Grand Designs meets Changing Rooms Episode 8 – the Nursery and BIG reveal!

Posted on 30/12/201101/03/2014 by Kate

The Playmobil Nursery set is the last set we put together… and by now we were used to the fact that we had to put all the bits together to create the set.

The nursery set is really sweet and contains all the stereotypical things you would associate with a nursery. Some parts were a little ‘twee’ – for example the bows on the crib – but all in all it went together quickly and easily and looks great to complete the mansion. I love the mobile which actually moves… and the baby and mother figure included complete the HUGE family that now live in our mansion.

For £11.99, this set is great value… and a must have for any dolls house!

The BIG reveal…

So, the time has come to reveal the completely transformed Grande Mansion with all of its rooms fully furnished with the 7 Playmobil room sets. From the living room to the kitchen, the bathroom to the bedrooms… we have transformed it all!!! And here it is…

A grand total of £213.92 completes the fully furnished Grande Mansion – which sounds like an awful lot of money for a dolls house. But, if built up bit by bit, this dolls house would be any little girls dream… and would last for years! A real investment that I feel would be well worth it.

Overall – we rate it a 9/10… a few too many fiddly bits, and PLEASE include the batteries!

Grand Designs meets Changing Rooms Episode 7 – the Dining Room!

Posted on 30/12/201101/03/2014 by Kate

At £9.99 the Playmobil Dining Room is the cheapest of the room sets… and the easiest to put together too!

It kept the boys busy for all of 2 minutes… but does look great in the mansion and fits in really well too! The set has a table, 4 chairs, 4 plates and spoons and 4 ice-cream sundaes, 4 cups, a jug, a plant (which is the only thing that needs to be put together) a rug and a man!!!

The playmobil pieces are really good quality – the man is poseable and can hold all of the pieces to fulfill a ‘dining room role-play experience’… and if you are collecting the room sets to fill a dolls house, this set is a must have! Every Grande Mansion should have a dining room with ice-cream sundaes!

A good value little set – 9/10!

Grand Designs meets Changing Rooms Episode 6 – the Children’s Room!

Posted on 30/12/201101/03/2014 by Kate

The Playmobil Children’s Room set is another of the more expensive sets for the Grande Mansion.

Priced at £19.99, it contains two child figures as well as two beds a table and storage shelves. There’s a play mat with a farmyard and animals plus lots of other toys. The set even comes with two pet hamsters in a little cage!

Easy to put together, the boys managed to do most of this set themselves and the instructions are so easy to follow that they could easily follow the steps to create all the pieces of furniture.

I think the thing with this set is that a lot of the ‘bits’ are small… well proportioned to all the other bits, but small… so small that I fear they will not stay in the house for long. I worry that a lot of the bits will go missing even when being played with nicely. So much so that some of the bits I think would be better put away and brought out for play as and when.

I do like this set, but just as the kitchen, feel it is at the top of its price range for what it is. Having said that, all the kits together are shaping the house up REALLY nicely and I think it is going to be fantastic as a whole when it is all furnished.

Definitely and investment toy to collect over time!

Grand Designs meets Changing Rooms Episode 5 – the Playmobil Kitchen!

Posted on 30/12/201101/03/2014 by Kate

The Playmobil Kitchen is one of the more expensive of the kits to furnish the grande mansion… and contains LOTS of little bits and pieces to fill the fridge, oven, dishwasher and cupboards.

In kit form, as all the other sets are, there are lots of different bits to put together which are fairly fiddly… there are lots of stickers to apply to different bits too! It took around 25 minutes to complete the build, which is a lot longer than the sets for the other rooms.

The pieces are life-like and are well proportioned, and there are lots of bits to extend the imagination for some fantastic ktichen role-play.

I will be honest and admit that I got a little fed up with the build of this one… but the boys loved arranging the furniture and stocking the fridge… they even enjoyed stacking the dishwasher (long may that continue!!!)

This set gets an 8/10 from me… I am not sure that priced at £19.99 it is quite as good value as some of the other sets, but it is the same Playmobil quality!

Grand Designs meets Changing Rooms Episode 4 – the Playmobil Living Room!

Posted on 29/12/201101/03/2014 by Kate

Episode 4 is in… and this time it is the living room which undergoes a transformation! So… is the Playmobil set worth it? For £17.99, lets find out…

The set provides all you need to make the living room in the grande mansion (or other dolls house if you wish) into a cosy place for you family to sit and chat. Including a sofa, armchair, entertainment unit and TV, coffee table, plants, wood burning stove.. and even a cat in a basket! Plus some other little accessories to make the finishing touches.

I love the set, and think it fits in really well. The boys managed to put most of it together themselves and had fun arranging the furniture and posing ‘Granny’ into various positions!

The only thing that let it down for me is that for £17.99, the wood burning stove, which can actually glow ‘realistically’ doesn’t come with the batteries… and so far, whilst building the house and fitting the furniture, that brings the battery count up to 7 ( 2 for the doorbell, 2 for the stove in the living room and 3 for the bedside lights in the parents bedroom). After spending quite a bit of money on the set, the least it could do is come ready to work… especially after you have to put all the furniture together yourself… including all the stickers!

Our score: 9/10