
LawnStarter
1 / 2The cost of repairing Barbie's Dreamhouse
We'll assume the three-story Dreamhouse from the "Barbie" movie is around 1,230 square feet with a 1,230-square-foot yard based on her driveway.
Let's look in more detail at the estimated cost of maintaining and renovating Barbie's Dreamhouse.
The picture-perfect lawn
Barbie's Dreamhouse has a modest lawn dotted with daffodils up front and lined with birds of paradise plants and a hedge out back. There are also some towering palm trees and smaller, more manageable banana trees close to her property.听
We've broken down the cost of needed to maintain this picture-perfect, 1,230-square-foot yard.
- : $1,560 for the whole year
- : $130 for two weed control treatments a year
- (if she's responsible for trimming the trees near her home): $200
- : $100 once a year
Let's get the elephant out of the room: Wouldn't Barbie have fake grass on her lawn since she lives in a plastic world? Assuming her lawn has , it would have cost Barbie around $15,165 to have it installed 鈥� a bit pricey, but she'd never have to worry about mowing her lawn. A life in plastic can be fantastic after all!
Putting Barbie back in the box
As a doll, Ms. Barbie probably doesn't mind that her toyetic home is so exposed, but human Barbie will want to close off her home to the world.
Barbie will need building permits, which will cost at least $500 in . Let's break down the modest estimated cost of adding new walls to her Dreamhouse:
- Framing: $2,800 to $5,200
- Drywall: $600 to $1,200
These estimates are based on the , so it's likely that it might cost a bit more to fully close off Barbie's Dreamhouse.
Waving through a window
To avoid losing the playset aesthetic that makes this Dreamhouse so iconic, we're adding windows鈥攂ut not just any windows. We're taking a page from mid-century modern design and adding large, sleek windows that give the illusion of openness while preserving security, airiness, and light.
The perfect window styles for the mid-century modern aesthetic are casement windows, awning windows, picture windows, and sliding windows. Here's how much it would probably cost to add these windows to Barbie's Dreamhouse:
- : $1,900 per 8-foot-by-8-foot piece
- : $415 to $1,270 per piece
A-door-ably pink doors
It's a bit amusing how this Dreamhouse doesn't have walls but has a large, pink front door鈥攁dorned with B-shaped handles no less. But if the door were to break down, how much would it cost to ?听
We estimate an average of $1,260, but Barbie could theoretically spend as little as $335 (a bit unlikely because it's a custom door) or as much as $5,165.
A fresh coat of pink
When Barbie needs a new coat of paint on her Dreamhouse, the average of a three-story house like hers ranges from $8,130 to $10,840. Meanwhile, it would probably cost about $4,000 to $10,000 to walls.
Of course, she would need to buy the best shades of pink for the Dreamhouse鈥攅ven the white paint in the Dreamhouse is actually a very pale pink.听
was the exact color used to paint the Dreamhouses for the movie; in fact, the set designers went through so much of it that it caused a .
A rosy new roof
Barbie's Dreamhouse features a flat roof, which is par for the course for mid-century modern builds. If it's leaking or otherwise not in pristine condition, Barbie would need to pay anywhere from $300 to $1,175 to get her .听









