A MUM who was sick of her daughter’s plastic Barbie house has been labelled a “genius” after turning an IKEA Kallax unit into a mega mansion for the dolls.
Ashton regularly shares DIY tips and tricks on her TikTok page, with her latest series documenting her incredible transformation of the white 12-slot unit ahead of her little girl’s birthday.
However, before she began the project, Ashton was somewhat nervous that her daughter wouldn’t be too happy that she’d got rid of the official Barbie houses.
“Will my daughter be mad at me for getting rid of her Barbie houses?” she asked.
“So I’ve decided to decorate my daughter’s bedroom for her birthday and she’s had these Barbie houses that she’s been gifted and she’s had them for quite a while now.
“They’re lovely and they’re great but they just take up so much room. so I wanted to try and make her something that’s a bit more aesthetically pleasing.
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“So off I trot to IKEA to buy a Kallax unit to make her a Barbie house!”
But not everyone in the comments section was convinced that Ashton’s daughter would be on board with her mum’s plan.
“She’ll be fuming!” one wrote.
As another added: “Your daughter probably don’t want an aesthetically pleasing doll house she is probably content with the one she has.
“I think as parents we forget that kids love colour and what we think is tat.”
However, Ashton replied: “I didn’t mean aesthetically pleasing for me. I meant for her room.
“So it doesn’t take up the whole space in her room so there is room for other toys too.
“Trust me the new house is going to have loads of colour and different rooms.”
“Hopefully she will like it,” she added.
“I’m going to keep hold of these ones in storage for a while in case she doesn’t!”
The video then picked up with Ashton heading to The Range to pick up some wallpaper samples, before popping to B&Q to get a piece of MDF to form the back wall of the house.
Once home, she got to work, turning each square of the unit into a different room – from a kitchen and garage to a swimming pool room that can also double up as a disco room.
Five savvy mum hacks to save you a fortune
ANY parent knows just how pricey it can be to feed the kids – especially if they’re a fan of branded, expensive products. But there are a few hacks that can help save you money, as mum-of-two and Fabulous Digital Senior Reporter Sarah Bull explained:
Batch cook
This is a hack that lots of mums, including myself, swear by. One thing I like to do is batch cook a tomato sauce – hiding a load of vegetables inside, including carrots, peppers and onion. Once it’s cooled, pop it into an ice cube tray to freeze. Then you can pop out the portions and bag up – ready to use for anything from a pasta sauce to a pizza base.
Home Happy meal
You’d be hard pushed to find a kid who doesn’t like McDonald’s. But with Happy Meals now priced at £3.89 each, it can be pricey getting them for your children – especially if you’ve got more than two. But why not try making your own home? Keep the packaging from your last trip to McDonald’s and cook up some chicken nuggets and fries in the air fryer. Pop a budget toy in a little bag and serve with a Fruit Shoot for a budget-friendly at home Happy Meal.
Make use of leftovers
If you’re savvy enough to plan things in advance, you can make use of leftovers to keep your kids sustained for another day. If you make something like pizza, for example, why not make enough for lunch the next day too? Lots of kids actually prefer cold pizza, and it’s especially useful if you make packed lunches for yours.
Get the kids involved
Not specifically a budget hack, but one that I’ve found always helps encourage kids to eat things they haven’t tried before. I’ve cooked things like fajitas, and put the ingredients all in different bowls, before getting the kids to make their own. While I’ve put out their favourites – like chicken, cheese and cucumber – I’ve also popped pepper and lettuce in a bowl. And, much to my delight, they both sampled that in their fajitas. What a score!
Ditch the brands
One thing that can make shopping much more expensive than it needs to be is going for branded products. We always used to be a family that swore by Heinz ketchup, refusing to go for anything else, but with the price of that shooting up, we’ve swapped for supermarket own brand ketchup and saved loads – especially considering how much of it we get through. If your kids are less than willing to make that swap, why not put the unbranded product in the branded product’s packaging and see if they notice the difference?
Stick on wallpaper and tiles worked well, although were incredibly fiddly to apply, as Ashton added: “That’s the beauty of this project.
“If it doesn’t work out or if my daughter doesn’t like it anymore. you can just rip it all out and start it again.”
And Ashton’s epic job transforming the Kallax quickly earned her praise from people online.
“This is brilliant!! I would have loved this as a kid. Absolutely love it!” one wrote.
“My daughter really wants a doll house but I can’t afford it so I thank you from the bottom of my heart,” another added.
“Aww your welcome. That’s so sweet,” Ashton replied.
“Try and look on Facebook marketplace for cheap Kallax units.
“And get some sample wallpapers. You can do this!”
“That is a brilliant idea! I could imagine you’ve saved a lot of mums money,” a third commented.
As someone else gushed: “Omg this is genius!”
