Dolls house for an 8 year old

[Alifemoreordinary123]

My daughter has asked for a dolls house for the last couple of years. I’ve resisted - she loves very open play and I’ve never been sure she’d play with a dolls house. Probably the wrong decision in hindsight - she has really enjoyed my old Sylvanian’s at my Dad’s house. She’s asked again for Christmas so im going to see what I can do! I would like a wooden dollhouse and interesting bits to go in it - ideally dolls that move, bits of food, opening drawers etc. I don’t just want a moulded set of furniture with no interest. Would love recommendations - I’m struggling a bit with which house and where to start with dolls and furniture. Budget flexible but i had wondered about getting a cheaper house (under £100) and then adding the bits and pieces.

When my girls wanted a dolls house i got one from asda, really decent size, Great quality and great price, it came with some bits and dolls but i looked in charity shops and ebay and found loads for really good prices xxx

Temu and aliexpress do loads of really cute dolls house accessories. If you type “dolls house food” in for example loads of stuff comes up.

my mum let us decorate her old dolls house when we were kids. We made wallpaper for it (some painted by us, and some cut out of samples from Homebase or similar), made rugs out of fabric fat quarters, made curtains. It wasn’t perfect but it was so fun and we thought it looked amazing 😂

@MissL28 super helpful, thank you. I went to buy an Asda house before posting this with exactly that plan, but it was out of stock and it threw me (there is a particular house that looked lovely) the one left I wasn’t keen on. Any tips on where to buy bits and pieces and how you judged things size wise?

@Newbie887 thank you, I had wondered about getting something plain and then decorating it ourselves

Dollshouses come up secondhand alot. I'd be checking fb marketplace if i was you. You can get beautiful houses for next to nothing in perfect condition.

Gives you more budget to play with for other stuff.

My favorite dollshouses are plan toys and pintoys. Pintoys don't exist anymore but come up secondhand all the time. Seaech for wooden dollshouse/dollhouse/dolls house/ doll house use all the spellings and you'll find loads. You can also search ebay for your area.

Plan toys furniture is also nice but expensive and theres loads of alterntives. I like the le toy van one. The le toy van dolls are my favourite set for younger children. But are a bit bigger. The baby goes in the sling and stuff.

When you're talking about small parts it sounds like she'd love maileg. But thats expensive, might be worth exploring though as its somethingyou can add to and it keeps its value. Look at sostrene greene. They have loads of minitures for food, little milk bottles etc. Which are great. Also have benches and rocking chairs and loads of bits.

Petite amelie have a nice wooden dollshouse similar to plan toys but cheaper. Worth a browse. Aldis wooden toy sale is thursday. They have dollshouse and furniture in it.

Also sounds like shes the perfect age for playmobil. Hqve you considered a playmobil dollshouse? I've seen loads secondhand lately for next to nothing. Could buy the house secondhand then buy some sets to go in it. Playmobil is perfect for small world play! All the little parts, cars, etc.

The Asda one is what we have. It was on sale a couple of weeks ago which is probably why it's out of stock. I'm sure it will be back before Christmas.

Have you looked at the Playmobil ones? You can get extensions for them and some really detailed furniture and accessories (also available secondhand).

Ours has provided hours of play for DD!

Argos has some Jupiter ones which look very nice. I think (years ago) I bought a plain one (think it must have been a Jupiter Georgian one as it's the same design) and decorated it myself. Ours played with it for years, as did lots of other children who came through the house.

Look on Facebook Marketplace. Should be able to find one at this time of year for between £10-100, complete with lots of furniture, accessories etc.

Then get some bits to re-decorate, extra bits, dolls etc, and she can have all the fun.

Aww im sure they will be back in stock hun, il keep a look out, did it have a pink roof? Id wait until you know what size the house is an check the size of the things with it and check on ebay, but if you do get 1 let us know on here or msg me an il do some searching for you, theres an app called the nextdoor app, they have selling pages on there all the time, il drop u a msg hun, lyndsey x

I found these on smyths xxx

I absolutely loved my dolls house and still.played with it in my teens making furniture and decorating it

This is the exact one I had. Wish I still had it too!!
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/296735169521?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=wxzmtniesfq&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

@Dartmoorcheffy that’s amazing! You should buy it back.

@Antsinmypantsneedtodance really appreciate this - thank you. Great tips and those brands look fab.

@MissL28 thank you. I’m going to sit down tonight and make a list of preferred options and work from there.

Sooooo, since I posted I’ve been down many many dollhouse rabbit holes! I would love your further guidance.

I thought I wanted a wooden, large (80cm+) house with doors that can be closed. I settled on Asda and then started on furniture. Given it’s for an 8 year old, I don’t want lumps of wood with no interest - hence I’ve really struggled with most offerings. I then found Lundby based on someone’s recommendation and loved their stuff. Finally settled on Lundby furniture and dolls and the Le Toy Van house (which looks a better fit the Asda). All sorted, I even bought the dolls). Then I realised that the Lundby stuff is 1:18 ratio and the house is 1:12. I feel like I’ve gone back to square one. I don’t love any other furniture ranges, but I don’t love the Lundby house (strange proportions, plastic and no doors). Help! What would you do? I’ve looked at so many ranges and dolls. Maybe the best option is Le Toy Van house and some furniture and then some bespoke bits from elsewhere.

this is the bundle I’m considering;

www.mulberrybush.co.uk/cherry-tree-hall-package?_gl=11vppcuq_up*MQ..&gclid=Cj0KCQjwyL24BhCtARIsALo0fSBe30J6PUv3HX3y_CbzTSuEvqWGP5kcpM1JeUDdRi2suvxUfq4cWWUaAs1FEALw_wcB&gbraid=0AAAAADy8fPjr3F-PseJsGNO9-PfZxOoNl