It’s her dream home.
An enterprising UK interior designer demonstrated remarkable ingenuity after single-handedly converting her “boring” beige home into a “wacky and wonderful” Barbie Dreamhouse with a bright pink staircase and upcycled furniture.
The fitness instructor frequently shares progress reports of her “Barbie World” renovations with her over 15,000 Instagram followers.
“My home needed a bit of personality, so two years ago I began to decorate and found my style,” 28-year-old Rachael Havenhand of Sheffield, England, tells Caters News.
“I went through a phase of trying to be ‘normal’ with beige walls and gray accessories, but it didn’t make me happy,” she says.
As a result, the creative mother of two turned her drab home into a multicolored mansion, complete with pop art, repainted accessories and donated furniture pieces that she zhoozhes up to fit the Barbie theme. To complete the effect, she’s even placed a life-size Barbie doll in her bedroom.
“I wear colorful ’80s vintage style clothing and I think that really shows in my house,” says Havenhand, who is inspired by everything from TV commercials to clothes.
Despite the makeover’s massive scale, the Barbie Dreamhouse project began humbly. The decoration maven says, “I started by adding pink, purple and blue accessories.”
The colors are also favorites of her daughters Gabriella, 8 and Florence, 5.
From there, Havenhand says she outfitted the walls with her own art work and even spray painted an old stereo purple in a process she dubs “insane.” The more absurd, she adds, the better.
“My house may be wacky but it is normal to me,” she says.
To save money on the project, Havenhand mixes her own paints, and relies on a steady flow of furniture donations, which have packed her garage to the point that she had to turn some of them down.
“I don’t spend a lot as I buy from charity shops and eBay, but a lot of my furniture has been given to me,” she says, adding that friends trust her to give the old items a fresh coat of paint.
And while some may balk at the loud design, Havenhand says “we love our home and that is all that matters.”
It seems the social-media masses share her sentiment:
“What an amazing house you have,” said one Instagram art aficionado about the home makeover wizard’s innovative renovations.
“Your house is total fun,” commented another on a pic of her Warhol-esque art.
“Even when it is doom and gloom outside, it is impossible to feel miserable in our house,” says Havenhand.