Found for $5 bucks on Saturday morning is this cute Room-fulls Studio Bedroom set from c. 1974-75. Too new to be considered vintage by some collectors, they've nevertheless become popular since they are so good for displaying your dolls.
Barbie on the box is wearing Best Buy #7814, also from 1974. Looks like a Malibu Barbie to me. She has the old-style Japan arms.
The box is pretty beat up but the goodies inside are okay.
The back of the box has a cool 70s graphic, with a sunny sun smiling on Barbie's house.
Other sets included a living room and kitchen. They are somewhat cheaply made like most Mattel items from this era, but the backdrops are amazing!
Close-up of the bedroom graphic.
Close-up of the other sets.
The chair is somewhat overstuffed and made with a thin felt-like fabric. It doesn't stand up very well but does better when Barbie is sitting on it. It's a little dirty so I'm going to attempt to spot clean it.
The studio bed/sofa is a blue plastic box (that oddly enough seems to have two "mounting screw holes" in the top of it for some reason... (picture later?) The "bedspread" is a very tightly fitted cover that cannot be used as a blanket or anything, just as a cover to the plastic box. The pillows are cotton fabric in a calico strawberry print. The bedspread patchwork-esque fabric should be familiar to collectors of Best Buy-era fashions, because it was used in several outfits. Barbie's Best Buy #7414 from 1975 used this fabric, as did Tutti's #7481 from 1976 Europe. It's also likely this fabric appears in other outfits that Mattel used to de-stash, because I have a feeling I have several other items in this print.
The radio/hi-fi/stereo cabinet is just a blue plastic shape with stickers making the graphics.
The backdrop is the best part! Cool graphics and really good to encourage the imagination. It can be folded in various ways to make a room-shape. (The yellow card is just a carpet stand-in and was not actually included.) I also like that they went through the effort to make the cushion on the stool match the print of the bed.
Sadly the stuffed elephant that is supposed to be included is missing. If I see the flea market guy again I'll have to ask him to let me know if he finds it in with his boxes of various junk. :)
Anyway, that's the find of the week.
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