Review of Savannah Dollhouse

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List Price: $149.99
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I just bought a second Savannah dollhouse, for a granddaughter that will be three in June. I bought the first Savannah dollhouse, four years ago, for a granddaughter, who will shortly turn seven. It is still the certerpiece of her room. The dollhouse still looks as if it's new, and my grandaughter still loves and plays with it. This beautiful, colorful, and very sturdy dollhouse, has stood the test of time, and has passed with flying colors. I was also surprised with the included oversized, and very sturdy furniture, that is easy to handle, and still looks great. I have more granddaughters, that will need dollhouses in the future, and I know that this one will be available, years from now. Don't hesitate to buy this dollhouse, it's a winner!

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This is a very large, very pretty dollhouse. The girls love it. However, in the description it does say it is made of wood, which lead me to believe that the house is made of wood. The frame of the house is, but the walls and floors are basically just cardboard and the stairs are cheap plastic. The stickers that mark the pieces for assembly rip off the decorations on the cardboard, making the house flawed from the start. I'm not sure how well this will hold up with heavy play, I would think it will only take one time of a child trying to climb into it or falling against it for the cardboard to get bent or creased or just break out all together. The furniture in the house is real wood, and very nice. The house is HUGE, my daughter is 4 and very tall and she cannot reach into the attic without a stool. So, IF the house lasts long enough, it will grow with your child.

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My 6 year old daughter was so happy to see this dollhouse! It is huge, easy to play with and she has enjoyed it so much. She is tall for her age and it is over her head. We like the attic and the patios. It is nice that it comes with some wood furniture. Also noticed at Target that you can buy more furniture "rooms." Make sure you compare prices-have seen quite a range

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UPDATE: ALMOST ONE YEAR LATER (NOVEMBER 21,2010). I wrote the review below, on Christmas night in 2009 after the dollhouse fell apart before the kids went to bed on Christmas night. Now that the 2010 Christmas season is near, I thought it was time to revise my review to reflect how the girls like their dollhouse and how well it has stood up to constant use for one year. I am pleased to say that after the initial breakdown and our repairs with Gorilla Glue on Christmas night, this dollhouse has stood the test of time. It is their favorite toy and they play with it all the time. They have a whole family of Barbies that live there, and the Fisher-Price little people and the Beanie Babies all come over to visit regularly. There have been no more incidents of the house breaking down, even with constant use. I credit Gorilla Glue with taking a cheap and flimsy item and converting it to a sturdy and useable toy that is the centerpiece of their room. It is flashy and beautiful and they take a lot of pride in owning it. Ironicly, the experience of seeing their precious dollhouse fall apart seems to have taught them a valuable lesson in taking care of their things. I have backed off of my original plan to have a high quality and expensive dollhouse custom made for them, because they love this one so much.

As long as Gorilla Glue is used in initial assembly, as I have described in my original review, this is potentially a wonderful bargain for a beautiful and useable toy. I still say that Kidcraft has shortchanged themselves and their customers by not being honest about the materials, and not supplying Gorilla Glue and better assembly instructions. But if two adults work together and care is taken in assembling this house, it has the potential to be a knockout Christmas gift for a minor investment. Be sure to read my review below to understand how Gorilla Glue can make all the difference in the world. JUST GIVE YOURSELF SEVERAL DAYS FOR ASSEMBLY, AND MAKE SURE THAT THERE ARE TWO ADULTS WORKING TOGETHER. LET THE GLUE DRY BETWEEN ASSEMBLY STAGES, AND REMEMBER TO BE CAREFUL, BECAUSE GORILLA GLUE IS ABSOLUTELY PERMANENT. IF YOU MAKE A MISTAKE IT CANNOT BE CORRECTED AFTER IT DRIES AND YOUR DOLLHOUSE WILL BE RUINED BEYOND REPAIR. ALSO, GORILLA GLUE EXPANDS DURING THE CURING PROCESS, SO BE SURE TO USE A MINIMAL AMOUNT SO THAT IT WONT OOZE OUT OF THE JOINTS AND MAR THE FINISHED PRODUCT.

After one year, I am changing my rating to 4 stars, but only because Gorilla Glue changed a mediocre product into a superior one!

ORIGINAL REVIEW, DECEMBER 25TH 2009. This is a great dollhouse for the price. Trouble is, the price is cheap, and so it this dollhouse. My granddaughters love it, but it is now Christmas night and within 12 hours since they woke up, this piece of junk has fallen apart. Now that the children have gone to bed, we have taken what remains of the dollhouse apart and have Gorilla Glued the joints that have caved in. Believe me when I tell you that doing this kind of job after the fact is multiple times more difficult than it would have been to just use Gorilla Glue while assembling it the first time. IF YOU BUY THIS DOLLHOUSE, DO NOT NEGLECT TO APPLY STRONG GLUE DURING EACH STEP OF ASSEMBLY. AND BE CAREFUL WITH GORILLA GLUE, BECAUSE IT EXPANDS WHEN IT DRIES AND WILL SHOW ON THE FINISHED PRODUCT. IF YOU DO IT WRONG, YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO CORRECT IT AFTER IT DRIES BECAUSE GORILLA GLUE IS EXTREMELY STRONG.

The good news it that the reinforcements are cheap and easy. Just begin assembly several days before you intend to give this to your kids, and make sure you are armed with wood glue or Gorilla Glue and small L brackets with extra screws. How I wish I had used glue and L brackets during the initial assembly! Our granddaughters' Christmas surprise was trash within hours, and they don't know why Santa brought them junk! And retrofitting reinforcements on an assembled dollhouse is a nightmare I do not want to spend time writing about.

Assembly is pretty complicated, and the pieces are numerous and not cut exactly right to fit together correctly. The 800 number to the kidkraft help line is an answering machine, and THEY DO NOT RETURN CALLS, so their offers to help are bogus. Be ready to spend several trying hours, and make sure you have at least one other patient and smart adult to help. THIS DOLLHOUSE IS IMPOSSIBLE TO ASSEMBLE WITHOUT FOUR STRONG HANDS! We very wisely started assembly in our basement on December 22, which was a great decision since one of the critical support pieces shattered as we took it out of the box. We were glad to have the extra days to glue it back together and let the glue dry. Gorilla glue works wonders! We also had to reinforce it in several important places. Since we had seen a similar Kidkraft dollhouse on display at Costco, we realized that it is cheaply made, but never dreamed how bad it can get. We went into the project with extra construction supplies on hand. Even so, it fell apart before Christmas dinner started.

THIS IS A CHEAP AND FLIMSY DOLLHOUSE, but I had shopped a long time and realized that to buy a good quality one, we would have to have it custom made for $1000.00 or more. For the price it is about as good as you can expect, and the granddaughters are dazzled! By morning, it will be repaired and usable.

What REALLY bugs me is that the ad claims that it is sturdy and made of wood, which is completely misleading. IT IS NOT MADE OF WOOD, BUT IS MADE OF SOME HEAVY CARDBOARD-LIKE MATERIAL with a wood frame. Shame on Kidkraft for making this claim. It is worth the money they are charging, but the false advertising needs to go. They should name the material it is made of, and stop calling it wood.

One last word about the size This house is HUGE and it fits dolls up to 12" tall. However, typical fashion dolls like Barbie and Ken are slightly too large to fit the furniture comfortably. It works in a pinch, but it is better for dolls a little smaller than the Barbie line. Just my opinion.

Bottom Line: Not sorry I bought it, but it is cheap both in price and quality. I am looking for someone to custom build a REAL dollhouse to give them on another occasion. I am sure this one will be history shortly

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I love this house. Great value for the money. Huge. There are plenty of other comments on the merits. Here's how to put it together once it arrives on your doorstep. I will say it's sturdier than some of the reviews give it credit for. Apologies in advance if some of it is obvious. This is what I would've liked to know ahead of time.

Give yourself plenty of room: start with a large area to put all the parts out first; you'll need some room to maneuver

Throw out the stopwatch... this will take you awhile; I am skilled at these things and it took me a good long while. The first three steps will take you forever, but then it accelerates. Not difficult, just lengthy.

... and get some motivation: Find your favorite picture of your daughter, and set it somewhere you can see it. It will remind you why you're spending all these hours wrestling pink pressboard...43 parts and 15 steps, but each "step" can be multiple steps.

*PARTS: before you start: Grab the nuts and bolts package, flip it over, and open it from the back, compartment-by-compartment (they number each on the back, makes it really easy to keep the pieces straight).

You only need a screwdriver: they give you a small allen key. Resist the urge to use power tools, first because you want to enjoy this (probably the only one you'll ever build), but also because it has some tight spaces, and you do NOT want to over tighten. Undertighten if anything.

Give them a little credit: the designers are pretty smart: the instructions are good and the numbers are essential. There is no part #9 (because it looks like a 6) and there's no part 10 (looks like 01) etc.

Get all the bolts in before you tighten: there are a few steps at the beginning where you have to put two bolts into perpendicular pieces; do not tighten the first bolt all the way, until you have both in, otherwise it might torque a little.

Remember to take off the numbers: the parts are numbered which is extremely helpful; but take these numbers off as you go, don't try to do it all at the end (some of them are in tricky places)

Coffee: don't put this together tired (laughs every father doing this at 10pm on a Tuesday night so their kid doesn't have to witness the assembly process). Ok, how about: drink coffee. Seriously you need to focus. Turn off the TV. This assembly is as much mental as it is physical.

Wipe off the dust: keep a damp paper towel around, to wipe down the pieces (just water, not cleaner). They have a bit of factory dust on them, not much, but I found it easier to wipe as you go.

Which side up: again maybe just common sense, but you can get disoriented in the directions from step to step. When you're putting in the side pieces (walls) make sure you have your floors and ceilings straight. If you're wondering which side to put the bolt head into, here's two hints: where the bolt head goes in, it's almost always recessed; also the designers tried to put the nuts in places where they can't be seen, like in the back or on the bottom. Pretty straightforward but this might help.

Step 4: leave those B bolts a little loose. You'll wish you did in Step 6.

Step 6: this one is hard. No real advice here. All I'll say is: don't over tighten the screws; wait until you get them all in a little bit, before tightening them up; and the back screws don't screw in as far as the front screws (and don't try). Good luck.

The swing: this was the step where I switched from coffee to beer. Really? you need a swing? on a dollhouse? Frustrating.

Step 7: **once you get one of the two screws in, keep one hand on Part 13 at all times. I can see how many people must've broken this part in this step. Make sure you keep one hand on it so that it doesn't swing forward and break off.

Step 8: there is some wiggle room in these roof parts, so that you can get them flush together. I'd put all 12 screws in first, about 90% of the way in, then get the middle (part 16) fairly set. You can press the two sides (Part 15's) up so that they touch the middle Part 16. Then tighten the two top screws on each of the 15's. Looks better and you don't have a gap between the sides and the top of the roof.

Step 9: lay it on its back (don't smash that @#$% swing in the process). Don't try to sneak the F screw up through the bottom while the house is standing upright -this thing is getting top-heavy and I almost tipped the whole thing over. Definitely put the F screws in first to give it stability, but only tighten about 50% of the way -you'll need wiggle room to find the pre-drill for the G screws. And don't over tighten yet (sound familiar?) you'll need a little room for the next step, Step 10

Step 11: the dreaded plastic stairs. Definitely the weak link in this construction. Not a big deal but I couldn't get them to snap. Don't push too hard, I imagine it's easy to accidentally pop the entire floor through. Ended up gluing the things with some Gorilla glue.

Anchor: I would definitely anchor this thing. They include an anchor, but there's nothing in the instructions on how. I would just use the hole at the very top (under the teddy bear on the top floor). It's a little top heavy, not what I'd call a risk, but if you're paranoid like me I'd mount it.

In sum: after three hours and 45 mins, 2 cups of coffee, 2 Buds, a bag of pretzels, and a lot of focus, this thing is beautiful.

Reminder: do not over tighten. This will really make your life easier.

Construction: build is a solid B+.

Aesthetics: and painted details are outstanding A.

Assembly: is long but not complex, and as I said the directions are good A-.

Durability: we'll see but I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt for now; it is pressboard with a few real wood parts (only the small stairs are plastic, zero cardboard, those reviews are ludicrous), and the bolted construction seems the best chance this has at a long life. Be back.

Good luck.