Dollhouse furniture review: Ryan's Room

Since Ms. Z requested that her pandas have an "outside" to their home, we thought it would be good to furnish it. We put this super cute patio set from Ryan's Room on her Christmas list and my SIL picked it up at the local toy store. At $14.99, it's not a bad price. The Ryan's Room sets run a little cheaper than the Plan Toys sets and have about the same number of pieces in each one.

Scale: The pandas fit into the chairs really well. That's Papa and his daughter in the picture. She looks pretty mad in all of the shots. I don't remember what they were talking about. Although I didn't have any other chairs to compare these to, they are similar in scale to the Plan Toys, Educo/Hape, and Le Toy Van. While the furniture is larger than the Calico Critters (Sylvanian Families) characters, this does not seem out of place. These pieces are also larger than the Enchantmints brand, reviewed earlier.

Quality: The quality of these pieces is good. They are not as good as Plan Toys but comparable given their lower price point. They are constructed very well and I don't see these falling apart anytime soon but the attention to craftsmanship is not there. There are some splinters hanging off several of the cuts and the paint job on the grill is messy. The glue is fine -- no problems there. I do really like the detail on the flowers (the stems are wire so they bend).

Overall, I do like the Ryan's Room dollhouse furniture. They have the same style as the Plan Toys so they can be used together without issue. I like that they make use of the packaging. There are illustrations on the box that you can cut out to add "cushions" to the chairs and something to set on the table. That's an interesting touch. There is nice detail on the exterior paint on the Ryan's Room Carry N Play dollhouse that we have as well.

Thanks to Auntie Steph for letting me photograph this before Christmas. I think this will be a major hit.

If you would like to read the rest of the dollhouse furniture reviews, click here.

Dollhouse furniture is also expensive. Make your own!

Even if you already own some dollhouse furniture, it's always fun to make more. Most of the following tutorials require little more than a hot glue gun and some cardboard. Some take it to the next level with wood and tools. Choose your own adventure.

My friend Mel of Sparklerama, has two tutorials. First, this really cool sofa. All of the instructions are clearly described in her flickr. For this one, you start with a cardboard base, add some batting, cover with fabric, then upholster it. Looks easy. I can't wait to try it. She has several dollhouses for different types of dolls so take a peek at her photostream to get some inspiration.

The second is for this cool bed. It's pretty much the same idea but with fewer steps. Mel has an Etsy shop where she sells miniatures that you should check out. I've got my eye on one of those rugs.

Catherine of Hyggelig has been busy making some amazing furniture for her daughter. While there aren't any tutorials (and you'll have to translate the site from German), I love the aesthetic and it looks doable. This dining table and bench are lovely. I like family seating like that. It reminds me of going to my Grandma's when I was little.

I also love this sofa. She explains how she made it very clearly. Click here and here for some other wonderful pieces. And tomorrow we'll have an interview with Catherine so stay tuned.

This gorgeous room is by Joel Henriques of Made by Joel from last week's post. He's using some tools but the simplicity of it makes it much less of challenge. I want that chair in my real life. And I honestly had never really given any thought to foliage in the dollhouse. What a great idea to use a real stick. I'm definitely stealing that idea.

For a little bit of holiday cheer, Ohdeedoh did a feature a couple of weeks ago on dollhouse Christmas trees that you can make.

Finally, I did some old fashioned searching on Google and weeded through the craziness to find this link list on cdhm, Custom Dolls, Houses & Miniatures. While for some of them you need to have a woodshop and a few of Santa's elves, many are simple and use polymer clay. I love the tip on how to add the crumb texture to the cake. It's definitely worth browsing through the tutorials to get some ideas on what you can make yourself.

More Christmas shopping (or how to buy wooden dollhouse furniture)

I spent my evening online searching for items to add to Zadie's Christmas wishlist. If I weren't so OCD, this would be an easy task: just add several of the Ryan's Room furniture sets to a list and be done with it. Alas.

We are definitely going with this dollhouse but there are so many cool furniture options and I had to do so much research (because I'm crazy) to make sure everything was a similar enough in scale as to not be ridiculous. The mushroom bathroom is from Enchantmints and the best prices seem to be on Amazon but I bet some of these online retailers will have some wicked cyber Monday sales.

We'll buy the dollhouse locally and also some of the furniture but just in case you're wondering, Plan Toys, Educo, Ryan's Room and the Calico Critters all have a similar enough scale. The verdict is still out on the mushroom stuff but I am going to make it work (I hope Tim Gunn hasn't copywrited that yet). Mama Panda will have a soak in that spa-like tub if it's the last thing I do (we already own the panda family and I have seen the set in person).

Edit: I thought I would add some more info since I have been researching this. While I haven't been able to compare all of the furniture in person, I have called several companies who carry more than one line and have asked them questions. Here is what I know about what else you might find in your searching:

Melissa and Doug - this has a scale of 1:12 or 1/12. So these pieces will fit in any 1:12 scale dollhouse (very common) but the people and the furniture will look a little weird in the houses mentioned above.

The Educo (Hape), Calico Critters, Ryan's Room, Plan Toys and Enchantmints do not technically have a scale and some of the items even within a set may not be true-to-scale. That is not an issue for me but it may be for the realists. (Since pandas don't generally wear clothing, we suspend our disbelief for better play).

Educo (Hape), Ryan's Room, Plan Toys and Enchantmints are made of wood with varying levels of craftsmanship. Educo (Hape) is very green and socially responsible and has the most trendy designs (very Asian styled). Plan Toys is another green company. The furniture is more modern with an additional contemporary collection. Ryan's Room focuses more on the educational aspect of their toys. Most of the furniture is very basic without a lot of paint. Enchantmints is top of the line in craftsmanship and really focuses on the gnome. They are very concerned with the safety of their products.

Calico Critters has sets that are made of HIPS, ABS, and non-phthalate PVC. Some of the stuff is made of wood. Because of that, there is a lot more detail but they are also more period-specific than other brands.

There are certainly other brands out there. I'm not interested in the lines that you can get at the big box stores because we have enough plastic in our house and more importantly, I want to mix and match and play with pandas.

Also, Target carries a line of wooden dollhouse furniture called Play Wonder. It's huge. Don't be fooled by the photos online.

Finally (for now), there are a few brands I know nothing about but have seen them on Amazon including, Le Toy Van (too expensive for my budget but cute, detailed, and well-reviewed - not sure of size), KidKraft (seems like the dollhouses come furnished - also unsure of size), and Pintoys (eco-friendly and adorable - should work with Plan Toys and Ryan's Room).

I will keep adding to this post as I find out more information. Feel free to leave non-judgemental comments.