A Christmas Vacation in the City

Dear Readers,

I have posted a little Christmas story on my Instagram account so I wanted to share this as well on my blog for those who don't have Instagram!  The first dollhouse I bought after my daughter was born was a dollhouse from Calico Critters/Sylvanian Families and I still love this brand very much.  The animal figures are adorable and I wanted to share my love for these toys by creating a photo story with them.  I have also included toys from the Playmobil company and miniature from Re-ment.

The Norwood Mouse Family live in a cozy cottage in the countryside.

A few days before Christmas, the Norwood Mouse Family gets a call. Their cousins are inviting them to come over for the holidays

Mommy mouse hurriedly picks a few vegetables from her garden as gifts to her cousins. 

Far away in the city, the Milky Mouse family is getting ready to welcome their cousins for the Christmas holidays.

The Milky Mouse Family are gathering in the living room to light the Christmas tree.

At last the Norwood Mouse Family arrives!

“Fresh vegetables? Thank you ! It’s so sweet of you! But my family prefer cookies and cupcakes.

“This is your room ? I never want to leave this place!"

“Let’s watch the World Cup and play video games after! Best vacation ever!”

After a very exciting evening, all big and little mice are fast asleep.

Merry Christmas! Joyeux Noël! 

Christmas vacation was so much fun but being away makes you appreciate your own home even more because nothing compares to home! Merry Christmas dear friends! May you enjoy happiness and peace with your loved ones.

 

I hope you have enjoyed this story and I wish you all a very happy holiday season and a happy new year!

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.  

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?  

A Review of the Playmobil Suburban Dollhouse

Dear Readers,

I love dollhouses.  I am obsessed with them.  Over the  years, I have accumulated quite a few of different sizes.  It all started with a dollhouse from Calico Critters (aka Sylvanian Families).  Their dollhouses are very sturdy and beautiful but they were too big for some of my figures so I decided to get a Playmobil dollhouse.

I started with the Take Along Modern Dollhouse (5167) which was a very good starter choice.  It came all furnished with plenty of accessories and a family too.  It was small enough to fit on a bookshelf and clean up was easy and quick: just shove everything back into the dollhouse (^_^).

But it was soon too small for all the figures I had so I looked for a bigger house.  Playmobil had released many models of big dollhouses but there are only three presently sold on their online store (in my country):  

1. The Large Dollhouse (70205)
2. The Suburban Dollhouse (4279)
3. The Modern Luxury Mansion (5574)

Each of them are much bigger than the Take Along Dollhouse and you can buy floor extension to make them even bigger.  I chose the Suburban Dollhouse because I like that design the most.

I also purchased the following sets:

• 7387 Floor Extension
• 7388 Corner Extension
• 7389 Corner Floor Extension
• 7390 Light Kit 1
• 7391 Light Kit 2  

As with all Playmobil toys, you have to build them.  It took me about 6 hours to build the dollhouse with all the extensions and lighting system.

The dollhouse set includes four figures (a mom, dad, son and daughter), a dog, a table, 2 chairs, a grill, a tray, bread, sausage and meat.  

That is really not a lot of furniture but fortunately I have other Playmobil furniture sets.

Each room is very spacious and easy for hands to access.  The possibilities are endless when it comes to setting it up.  

The walls are bare so I will eventually add some mirrors, paintings or other decorations.

With the floor and corner extensions, I had enough space to create a sewing room.

The roof on the top floor has windows that you can open as well.

There is a balcony and a nice patio on the side of the house.  The staircases are really well placed because they don't block hands from accessing the inside of the house.

The front balconies have glass doors and the side balcony has a regular door.  They can all close and open easily.  I especially like the glass doors.

This dollhouse has many cool features: windows that you can open both ways, a roof terrace, balconies and a retractable awning on the top balcony, a doorbell that chimes, and lights with a functioning switch.  

All in all I am very happy with this dollhouse and I don't regret choosing this model.  Here below are my list of pros and cons for this dollhouse:

Pros: 

• Very sturdy
• Beautiful design
• Lots of play potential
• Easy to clean 
• Includes a set of 4 figures
• Clear instructions

Cons:

• Takes a long time to assemble
• Does not come with many furniture 
• Have to buy extensions + lights separately 

Do you like this house?  Do you have a favorite Playmobil dollhouse?

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

Re-ment Hamtaro Room

 Dear Readers,

A few months ago I found out Re-ment had released a collection about Hamtaro.  The hamster character was from a cute Japanese manga and anime.  

The Re-ment set is called "Hamtaro Room" and featured 8 sets of miniatures, including a fridge, a bed, and numerous little house and food items.

It was just too cute to pass so I got it as soon as I could and displayed them in the Fairy Treehouse from Playmobil.

But the treehouse was a little small so I tried to fit them in the Li'l Woodzeez Acorn Treehouse.  This one has a light on the first floor and next to the front door.  

The Acorn Treehouse came with its own set of furniture and accessories.  I love the leaf chairs and table!  But the cups and small accessories are too big for the Hamtaro figures.

It's not really a problem because the Re-ment box came with their own cups and food items!

I think the Re-ment Hamtaro Room could possible fit in different dollhouses as well like the ones from Playmobil or Calico Critters (Sylvanian Families).  

What do you think about this miniature collection?  

New Licca Furniture Sets

Dear Readers,

Did you know Licca has a new collection of furniture?  I am really excited about this because they are of course to scale with my Licca and Dal dolls!  The color palette is white with pink accents and sometimes there is a romantic flower motif.

Initially, the new furniture collection had only four pieces:

• a canopy bed
• a vanity with chair
• a récamier
• a shoe rack

But then I noticed two new items which will be released on December 26th:

• a desk with a birdcage and a chair
• a mirror with a mannequin

Each of the furniture set looks really beautiful so although I already have an old furniture set from the Licca brand, the new furniture collection is far more detailed and beautiful.

I buy my Licca furniture from Amazon.com and sometimes Ebay.  I search for "Licca" and "Rika-chan" to find the items.

Do you like the new furniture collection?

Disclaimer: All opinions are my own. I was not paid or received gifts to write this or mention any stores or website. You may find a better store in your area.