Getting Organized

I remember when the majority of my doll collection used to fit on two shelves of a desk. It doesn't seem like it was that long ago.

For a long time, I used to take comfort in the fact that my collection was contained in one room of the house (for the most part). But now, there has been significant "spillage". Several of my dolls (and boxes) have invaded my master bedroom.

Before

The Master Bedroom Closet

I am hesitant to show you photos of my master bedroom closet. But I'm going to take a big deep breath and I'm going to show you. And I just know that I am not alone in this. The bottom portion of my closet is fairly organized. But the top - not so much. I have been piling dolls and empty doll boxes in this closet, because my doll room closet is nearly full. This is my master bedroom closet and it's not supposed to have dolls and doll boxes. This has to change. I can't even reach the top of the stack on the top shelf of my closet, so many of these boxes were just thrown up there with me hoping that they would land in a somewhat organized fashion.

The spillage into the master bedroom was not contained only to the closet. I had a stack of boxed dolls on top of my husband's chest of drawers. That also happens to be my favorite spot for taking my doll photos because it's next to a window and also has hanging lights directly overhead. My husband never said much about me keeping dolls there, except when the stack would get too high and he would warn me that my dolls were in danger of falling over every time he opened one of his drawers. He did give me a sign of his silent protest over one of my dolls recently, though. For a while, I had my nude WorldBox AT-006 boxed doll there right at eye level, and I came home one day to find that the doll was facing the wall. So naturally, I turned the doll back around. The next time I came home, the doll was facing the wall again, and my husband this time verbally let me know that he doesn't want to see "that" when he's going into his drawers for something. I opened the figure soon after that and my husband no longer had to be subjected to male doll nudity.

In the master bedroom, I also have an armoire with the top shelves full of dolls, and a desk with some dolls sitting on the bookshelves.

The Doll Room Closet

My doll room has a walk-in closet, so I'm supposed to be able to walk in there, right? Currently, this is not so. I'm not even going to show you the chaos that is currently taking place at the bottom of that closet. But I will show you the shelves.

For that top shelf, I'm going to move everything off of it except for stuffed animals. That shelf looks like it's sinking in the middle, so I don't want to add any weight and cause the thing to come crashing down.

For the top shelf in this photo, I'm going to find another spot for those drapes. That's prime doll box real estate right there! Maybe those drapes can share the sagging shelf with my stuffed animals. Hmmmm...

Goals

I don't want much - just to be able to display my dolls in an organized and attractive fashion. I want my collection contained to one room. I want to keep my dolls and doll accessories safe from my cats.  I want to:

• Move the vast majority of the dolls out of the master bedroom and master bedroom closet
• Have the vast majority of my dolls contained in one room
• Have the majority of my dolls out on display
• Have all of my dolls easily accessible
• Keep my closets organized
• Have a well-lit designated spot for taking my doll photos and videos - in the doll room
• Have all of my doll accessories organized and easily accessible
• Have a spot for my sewing, crocheting, painting, and crafts - in the doll room
• Throw away most of my empty doll boxes

Progress

Doll Room

So far, I have managed to clear off my husband's chest of drawers for the most part. There's just my husband's Barbie, 2 of my boxed dolls, 2 other dolls, and some stuffed animals there now.

So you know that you're a doll collector when you see something meant for a different purpose, and just know that it would be great for your dolls. Someone posted a photo on Facebook of a shoe organizer similar to the one hanging on the door on the left below, and I just knew I had to have some for my dolls. While I was shopping, I also purchased some plastic storage/organizer bins (in the photo on the right - black and clear). There's two in the photo, and I probably won't leave them stacked like that. I think I want them side by side, and I'll probably keep boxed dolls on top.

On the shoe organizer, there are 24 slots. There's really enough room for me to put 2 dolls in each slot, but these guys vigorously disagreed with that idea. I have another shoe organizer that I will use for female dolls, and the females will probably have to share space on that one.

These shoe organizers also work great for actual shoes, so now I'm using one for that purpose in the master bedroom closet. That means that I've cleared off my old shoe rack. It has now been re-purposed in the doll room to hold stuffed animals and boxed dolls.

Nothing is fully organized yet in the doll room, I'm just moving things in there and stacking things up and thinking about how I want to put everything. Meanwhile, the dolls below are languishing on boxes in the middle of the floor, waiting on me to put them someplace, and hoping that the cats don't get into the room while they're in this vulnerable state.

One day I will actually learn to use the sewing machine that's barely visible in the top left corner of the photo above (a gift from my mom-in-law). One day. In the meantime, I need to find a good spot to keep it, so that it will be easily accessible to me when I do decide to use it.

I used to want a curio cabinet for my dolls. Then I found out about detolfs, and I've been wanting some of those ever since. The challenge is that I don't have an Ikea store here, and to have them shipped here would double the cost. The nearest Ikea store is a 3+ hour drive from here. I want them, but not that badly. They would be ideal to display my dolls and to keep them somewhat safe from my cats. The cats are not allowed in the doll room, but every now and then either me or my husband will accidentally leave that door open. They are older cats now and don't chew on stuff like they used to, but I don't want to provide that temptation to them.

I decided to reclaim my bookshelf from out of our home office. It was filled mainly with computer technical manuals that I hadn't cracked open in years. I cleared off those shelves, and my husband moved that bookshelf into the doll room. You can see the top couple of shelves of that bookshelf on the left on the photo below.

I've been working on my doll room for the past 4 days, and I still have a lot of work to do. Play time is put on hold until I get that room and my closets at least somewhat organized. I'm sure that the doll room will remain a work in progress. I already have thoughts about the next phase of that room.

American Champions Venus Williams

I purchased American Champions Serena and Venus Williams dolls several years ago. They remained in their boxes for years, but I purchased them with the intention to release them from their boxes one of these days.

Last year, I was able to get a Sideshow Art S. Buck figure for a price that I was willing to pay.

I wondered if the Art S. Buck body would be a good match for Venus. So finally I released Venus from her box to find out.

The Art S. Buck body was a little darker than the Venus head, and rather skinny, but I did love the articulation. Venus finally had fun playing with all of her gear.

Venus came with a tennis racket, sun visor, athletic bag, tennis balls, trading card, trophy, and water bottle (not to mention her tennis outfit, sneakers, watch, bracelet, necklace, and beads in her partially braided hair).

Her new body made it possible to grasp all of the items that came with her.

Venus was happy to be released from her box, but wanted her sister Serena to be released, as well. I didn't want to put Serena on an Art S. Buck body. In fact, I wasn't entirely satisfied with Venus being on the Art S, Buck body. I looked around to see if I had any other action figure bodies that may be a better match for Serena.

I think that the body of the Triad Alpha figure would be a good body match for Serena, but it is not a good skin tone match. So, Serena stays in her box for now.

I became aware of some Sims dolls being sold on eBay for a great price (thanks Dawn!), so I purchased a couple. These dolls use Herobuilders action figure bodies. I thought that this body might be a better match for Venus.

And I was right. Venus looks much better on the Herobuilders body. The skin tone is a much better match, and the body looks more athletic. Also, both hands are able to grip items of various sizes.

I was glad to see that Venus' outfit is stretchy enough to fit on the larger Herobuilders body. 

Now Venus is ready to be the champion that she is, and play to her fullest potential! 

I'm not entirely satisfied with the Herobuilders body. It has weird elbow and knee joints, and something just looks a little off about it. But this is a better choice than Venus' other two bodies. Serena is still in her box for now. I want her to have a different body than Venus, so I'm going to wait until another option comes along for her.

Disney Descendants Audrey Swap

Last year I purchased a Disney Descendants Audrey doll.

Quoted from her box:

"Daughter of Sleeping Beauty. Waking her inner beauty."

She caught my eye because of her articulation, so she didn't spend much time in her box. Here is a closeup. She is a cute doll, though her head is large.

She poses fairly well. She has articulation at her elbows, knees, and wrists.

Here she is posing with some of her new friends. Uh-oh, I see the way that Raven is looking at her. I know that look.

And here she is posing with new friends that also have large heads.

But ultimately, she lost her head, and became my first head swap of this year (back in January).

Raven got her body, which is more appropriate for her, since she represents a teen in my collection. The body is a little lighter than Raven's head, but it's close enough for me. It bothers me only a little bit.

Here's a look at her articulation.

The new Raven fits right in with other teen dolls in my collection.

She can share clothes with many of the dolls here, and she can wear Bratzillaz Sashabella Paws' boots. Her shoes are too large for Sashabella.

I think that she looks better in tops that cover her neck, so that the skin tone difference between her head and body are not as readily apparent.

Raven is just as popular as ever with the teen boys in my collection.

So in conclusion, I like Audrey, but I like Raven on Audrey's body much better.

Curvy Dolls Fashions

I told myself that I would ignore the latest packages to arrive until next Saturday, because I have so much to do. But on this dark and rainy Saturday, I caved to the temptation.

This fashion pack for curvy Barbies arrived this week. If you plan on buying this one, be careful, because there's one that looks almost exactly like this that fits standard sized Barbies. Make sure that the check mark is under the curvy silhouette at the upper right.

This Barbie Fashionistas Zig & Zag doll also arrived this week. I had previously decided not to buy her, but since seeing her potential in how others have customized her, I changed my mind.

Still reeling from the loss of my Janay's hair, I found myself on eBay searching for Janay (why, I don't know). I saw this one that I don't recall seeing before. She's African Dancer Janay. She's begging to be released from her box so that she can dance dance dance with her articulated body, but this one will wait.

So this is what I was REALLY shopping for when I purchased Zig & Zag and the curvy fashions. But this Musician Barbie will have to wait until next Saturday or later, because I feel that I will need to spend some quality time with her when I do release her from her box. She has some cool accessories.

I struggle somewhat with photography, but I figure that my photos are decent enough for this blog. You can see what I'm talking about well enough in my photos for the most part. However, my videos have been a different story. They come out so dang dark! I really am trying to improve with my photography and my videos. So another one of my purchases arrived this week, and I did take these out of the box intending to use them today, but one of them looks like it was damaged during shipping and has a piece broken off. So back in the box they went, and they will probably be going back to where they came from (which I'm dreading, since I do really despise going to the post office).

Not my photo - I don't have enough light to take a photo this good

So today, you will be treated to terrible photos taken on a dark and rainy Saturday. I will spare you the super dark video though (okay, maybe a slideshow).

Here is Zig & Zag Barbie out of the box. I will soon remove her pink lipstick. I'm not planning on repainting her lips right away. She can stand on her own in her shoes.

She made friends with the other curvy ladies right away.

Here are Madam LaVinia and Emoji Fun posing in the new fashions. I know that LaVinia would look better without her stockings, but I don't want to remove them and deal with the adhesive that is holding them up on her legs. The ladies can not stand in the brown shoes that came with this fashion pack, which is really disappointing. Also, I can't tell if that's supposed to be a belt or a necklace that comes with the fashion pack, but it doesn't look right as either. In order to fit as a belt on the curvy ladies, it would have to ride way up high on their waists. The belt (or whatever) looks good on standard size Barbies, though. I wonder if they just used the same belt that they used for the standard Barbie fashion pack. The purse is cute.

 Dasia and Monica can wear the flowered shirt from the fashion pack, and that's it. Below, Dasia wears the shirt, along with her Hollywood Starlette top and shoes, and Russell Williams' shorts. Monica wears Tracy Turnblad's dress, and Tracy wears Monica's dress (and both of them wear action figure shoes that are too large).

Below, Dasia wears Monica's dress, and Monica wears Dasia's dress. Zig & Zag wears an outfit that came on a Herobuilders action figure (the top has 2 snaps, and only the top one will snap).

Below, Dasia wears Monica's bikini, and Monica wears the Hollywood Starlette undies that Dasia normally wears. Zig & Zag wears Jakks Pacific Lola's outfit.

Below, Dasia wears a Ken jacket, Monica wears Zig & Zag's dress (it will not close in the back), and Zig & Zag wears a Sparkle Girlz dress.

In the photos below, Dasia wears Mammy's dress, Monica wears a Ken shirt and Mammy's red petticoat and a different pair of Monster High shoes, and Zig & Zag wears a Triad Alpha leotard with shorts from the fashion pack.

Below, Dasia wears the Herobuilders jacket and Scottie Pippen's shorts, Monica wears Mixis Opal's dress (which does not resemble a dress on her) with Russell Williams' shorts, and Zig & Zag wears a Sparkle Girlz dress.

And here's my video slideshow. 😊