Caroline's Parlor Review

Well, they did it! They put an 18" doll on mega sale, so I just had to get her. I'm anticipating Isabelle's arrival next week! More on that later.

I got Caroline's Parlor less than 24 hours after I ordered it! The box is gigantic, and weighed 49 pounds. I am very glad I have an elevator so I could get it up to my apartment!

Before we get to the pictures, I want to warn you that it's difficult to get this thing to stand up straight on carpet, and I was fighting to not take super crooked pictures for this entire shoot. Some of the pictures are a little crooked, and I apologize in advance!

 Here's the whole thing! It's in three pieces: the window and window seat with curtain, the fireplace and mantle, and the bookshelf and drawers.

It comes with four little knickknacks: A model ship, a carousel horse, a candlestick and holder (see next picture), and a wooden frame with pictures of shells inside.

I placed the candlestick and holder on the mantle. The large picture above the mantle is reversible -- it can be an image of a ship, as shown above, or a mirror, which I show in later pictures. This picture also shows the embroidered fireplace screen.

I love the window and window seat with curtain. The tag on the curtain annoys me (it's in the upper right corner). I could cut it off, but I hate to cut tags off to alter how items come from the factory. I still haven't cut any giant tags off of my headbands either! But I really need to... obtrusive tags are awful!

The fabric of the window seat is so beautiful and cheerful! It's a sunny yellow color.

 

There appear to be four drawers, but there are actually only two. The lower drawer is pretty deep and would hold a lot.

 The window seat also can open up and provides storage space.

Here's the front of the model ship...

And the back. This is probably the only thing about this set that bothers me. The tiny American flag on top is adorable, but it is turned to face the back of the ship, where the seams of the cloth sails are. So to see the American flag very well, you have to turn the ship backwards.

Tiny horse figurine. It's not the cutest, and it's plastic, but it may be part of Caroline's stories and important. I haven't read her books yet!

The shell images on the left side sort of look like a compass. This is a cute, unique knickknack.

This is the bottom of the logs in the fireplace, to show the button to turn the lights on.

Here are the four led lights. They flicker to simulate a real fire.

Here is a doll inside the parlor to show scale.

Cecile wore her parlor outfit to the parlor ;)

The picture in the window can be removed and reversed, like the picture in the frame above the mantle. Here is one side of each...

And the other side!

I give this set an A+. It's just as amazing as it seems, it's huge, it's all real wood, and perfect for Caroline. Some day I want to get her, but really any doll would look fantastic with it. Even modern dolls could be hanging out in a cool, vintage/antique house. The plastic horse and the backwards American flag on the model ship aren't enough to even bring my grade down to an A. It's worth the $300 retail price, and I'm just thrilled that I got it for half off during this year's daily deals. I might never have been able to buy it for $300, even though it is totally worth it. Since it was discounted once, it may be on its way to retirement, and may be discounted again some day. Keep your eyes peeled if you didn't get it in this round of sales!

Be aware, as I mentioned before, that it is a little difficult to sit straight on carpet. It would be awesome on wood floors, but I don't have any hard floor near enough to windows to take great pictures with. I intend to eventually put the pieces in a wardrobe that will be my future dollhouse, but until then it's sitting a little wobbly on the carpet in my bedroom. I have to shut my door every day now so that my cat won't get in and jump on top of it, because the whole thing would topple over and come crashing down!

I am going to use this piece for the background of some of my future review photoshoots, so you will be seeing more of it! I want to put it to great use now that I dropped so much money on it.

What is your opinion of Caroline's Parlor? Do you love it? Do you have it? Do you want it? Do you think it's too huge and ridiculous? Let me know in the comments!