 Love it but a few tweaks needed, and comments on optional furniture/accessories/dolls |
| Review Date: May 20, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Abby's Mom, State College, PA |
I love the look of this doll house and would highly recommend. I got it on sale and with free shipping at holiday time from Amazon, more than 30% less than the local toy store was charging for it (thanks, Amazon!). Daughter was pleased with Santa for bringing it and liked the house right-off. She and friends and adults have admired and played with it ever since. We have it sitting on an inexpensive, rather large coffee table that we bought at a yard sale -- you'll need something to put it on. Overall, the M&D victorian doll house is a hit and was a good value for the money. However, a few tweaks could improve it... making it better for kids to play with. Some things to note:
1. Major Assembly Required. We got this out of the box on Christmas Eve after the kids were in bed... I'd recommend an earlier start. Embarking on assembly, my husband said "The instruction manual is 35 pages long; I'm going to get my tools and a beer." An hour or two later, it was assembled. The instructions were fine, and the drill came in handy.
2. The furniture & accessories (purchased separately) are NOT a must-have. You couldn't have convinced me of this at the time that I ordered since they look so cute. The M&/D furniture sets are very cute, and are reasonably well made, but the whole set is not needed. I was surprised that the furniture sets just barely fit in the rooms -- when furnished, there is not enough room to play in the house, even with small hands. Given the cuteness factor, I'd suggest just purchasing the bedroom, living room, and bathroom set and supplementing with other things that you have around. We put away some of the more fragile pieces for the future, given that our daughter is only 3 and making more room. Also to note, having the nursery furniture in the attic (as they portray) doesn't make sense, and with the steeply sloping roof of the top floor, you can't really use the rocking chair or tall crib up there. I also bought the accessory kits, and though they are really cute, they are truly not needed, are more appropriate for a 10 year old than a 3 year old (of course) and would just crowd things further. Tweak needed:the house would be much improved if the whole things was about 20% bigger (taller? redesign?) to accommodate the furniture and allowing more room for kids to actually play inside it.
3. The Victorian Doll Family (purchased separately) needs improvement. These dolls are super cute from my perspective, I love their non-plastic look and outfits, but daughter (3.5) and her friends (3-6) just don't really like them. Daughter told me recently that I can give the M&D family to good will-- all except for the baby. I put them away to give her in a few years. The M&D Victorian family dolls are not very flexible -- not easy to make "sit" in the chairs etc. She has been using other dolls (small 2-5" size, like disney princesses and polly-pocket, and some of the small barbie-sister and barbie-baby dolls) with the house and likes those much better, though they are not a perfect match for this house. Tweak needed: the cute M&D dolls need to be bendy (arms, elbows, legs, knees) to stay in new positions, and have changeable clothes/shoes, for kids to actually like them. Perhaps add a boy to the set too? |
Dissappointed
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| Review Date: March 16, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Mother of Many, |
| My daughter spotted this at our local Melissa and Doug toy outlet. She instantly fell in love with it and asked Santa to bring it for christmas. The assembly was very easy and I loved all the furniture that was available to purchase for it. The doll family was not what I envisioned for this beautiful house and my daughter most often uses her polly dolls or peekaboos. The furniture is not sturdy at all. We have had several misshaps already with what I would call normal use. The rooms are crowded and the interior is very dark. We ended up putting it on top of a small table in her room with a lamp behind it so she can see better. She does play with it but, for the price I wish I would of kept her other doll house. Very dissapointed with this Melissa and Dough product. |
grandma's gift
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| Review Date: February 3, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Linda S. Pacheco, |
| This is a beautiful house. It is heavy. My daughter put it together for my granddaughter downstairs. It took two to take it upstairs. I am happy I got it for my granddaughter. She and her friends enjoy many hours playing with it. |
Overall it's good!
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| Review Date: January 5, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Night Owl, |
| I have always wanted a wooden dollhouse and finally I received this one. It took a bit to put it together, but the end product was absolutely worth it. When building this you probably want to be two people unless you are an speedy screw tightener. Also when putting this together, just use some common sense and it is no trouble to put it together. Everything looks really high quality and wherever you put it up it will surely look beautiful. Just a few more suggestions; if you do get the furniture to go in it just work on moving the furniture around because if you put it the way that they suggest on the box the house will look a little crowded, but if you take the time it will be surely worth the investment because it looks fantastic, is super sturdy, and I for one think that most who get this will not be disappointed it is a wonderful treasure that will last a lifetime if it is taken care of. It's worth the investment, the instructions were quite simple to follow and the finished product looks great. |
Great Dollhouse
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| Review Date: December 29, 2009 |
| Reviewer: H. Snapp, Winchester, VA USA |
| This dollhouse is very sturdy and looks great once put together. I would say the only downfall to construction of the dollhouse is none of the panels are labeled (even though the written instructions letter the panels)so you have to find the correct panel by looking at the pictures. None are exactly the same, but it obviously took longer to put together because of this. The kitchen and bathroom are a little small for furniture. My daughter absolutely loved it. It is so big. She will get years of playing with this dollhouse. |
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I love wooden dollhouses! I love them so much that I own a couple dollhouses. My husband often wishes that our own house would be as nice and tidy as my doll houses. My 2 young boys and myself spend hours re-arranging furniture and playing “house”. To own an elegant Victorian dollhouse was a childhood dream. I always wanted one as a little girl but never got one. So I promised myself a Victorian dollhouse as an adult and made it happen. After researching dollhouses on online, I was thrilled to find a high quality heirloom dollhouse that was affordable & beautiful. The Melissa & Doug Classic Heirloom Victorian Doll House is now making the dreams of so many children come true. It’s already built and ready to fill up with beautiful hand crafted furniture.
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