Sylvanian novice requires help!

[Angelsus]

We are entering into the world of Sylvanian families this year with both the farm house and the windmill, however I have no idea on which furniture sets are best for these buildings!

They're not cheap so don't want to go overboard, but on the other hand I'd like enough furniture to make them look good. All ideas gratefully received!

Will watch with interest as we are entering into this rather expensive world too .

Well whatever you buy debenhans have 20% off on the site, and hot uk deals have a code for another 20% on
Top and it's free delivery. Happy Christmas!!

That's worth knowing, thanks Princess.

We've been launched into the giddy world of SF by DD (9yo).

There are lots of offers (Argos/Ebay/Entertainer)

She got Beechwood Hall first, then the school.The windmill (half price Sainsburys)
I've got her the Regency Hotel for Christmas (she doesn't know yet)

The furniture and the animals is what adds up. There are loads.DD got Chocolate Labs and Cows.
Some of the houses have furniture or accessories included.
I bought her crockery, cutlery and glasses from Hobbycraft (I know they are not toys but DD is careful)

I'll show my age here with this, but maybe this will inspire someone.

I had Sylvanian Families when I was a kid. Never had any of the houses, and the proper furniture we had was always bought as gifts, never by my parents. I always preferred getting the figures anyway.

Instead, I made furniture in addition to what little I had. I know its not for everyone, and it is very Blue Peter but it was for me. It added a whole other dimension to the toys for me and you could do it to your own tastes. A chest of drawers was a couple of matchboxes covered in fabric or paper. It kinda inspired my younger self and was cheap - may parents could afford much at the time. I never really was bothered about having the proper stuff in the end, cos my stuff was 'better' as none of my friends had it! And it was rare in that, unlike other homemade toy stuff like this, I never found it too hard and it usually looked like it was actually supposed to!

I guess it depends on how old your kids are and whether you fancy having a go at helping them make stuff. Or whether kids even do this type of thing anymore!

If you want to mix and match, I'd say go for the fancier furniture you couldn't do easily yourself as its more 'special' and then do the rest yourself.

Here is a nice little tutorial on how to do a sofa and bed.
www.flickr.com/photos/sparklerama/4470684443/in/set-72157623598107667/

Thanks for all the tips! I'm more unsure of what size sets will fit in the farm and the windmill. Don't want to buy anything that's either too big or too small.

Go on the website www.sylvanianfamilies.com they have a sylvanian shop in London and are really helpful about what furniture fits well. They deliver too.

Have a look on amazon for some of the sets they are often a bit cheaper. I have bought my friend's DDs some families, the cow family was £8 ish and the pig family £10, both are £16 everywhere else I looked.

Don't know much about SF but know that if you have any of the Tesco rewards voucher, you can double up on the value by exchanging to toy vouchers and then buying SF items on their Tesco website direct.

Makes everything a bit cheaper but only valid until 6 Dec and need to exchange by the end of Dec. Can be exchanged on their website or instore.

I have so far exchanged about £180 of vouchers double up to £360 and have bought loads, theings that I would not have paid full price for evcen SF stuff for friends. Tesco have load of SF items on their website. Worth looking.

Sorry - I mean need to br exchanged by the end of Nov. and not Dec.

quietlyafraid - loved the link to the tutorial, thanks .

Think I will be sending that link to my MIL. Never did get the hang of sticky back plastic and MIL still makes that Christmas Decoration with coat hangers and tinsel every year. Am really showing my age now .

Not much fits in the windmill really.

quietlyafraid - that tutorial is great! Thank you.

I've already doubled up my Tesco vouchers, that's how I paid for the farm and some other stuff!

Have looked on Amazon and they seem to have the best prices, just keeping my eye out for any deals over the next few weeks until I buy.

We have the windmill, Angelsus and this was the only furniture set ever really marketed for it. To be honest that's all we bought as it seemed plenty.

For the farmhouse, this or this and add a bed or two.

Keep it all fairly minimal though as if it's too cluttered there's no room to play and shop around as prices differ wildly.

We're going for the hotel and the new John Lewis (sucker emoticon) which thankfully comes fully stocked and Never Knowingly Undersold.

I shouldn't have looked at this thread, its made me all nostalgic and think about the stuff I did when I was a kid!!!

Great idea for plates is the lining on fizzy drink bottle caps. Take them out and use as they are, or you can paint them or stick printed circles on them.

If you fancy a bit of origami and glue, I've found these amazing printable sets, which should be find for kids age about 8ish (I did stuff like this, but never had the luxury of printed designs like this - I'm now jealous of 8 year olds!). They are a bit fiddly, but with a bit of practice easy enough especially if you have small fingers!

Think these links all work. I'm sure theres loads of other stuff like this out there too.

[[http://miniatures.about.com/od/dollhouseprintables/ss/hellekitcan.htm
Cannisters and storage tins]]
[[http://miniatures.about.com/od/dollhouseprintables/ss/helleserve.htm
plates]]
blue cookie cannisters
[[http://miniatures.about.com/od/dollhouseprintables/ss/countryblueserv.htm
blue plates]]
[[http://miniatures.about.com/od/dollhouseprintables/ss/cntrybluetea.htm
blue tea set]]
shopping bags
shop boxes
storage boxes
[[http://miniatures.about.com/od/seasonalminiatures/ss/shamrockteaset.htm
Shamrock tea and coffee set with cake stand]] Fiddly looking
[[http://miniatures.about.com/od/dollhouseprintables/ss/redheartteaset.htm
Heart shaped tea and coffee set with cake stand]] Fiddly looking
[[http://miniatures.about.com/od/dollhouseprintables/ss/printteaset.htm
Tea Set]] Fiddly looking
Christmas Rose Casserole Dishes
Halloween Set of plates and tins

Paper Christmas Tree! EASY
Every Sylvanian that falls down your chimney needs one!!!

Easy rug - look v easy.
Easy rug

Bedside Lamp - Chances are you won't manage one, quite like the examples for this one, but the principle is easy enough and I'm sure you can get something that looks decent.
Bedside lamp

Not sure how well this would come out but here's a chair from twigs. It doesn't look that hard and I'm sure you can adapt the idea.
Twig Chair

Oh wow there are some great ideas on here, thank you all so much!

I reckon I'm going to get a couple of sets for each house and see how that goes, if I'm feeling creative I may try some of the ideas above too!

Is that the farmhouse with the light up fire and lights? ...and it has no furniture in it then.

We have an increasing amount of Sylvanian living in a blended family with Playmobil.

We have the windmill and on the ground floor it has a the small kitchen set with cooker, table and chairs. Then a small single bed on each of the upper floors. You find the furniture gets moved round between all the different houses depending on what they are doing with it. There is a triple bunk beds sets that can either be stacked or the beds used individually. Last weekend DD1 (nearly 6) and DD2 (just 4) had some of the animal "camping" in the windmill and they were sleeping in DD2's ankle socks!!!

You probably want 2 animal families and a couple of the babies, which tend to come separately. The car is also good for them going on outings.

DD2 got the horse and cart for her birthday the other week and it has been played with a huge amount.

As pp's have said look around and compare prices as there are lots of specials on at the moment. Argos, Tescos, Toys Direct (website with 20% off and free delivery at the moment).

Yes, the Sylvanian is expensive but compared to other toys in this house it gets a huge amount of use from both girls. From talking to other mums at school the interest seems to last until P6/P7 so it is something they will hopefully play with for a number of years.

I nicked my little brothers, big wooden truck to take my round in! Essentially I used anything that was the right size, and let my imagination go wild. I really didn't care about brand at that age. Mine played with the Care Bears, but I much preferred the Sylvanians as you could do more with them.

I also remember using felt and fabric cuttings and making my own clothes for them. Little skirts, shorts, t-shirts, romper suits. Some of them weren't terrible, though I was generally awful at sewing. I learnt what little I know of sewing from doing that!

I echo Fresh01 saying that I got very good use out of mine until I was about 10 ish. I LOVED the babies most, especially since they got little cots too. I still have them in a box somewhere in the loft in good condition. They don't look like they have changed at all. Still have all the same families, names and clothes. And the same price! Makes me wish I had a little girl now!

Ahhhh the memories...

You don't need girls! These sets are actually for my 2 DS's!! After months of begging and with the help of the Tesco vouchers I have given in. My theory is that if in a years time they don't want to play with them then I can sell them on Ebay and I'll probably make money given that the houses haven't actually cost me anything.

Quite Angelsus. My DS is very happy playing with them, and is terribly excited about making beds and sofas now thanks to the links above. He's not an atypical lad.

Amazon is good for Sylvanians but you have to check regularly as the prices change to match other suppliers.

Argos do random 25% off offers.

Play.com is also good site.

The Sylvanian shop website is good for imported and new stock and also items with "extra value" like furniture and figures included.

John Lewis prices were amazing last month for certain things but have now increased for Xmas.

Yes......I am obsessed and have just started buying. Did you know that there was a Sylvanian world in Japan - I can't decide if I'm buying for me or DD.

Debenhams prices are way over the mark even with 20% off I'm afraid.

Check out Money Saving Expert forum of Sylvanian Grabbits for the best daily/weekly finds from posters.