Please talk to me about lovely doll houses

[snickersnack]

I'd like to get one for Christmas for dd - she'll be 4 just after Christmas. She's got lots of Plan and ELC furniture already but no house - any recommendations for lovely yet robust and not overly expensive doll houses?

i bought one from toys are us and painted it myself. i used wall paper samples for inside, bought skirting board etc, painted and decopaged flowers up the side etcetc. oh, and a photocopied a grey cardigan and then cut it up into squares for the roof tiles.

anyway - point is, it cost about £50 and looks stunning.

ebay? They are really cheap at the moment but will go up in price nearer christmas. or car boot sales?

My dd, now 12, had a basic wooden one from Plan when she was 2 and although it wasn't the cheapest, she got so much use out of it. We're a bit past that stage now, but I know ELC started doing a basic wooden one for a cheaper price, so that might be a good place to start. If it's fairly basic it means they can use their imagination more and it needs to be robust enough to stand the test of time. With some you can also get add-on bits, and could you ask grandparents/other relations to chip in if necessary?