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?  

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!

Hannah's Miniatyrer

Dear Readers,

I have received incredible miniatures from HANNAH'S MINIATYRER Etsy Shop!  Hannah is an very talented miniaturist from Sweden.  She writes a great BLOG about her creations.  Look at this adorable miniature pull toy sheep!  Also in the package are a hand-women rug and a mini Peter Rabbit book from Beatrix Potter!!!

The book is so detailed and includes text and color images too!  It is just the right size for my Sylvanian Families / Calico Critters figures!

Speaking of Sylvanian Families,  I wanted to enter Eaton Blackberry's Contest and write a review about my new bedroom furniture set on the Sylvanian Families Forum.  But for strange reasons, I can't upload my photos on the Forum so I'll show my review here for now and try on the Forum tomorrow again. 

The Sylvanian Families Children's Bedroom Furniture set was a gift from a friend who bought it for me while she was vacationing in Hong Kong this year.

Front of box

It includes:

2 bed
2 pillows
2 mattresses
2 blankets
1 ladder
2 stuffed animals (teddy bear and squirrel)
1 bookshelf with drawers
1 pencil holder
2 pencils
1 ruler
1 timetable
1 ruler poster (to measure growing up)
1 poster
2 plastic books
1 book end
3 cardboard books
4 postcards

Back of box

As with all Sylvanian Families/Calico Critters products, the details will amaze you!  The ruler has small indentations just like a real ruler and the book end was a really great addition.

I love the blankets! Very cute motif!  The bed can be displayed side by side or stacked like a bunk bed.  The ladder fits perfectly on the bed rail.

The bookcase has many compartments that can open.  The book end is a nice accessory and the pencil holder is really cute with the pencils and ruler.

The stuffed animals are so cute!  I was surprised to find out they were not plastic but flocked!

They even have tails!  All flocked and super soft!

The Calico/Sylvanian children figures fit just right in those beds.

Candy Mulberry is very happy to play with two adorable stuffed animals!

This furniture set is just too cute for words!  Candy and Ike agree!

So do you like this Children's Bedroom Furniture set?  And don't you think the miniature from HANNAH MINIATYRER are wonderful?   I am very tempted to buy her teddy bears and her clay pies now that I see how great they look with my critters!

Storage Space

Dear Readers,

I am so glad it's Friday.  I look forward to the last day of the week because the weekend is near and I will finally have time to be with my children at home.  This week seemed longer than normal because my daughter was teething and so she was feverish and cried for hours non-stop.  She is usually clingy but this time I literally could not let her down and had to carry her in my arms all the time.  Well thank goodness it's over now and she is back to her happy self but it's been tough for her and for us to see her so miserable.

Now that she feels better I will be able to take our family out to dinner with my father and his wife who came to visit us all the way from Canada.  They are staying for a month so we will probably go out more often than usual so we can show them around the city.

I also hope to have more time to organize the new cabinets my husband has installed this week.  I desperately needed more storage space for my miniature collection, dolls and dollhouse furniture!  I started to store them inside the cabinets and I realized how much stuff I have.  I knew I had a lot but it's not until they are all gathered in one single space that it really shows.  I will have to do some more purging!

Here below are some pictures from the shelves I have filled.  It's just one portion of the cabinets.  There are lots more to organize.  Like my craft supplies and my son's toys... Hopefully I will have time to do it soon.  Have a great weekend everybody!