Review: Chad Valley Glamour Mansion

After mentioning that the Chad Valley Playhouse wasn’t quite the family home I had in mind when pondering whether we would ever own our own home, Chad Valley have now bought us a mansion. It’s for dolls, not people. But still. We’re more than a little bit impressed with it.

The word mansion should have given me a clue that this dolls house is in fact huge. A sensible person would check the dimensions before assembling it downstairs and then being faced with the challenge of carrying it upstairs. Thankfully we did manage it and IJ has spent many hours playing with it quietly in her bedroom leaving me in relative peace. Double bonus, I’d say.

The quality of both the house and the furniture it comes with is excellent. The rooms are beautifully decorated and the wood is durable enough to ensure it is likely to withstand many years of play.  I have to admit I don’t usually buy anything that is flat-packed as I’m usually pretty useless with a screwdriver, but in fact assembling it proved to be very straight-forward and I managed it in just over an hour.

Pink, girly dolls’ houses aren’t for everyone but if you do have a daughter with a house full of dolls that need a home, this could be the perfect solution. IJ has started to grow out of her Barbie dolls but she has still enjoyed playing families with the dolls’ house and is likely to enjoy it throughout the summer months.

The dolls’ house is scaled to fit dolls approximately 11 or 12 inches tall, which have to be bought separately. However it does come with furniture including a bed, bath, wardrobe with hangers, toilet and sofa. It also has a sun terrace. At £129  the price seems a little on the expensive side alhtough not totally unreasonable given its size.

My only criticism has nothing to do with the product but with the packaging. The pieces were packed in polystyrene which disintegrated all over the floor when removed from the box. Altering the type of packaging used would solve this problem and create a lot less mess.

Pros

• Encourages independent play
• The room décor is finished to a high standard
• Made from good quality, durable wood
• Easy to assemble
• The house is sturdy once built
• Reasonably good value for money as it also comes with furniture

Cons

• The packaging is incredibly messy
• It may prove too large for some bedrooms so check the dimension before buying

The Glamour Mansion is part of the Chad Valley toy collection at Argos online priced £129. The product includes furniture but not the dolls. Those in the images are our own. We received the product free of charge to review.

Comments

[Midlife Singlemum]

Ooooh I love dolls houses!

[Laura McIntyre]

Would you recommend it ?
Been wanting a nice , big dolls house for my girls for Christmas (6 and 5) and i think this one looks great - is it sturdy enough to put up with abuse?

[Rosie Scribble]

I would recommend it, Laura. It is sturdy and it's big enough for two children to play with at the same time. My daughter's still enjoying it.