Both me and my two year old are thrilled with the Hape All Season Doll House. It is so fun, durable, colorful and fosters endless creativity. Honestly, I like this doll house so much that I almost want to buy another. For any girl or boy that doesn't want a Victorian style dollhouse, this should absolutely be among your top considerations. Given that this has been a popular item on Amazon, I'd like to make a few comments that I haven't seen in other reviews, and offer a couple counter points to criticisms I've read that made me cross my fingers when I first ordered this. 1) The quality of the wood and wood furniture is great. Some of the seams don't come together perfectly, similar to how a prefabricated picture frame doesn't often come perfectly together in all four corners, but nonetheless it looks awesome. Definitely maintains a high end look and feel relative to many plastic and even other wooden doll houses I've come across. 2) It's *super* easy to assemble! This is what had me worried a bit when I first bought it, and perhaps Hape has made some revisions to the assembly since the product first was introduced on Amazon, but it took me 10 minutes to assemble and all the parts to put it together are included. No drilling necessary as some others indicated! 3) The *two* ladders are awesome, and one has a slide on half of it! My daugheter loves to send her baby Calico Critter Cats down the slide between floors. She also noticed right away that there aren't stairs between each floor, but it they did this the middle would be so cluttered that you'd have a hard time moving about between the rooms. The ladders are mobile and easy to move from one floor to the next, or you can simply jump from room to room. 4) The open design is very conducive to play. The rooms are big and there is more than enough room to accommodate the furniture plus whatever dolls/critters you may have about the house 5) The furniture on the box isn't necessarily what is in the box. Plus, the box shows furniture in all rooms, but only 4 rooms are pre-furnished (which is very clear on the box). The quality is outstanding. Awesome! And many of the cupboards open and shut, which is great fun. Our set included: **Bedroom set: bed, dresser, small chair, mirror, lamp, floor mat, beddings and two pillows **Bathroom set: toilet, shower, bathtub, floormat, wooden ducky, towels **Kitchen set: oven/range, coffee maker and pot, pot with lid, sink, towels, table (but no chairs), fridge **Living room set: plant, lamp, TV, fireplace, couch, loveseat, coffee table, pillows Having two spares rooms is also very good in my opinion. My daughter keeps her cars and airplanes on the ground floor. 6) If you or your young one like to have non-traditional dolls (i.e., not human form) this set is great to work with all the Slyvanian Family or Calico Critters sets. 7) The roof is removable. It doesn't screw or bolt down, but rather sets on pegs at an angle. It is very sturdy, and makes it easy to remove if you want extra movability in the top floors. Also, you can change the seasons of the roof from summer to winter theme. I don't think the reverse of the green roof is shown on the box, but can be flipped to a white/blue winter style. The only things to be careful of is (1) the style and large size of this doll house may make it tempting for a little one to scale the building like a ladder! The floors are constructed well, but surely wouldn't support the weight of a kid; and (2) there may be a very small split piece of wood here or there around where the holes were drilled for the screw assemblage, thus creating the risk of a child getting a sliver if they handle the wood frame a lot. You may need to use a fine sand paper or just remove any small splits. Again, this is such a cool doll house regardless of the price, and when considering the price it's truly a tremendous value relative to just about anything else I've seen. I really like the Calico Critters dolls for my daughter, but their doll houses, furniture, etc. are wildly expensive, plastic, small, and (in my opinion) cheap looking--having this for furniture and a larger, classier style home is a perfect combination (that will save you a ton of money!). Hape doll house isn't overly girly and promotes fun and play--I am sure many boys would like this too...I could see Cobras on one side and G.I. Joes on the other! Hope this review is helpful to one of you out there.
