fairest on Ice" dress for now.

Posea was the biggest and best transformation of them all.  The other dolls we found together at the thrift store, but this one Pumpkin Pie found at the bottom of a box of dirty toys at the flea market. 

She had the worst hair I've every come across in a MH doll!  I wasn't sure how she would turn out, but she cleaned up beautifully!  She was actually easier to clean that Abbey and Raven!  

It was really satisfying to clean her up. :) 

So here's one more before and after shot of our new thrifted dolls. 

I really hope I can buy more 2nd hand dolls in the future as they're so much cheaper and they're really fun to clean up! 

Whether or not they all stay in our doll collection, I love knowing that if they get redonated, they will be more appealing to a child (or adult collector, haha) now that they are fresh and clean and looking good again.

Do you guys like to shop 2nd hand for any of your dolls?  What's the best find you've had out there in "the wild"? 
I remember finding a Little Mermaid Vanessa doll for $0.75 at our shop once! :)

Hope you're all having a good weekend and see you in the next post! :)

xoxo Farrah