Ryan's Room - Quality?

[o_mom]

Anyone have the Ryan's Room dollhouses and furniture? How do they hold up?

I was considering the "Home is where the heart is" version of the house - the creative brains price is really good, and Kidsurplus has some decent furniture deals.

OTOH, I wonder if I could just get the furniture/people and make some rooms myself - kind of a single story with open top and sides deal - since I'm not sure the lasting power of a dollhouse with a boy. :-)

TIA!

[hardysmom]

We got the Ryans Room Firehouse for Christmas and were pretty disappointed. For the price, I think I expected more. Hardy had a hard time moving figures around b/c the roof was low relative to the size of the figures. The garage door broke the first night, much of the furniture was broken by my twins the first week.

For a good price it would have been worth it, but I think boys need bigger spaces since their fine motor seems a little behind the girls (at least in our crowd). An open ceiling is a great idea.

Hardy loves playing people...

Stephanie

[miki]

There was an idea in Family Fun for making a dollhouse using a small set of bookshelves. They showed a set with two levels. The upper level was the bedroom and the lower level was the living area with a little more furniture on the floor in front of the living area. The inside surfaces of the shelves were also decorated to make it look more like a house. HTH

[ErinP]

My DD got this two years ago and it is amazing. I really like the open concept and how you can add on things, like garage, balcony, etc. We have a few rooms and and the furniture has lasted. It's always a big hit when other kids of all ages come over!

[zuzu]

We have the Home Again, Home Again house and several funiture sets. DD has only been playing with them since Chirstmas, but the quality of the house and furniture seems fine. DD is pretty gentle with all the pieces, but our kitten has batted around several of them and we haven't seen any damage.

If you're handy, I think you could easily replicate something similar to the design of the house you're considering.

Like most everything involving children, I think the lasting power of a dollhouse varies. :) A friend's two boys, aged almost four and six, still use their dollhouse regularly, and I have several friends with girls who never got interested in theirs.

Melissa, mom to Sarah (5/03)