Never have I been so excited to give something to my daughter. Her main present this year is a second hand dolls’ house. We knew we wanted to get her one this year but didn’t want to spend a fortune as she has some other presents too and didn’t want the day to become a gluttony of stuff, stuff and more stuff – most of which she’ll cast to one side.

So we searched high and low for a special, yet inexpensive, wooden dolls’ house. And we couldn’t find one ANYWHERE.

A few weeks ago I put out a desperate plea on the noticeboards of the Netmums nearly new section. Within 48 hours, a retired childminder who lived just down the road had emailed me. She offered me an old wooden dolls’ house, with furniture for £10.

I was dubious but the gleaming price of a tenner was too much to resist. We collected it and I knew it would be just right.

Here’s the transformation:

I managed to get some sample bits of wallpaper from B&Q and used them to paper the upstairs and downstairs to add some colour to the walls.

Then I coated with primer.

The whole thing was finished off with a coat of white satin wood paint in cotton white, left over from a recent furniture project.

Tadaa!

With a little bit of furniture, I think it looks quite cute.

I’ve bought a brand new wooden doll family to go in the house (which actually cost more than the house itself) and I’m going to put them in my toddler’s stocking. My own mum and dad used to tease us with our main present by putting hints in our stocking. I still remember the excitement on Christmas Day as I’d open something and think, “Oooooh, I wonder….”.

I hope she likes it.

I really, really hope she likes it.

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