Jennifer Brown opened Barbie’s House on the border of Prosper and Celina after watching her mother Barbie operate her own design business for 30 years.
“My goal for opening the retail location was to provide people a place to come in and shop and get cute gifts and more, but also to share my work for design services,” Brown said.
Since establishing Barbies House interior design in 2014, Brown has consistently expanded both her design services and retail business as well as opening her own storefront in 2024.
Barbie’s House features a curated collection of home decor, furniture, lighting, textiles and fragrances and has recently expanded its selection to include mahjong sets.
The backstory
Before opening Barbie’s House, she worked in the corporate world for 20 years until she was able to pursue her dream of opening a home design company.
Brown took inspiration for her company from her mother, Barbie Clariday, who operates Ooh’s and Ahh’s interior design in Houston.
“Everybody adores her and loves Barbie,” Brown said. “She's got a great sense of style. All of her work is just beautiful, and I just thought that there's no one better to name my store after than her.”
Barbie, however, did not know that Brown would name the business after her.
“I didn't tell her until we put the sign up on the building and I drove over here and showed her,” Brown said. “She cried, obviously. She just was very, very touched.”
In addition to her mother’s influence, Barbie’s House is contributed to by Brown's husband.
“My husband is an architect and he's done this his entire career.
And so we're actually teamed up on a lot of different things,” Brown said. “He has a corporate job, but he'll help me on the side with this kind of stuff too.”
What they offer
At Barbie’s House, customers can browse a handpicked selection of home furnishings, decor, lighting, scents and textiles. The Barbie’s House storefront is arranged like a showroom, allowing customers to envision what a product would look like in their home.
Brown works closely with wholesale brands to source her products along with the inventory she uses for her interior design projects.
Recently, mahjong rooms have become a popular trend in Prosper, which Brown has begun designing at Barbie’s House.
“I've had four mahjong room design projects for clients, like, full out, dedicated spaces for mahjong, and I'm doing one right now,” Brown said.
According to Brown, there are no limitations to mahjong rooms when designing them for clients.
“We did a mahjong room for a client, and her personality is big and vivacious, and she's like, ‘I don't want boring, I don't want anything anybody else has. I want it to be unique, fun and bright,’ and so we painted her entire room teal,” Brown said.
Brown continued furnishing the room with a wallpaper ceiling, a Murphy bed, green mahjong tables and pink chairs.
“We just went nuts in there because we could since it's a mahjong room,” Brown said.
At Barbie’s House, Brown believes that the best part of any design is helping a client discover their style.
“It's really fun to help a client figure out who they are, who they want to be and how they want their home to reflect that,” Brown said.
Going forward
After two years at the Barbie's House storefront, Brown said she was able to hire her first intern this summer and she is looking to hire an additional employee as her business continues to expand.
“I would just love to continue working with clients in this area and just keep doing this, because it brings me a lot of joy,” Brown said. "This has always been my dream, and now I'm doing it.”
