A Fangtastic Repurpose: From Barbie Dream House to Monster High School

Repurposing old toys is a great way to bring new life to an unused item for kids. In the past couple of years, my 7-year-old daughter has had an increasing interest in the “Monster High” TV show and dolls, and, in turn, handed off her Barbie dolls to her younger sister. She wanted a unique space to play with her new dolls, so we were in search of the perfect Monster High School. After finding an unwanted Barbie house at a local garage sale, our minds were spinning at the possibilities of a renovation with killer style.

With the help of a couple of cans of black spray paint for plastic, this freaky fabulous transformation was underway. We cleaned and removed all stickers prior to spraying the house. To make the new space extra ghastly, we added school posters (“Fearleader Tryouts”), wall backdrop scenes (hall of lockers), rugs (carpet samples) and reused Barbie furniture. The web is a great place to search for “printables.” Just print favorite images to sticker paper and cut them out to use as wall art and flooring. This process gave my daughter and me a creative way to spend time together and the result gave her a totally “creeperific” new toy for creative play.

By Jennifer Griffith, Senior Design Consultant

The GoodGuide Product Ratings

Imagine scanning the barcode of a product you were thinking about buying with your internet-enabled phone and immediately finding out how that product could impact your health and how socially and environmentally responsible its manufacturing company is.

This technology already exists.

Currently in its beta version, the GoodGuide is a customer-oriented, product-focused rating system (also available as an iPhone app) that incorporates user reviews.  The GoodGuide provides ratings for over 65,000 food, toy, personal care, and household products, and users can save a list of their favorites.

According to their website,

“GoodGuide is in business to provide authoritative information about the health, environmental and social performance of products and companies.  Our mission is to help consumers make purchasing decisions that reflect their preferences and values.  We believe that better information can transform the marketplace: as more consumers buy better products, retailers and manufacturers face compelling incentives to make products that are safe, environmentally sustainable and produced using ethical sourcing of raw materials and labor.”

But where does the GoodGuide get its information?

Its website claims that the GoodGuide crew gathers data from over 1,000 sources, including scientific institutions, governmental agencies, socially responsible investment rating agencies, non-governmental organizations, the media and companies that manufacture the products rated.  You can find the specific sources used for each product rating by clicking on ‘full rating details’.

Here’s how it Works: