A Witch Dollhouse

 Dear Readers,

Are you ready for Halloween?  I have costumes ready for the children and I have bags full of candies for the trick-or-treaters!  I also decorated one of my dollhouse for Halloween.  Do you remember Althea? She is a Sweet Spell Scarlet Petite Blythe doll for which I didn't have a dollhouse yet.  So this year, I decided to give her a house. 

I rummaged through my storage to find the Bear Store from Maple Town and paired it with furniture from Calico Critters (aka Sylvanian Families).  I used to watch Maple Town Japanese cartoons (Les Petits Malins pour les Francophones - merci à Mes Vladeries pour me rappeler le titre en Français!) when I was little and there were many dollhouses with furniture and figures back in the days.  They are about the same size as Calico Critters but the brand discontinued.   

The miniatures are from Re-ment Witch's House collection which was released in April 2021.  There are so many beautiful items in this collection!

Photo from Re-ment

Here is Althea showing you her new home.  She is wearing her original outfit which consists of a dress, apron, cat ears and tail and she also has a broom and hat which are not showing in my pictures.  She wears a collar with a little bell that does jingle faintly when you shake it.

The dollhouse is just the perfect height for her and has plenty of room to display all her books and tools to brew potions.  I use the tree trunk tables from the old school set by Calico Critters Epoch.

For the bedroom, the burgundy and brown bed and dining set from Calico Critters were just perfect for a witch house.  I especially like the bedding which also had a pillow in the same color palette.

Althea can finally have a very cozy house!  Her pet cat and owl will be keeping watch while she sleep!

Do you like Althea's house?  Do you remember the Maple Town cartoons?  I am so happy I kept this dollhouse although it was so old.  

Disclaimer: All opinions are my own. I was not paid nor received gifts to write this or mention any store or website.  

Playmobil Princess Castle New Furniture

 Dear Readers,

Playmobil has released new furniture sets for their Princess Castles this year!  I got a few of them to decorate my old Fairy Tale Castle (9879).

Castle Bakery (set 70451)

The pink firewood oven and showcase/cupboard are adorable!  There are only two stickers to apply to the oven so it was not a lot of work but what took most of the time to set up was decorating the cakes!  There are many tiny pieces in this set because of this.  The princess figure is so pretty with her apron and little baker's hat.

Music Room (set 70452)

I am so glad to have purchased this set because it includes musical instruments I didn't have yet: the cello and the white violin!  I already had a harp and a flute but it was nice to get them in a different color!

Another thing that surprised me is that the princesses are wearing outfits that I have never seen before within the Playmobil clothes range.  One princess is wearing a skirt with a train in the back and the other is wearing a one piece dress with a low sash adorned with a rose.  They are both gorgeous!

See how lovely it looks from the side?

Dressing Room (set 70454) 

I was not going to get this set but princesses need pretty gowns! And this includes different hairstyles as well! I was very pleased with this set!  The outfits are indeed very beautiful!

I like the big poofy skirts that look like they have a crinoline underneath!  You can also decorate them with ribbons.  And they have a lovely train like the dress from the Music Room set.

Royal Bedroom (set 70453)

The bedroom includes two beds and a kitten as well!  There are two lovely princess figures and they have of course beautiful gowns that you can remove.

Both beds could fit in one "room" or you can put them in two different rooms as well.  I think both beds in one room could be too much so I separated them.

This way, it can be easier to move the figures around now that they have more space and you can add more furniture to the room too.

I am very tempted to buy another bedroom set so I can have four beds in total because the beds are so beautiful and I need beds for the other princesses too!

The bedroom set includes pillows and blankets but only one dressing table and one side table so if you separate the room, one of them will be missing out on the tables.  But if you have other furniture sets from Playmobil, than can be easily fixed of course.  I'll dig into my Playmobil toy storage and pull out some other furniture later to add to the castle rooms!

This bedroom set is really awesome because the bed design is totally new to the Playmobil line and the princesses are wearing great outfits too.  I also want to point out that it's awesome that Playmobil is now offering figures with features from various ethnic backgrounds and different skin tones!  

Here is a shot of the back of the castle.  I think I will add curtains to the back of those rooms (they were included in the original set but have been lost since).

I am super happy with the new Princess Furniture Collection! There were lots of new items and more variety when it came to figures.  

Do you like the new castle princess figures, furniture and outfits?

Disclaimer: All opinions are my own. I was not paid or received gifts to write this or mention any store or website.  

Playmobil Camping Lodge

Dear Readers, 

It's the end of August already and my children are back in school!  How was your summer?  Did you go somewhere for vacation?  I wished I could go out camping but the summers where I live are too hot for camping.  Speaking of camping, I was surprised to see the Camping Lodge 6887 for sale again after many years! It was sold out for so long I thought it would never come back. I am glad they decided to continue production of this set!  It was released previously as Set 9152 but is now appears as Set 6887. I don't know if there is a difference between the two sets as I don't own Set 9152. 

This set includes many items (list below is per the official website): Figures: 1 man, 2 boys, 1 girl; Accessories: 1 summer camp, 2 sinks, 1 shower, 1 toilet, 1 zip line with ladder, 1 rope with hook, 1 zip line sled, 1 wall shelf with sink, 1 swivel barbecue, 1 fire embers, 1 bed, 4 cribs, 1 signboard, 1 target, 1 bow, 3 arrows, 1 wooden table, 4 wooden stools, 1 carrying box, 1 tub, 2 boxes, 1 shelf insert, 1 coffee pot, 4 mugs, 1 casserole dish, 1 saucepan, 1 pan, 1 sheet cake, 2 trays, 1 set of rolls, 1 barbecue tongs, 4 x barbecue meat, 4 plates, 4 spoons, 4 forks, 4 knives, 1 frisbee disc, 1 cosmetic bottle, 1 children's bag, 1 children's guitar, 3 tins, 6 juice bags, 1 soccer, 2 hard hats, 1 cap.

My 8 year old built it in less than one hour although she did get some help to snap in a few pieces.  There are many small pieces so please don't give this toy to young children.  I added some trees and a raccoon set from Playmobil to make it look more like a forest setting.   

Four figures are included in this set.  One adult man and 3 children (2 boys and 1 girl).  They had really cute outfits.  All of them wore a hoodie and shoes, except for one little boy.

This is a view of their back to show you their hoodie hat hanging out!

The bow and arrow set is so cute!  And the fire pit is one of my favorite among all the Playmobil camping fire pits I own (yes there are quite a few different ones).

Everything was very easy to assemble.  We had to apply the stickers ourselves to the juice boxes and cans.  There were actually just a few stickers to apply overall.

The inside of the Camping Lodge is spacious.   There is a wall on one side and it has a huge window which lets a lot of light in.  The other side has a partial wall only so it makes it easy to access everything.

There are 5 beds on the back wall : 1 for an adult and 4 beds for children.  They are easy to pull out so you can put them on the floor or inside a tent.   The kitchen is rather basic with only a sink, one stovetop and a copper pot, a pan and a baking tray.  There are four plates, four cups, a kettle and utensils.  Some bread in a tray and a casserole dish (maybe lasagna?).

There is a shower and two sinks on the back of the Lodge.  And if you open the door... surprise!!!  

I like how the toilet is hidden that way.

The huge window on the other side of the lodge lets a lot of light in which illuminate the Lodge well and you won't need a lamp inside.

I really like the color palette of this Camping Lodge.  It blends well with the forest theme.

There is also a zip line that you can attach from the house to a furniture and a bunch of little things like a frisbee, hat, purse, soccer ball.  It's a really nice set and the kids liked it very much.  This set is definitely a keeper and didn't take hours to built!

Do you like the Camping Lodge?

Disclaimer: All opinions are my own. I was not paid nor received gifts to write this or mention any store or website.  

The Calico Critters Deluxe Celebration Home

 Dear Readers,

The Calico Critters Deluxe Celebration Home is the 35th Anniversary Limited Edition Dollhouse released by this Japanese company which is also known as Sylvanian Families in the rest of the world.

Like all dollhouses from this company, it comes already built except for a few additions like the window frames or balcony railings.  It has a beautiful light pink exterior with a blue roof and green doors.

It features 3 floors so it is very spacious.

A very special element in this house is the elevator that you can move up and down by turning the weathervane located on top of the dollhouse.  The elevator door opens and closes automatically when you reach a floor.

This dollhouse includes many furniture and even two Persian Cat sister figures.

Photo from Calico Critters

These are the three floors on the Right Side.

These are the three floors on the Left Side.

Kitchen

I decorated the kitchen with a separate furniture set from Calico Critters because the kitchen island that was included in the dollhouse was not enough to fill the room (although it did include many beautiful items like the toaster oven, scale, grill and mixer).

Living Room

The living room is decorated entirely with the furniture included in the dollhouse.  The sofa chairs and tables are a very unique sage green color.  

Lounge Room

I created a lounge room with another living room set from Calico Critters.  It comes with a TV, coffee table with a teapot and two cups and saucers, a lamp, a magazine rack, and two big sofa chairs.

Bathroom

The bathroom set was not included in the dollhouse.  I had to furnish it with a separate set from Calico Critters.   The ceiling lamp was also purchased separately from the dollhouse.

Kids Room

The kids room comes with bunk beds and a piano with two chairs.

Main Bedroom

The vanity is included in this dollhouse (with the same sage green color as the living room set) but the bed and bedside table are from another set.

That's just how I decorated the house but you can of course make it completely different by changing the furniture. And you know I'll be changing things in a short while!  That's part of the fun of having a dollhouse.  

Another thing you can modify is how the house looks because since it comes in 3 separate units, you can change the look of the house by placing the units in different positions.

Pros:

• Dollhouse is already built
• The elevator goes up and down
• Includes  many furniture
• Includes two figures
• Many possible house combination designs

Cons:

• Does not include the lights
• Does not include a whole family
• Does not include a bathroom
• Does not include a full kitchen

I did enjoy the fact that I didn't have to spend 5 hours building this dollhouse like I had to do for the Playmobil dollhouse but this one has a few drawbacks of course.  For example, the lamps are not included with this set and even if they were included, the lights from Calico Critters are not very bright and so they cannot illuminate the house well like a Playmobil home.

How do you like this dollhouse?  

Disclaimer: All opinions are my own. I was not paid nor received gifts to write this or mention any store or website.  

The Playmobil Fairy Tale Castle

 Dear Readers,

I had this Playmobil Fairy Tale Castle (9879) for many years already but I didn't write about it yet.  It was first produced many years ago but Playmobil is releasing it again this year.

My set was an old set which I had bought second-hand.  It came with a bunch of figures and some furniture. It was missing a few items like some flower pots but the main components were there.  I decorated the castle with various furniture sets from Playmobil.

Each floor has almost the same layout so there were 3 rooms per floor but they were not divided by any walls or doors.

The castle came with an additional floor so I added a bedroom and a bathroom.

On the left side, there is a small balcony.

On top floor, only the middle room has a roof and a golden gate/door.

I prefer this castle model to all the other Playmobil castles.  I love the design and I really like the extra space and how everything is so open.   

Pros:

• Very easy for hands to access inside the rooms
• The throne backdrop is gorgeous
• The floor addition creates a lot of extra space
• The castle can fit on a narrow surface

Cons:

• It took a long time to assemble
• Not many furniture is included

Which castle from Playmobil do you prefer?

Disclaimer: All opinions are my own. I was not paid or received gifts to write this or mention any store or website.  

The Playmobil Fantasy Princess Castle

 Dear Readers,

I got this Playmobil Fantasy Princess Castle (5142) a few years ago.  I nicknamed it the Swan Castle because it contained many swan symbols (on the flag, in the shape of the throne chair, the window design, etc).     

Playmobil is a brand that I have loved since I was a child and is still one of my favorite because their toys are very well made and although the buildings take a long time to assemble, they are sturdy and feature realistic details; for example, you can open most doors and windows and the furniture and decorative items are appropriate for the theme at hand.  Playmobil offers many type of medieval castle/buildings but I prefer the princess castles so I chose the Fantasy Castle.

It’s an enormous structure with a tall turret, a grandiose staircase and spacious rooms.  It took 3 hours to build.  Although the castle comes with detailed instructions, the assembly is still a tedious process.  I furnished the castle with Playmobil items I had from previous sets

Dollhouse furniture from other brands can work well with Playmobil too.  Like the ones from Sofia the First because they are about the same scale and the color palette from Sofia the First blends well with the Playmobil castle.

There is a balcony above the front gates which is also a connector between the two sections of the castle.

Some of the windows have a lovely swan design and can open and close.

The top floor also has a big spacious room with windows.

Another type of furniture that fits well in the castle are the Calico Critters (aka Sylvanian Families) like the bed in the picture below.

There is a revolving dance floor on which you can put the figures to make them swirl around to "dance".   

The Princess Fantasy Castle includes the following items:

• two figures (a prince and princess)
• 1 throne chair
• 2 chairs
• 1 long chaise
• 1 chandelier
• 1 tea set
• 1 pitcher with a plate
• 6 clear goblets
• flower bushes
• 1 little pond
• 2 black kittens
• 1 dragonfly
• 1 butterfly
• 2 apples
• 1 life-size jewelry box wih
• life-size tiara, bracelet and ring

Picture by Playmobil

Here below is my pros and cons list.

Pros:

• There are many rooms
• A gate is included
• Some windows can open
• The winding staircase is covered with a soft carpet

Cons:

• It took a long time to assemble
• Not many furniture is included
• The castle is very large and irregular in size
• It does not fit well on a narrow table

The children had a lot of fun staging fights between the princes and the dragon or having elegant ballroom dances.  It is a really beautiful castle that lends to many play scenarios!

Disclaimer: All opinions are my own. I was not paid or received gifts to write this or mention any store or website.