Parlor

[sailormolly]

I received Cécile's Caroline's Parlor on Sat. First I want to warn anybody that's thinking about buying this set, the shipping box is HUGE!!!!! How huge? It measures 25 inches tall by 18 inches wide by 26 inches long. I wish I could have weighed the box before I opened it. But our bathroom scale doesn't like to weigh anything that isn't a human being.



You open the big box only to find three more boxes!



Each one of these boxes has one section in it.

The Fireplace


The Shelf Unit


The Window Seat


Inside the window there is a smaller box. That box has all the accessories in it.





The window has a card with the scenery on it that's reversible. The card measures 9 3/4 inches by 13 1/2 inches.

"Sunny day" side


"Stormy day" side


Or you can leave the card out and have a window that you can see through.

The fire shield is wood with an embroidered design.
10 inches tall (about) by 3 inches wide.




The shield is also adjustable.


Sailor's Valentine

The shells are just a picture printed on paper and put in the frame. The frame is wood. I don't know if this is true on all of them, but on mine the hinge is really loose. Each half is 2 1/2 inches across by 2 1/2 inches tall.

Horse and Candle

The horse is hard plastic. He's 2 inches wide and 2 1/2 inches tall. I don't know why they couldn't have used plaster or something like that..... The candle is plastic, but the candle holder is metal. The candle is 2 1/4 inches tall and the base is about 1 3/4 inches across.

Model Ship

The ship is plastic with cloth sails. It's 5 inches long and 4 1/2 inches tall.

Mirror/Painting combo
There is a hole in the wall above the fireplace.



That is where the mirror hangs. The mirror has a peg on it's frame that goes in that hole.


The piece with the peg on it turns around so you can change the mirror into a painting.




The logs in the fireplace are plastic and molded onto the log rack. The logs light up as if the fireplace was lit. It takes 3 AAA batteries and you need a screwdriver to get the cover off. The button to turn the "fire" on is on the bottom and has an automatic shutoff. The whole piece is 4 3/4 inches long by 3 1/4 inches wide by 4 1/2 inches tall.

The window seat


My only real complaint with this set is that the window seat is rather small. I wanted to sit Cécile sideways so she could put her feet up on the seat. But the seat is too short. It would need to be about 2 in longer for that. And the seat really isn't deep enough for her to sit with her legs sticking out. It took me quite a while to get her balanced just right. I think I will be using the window seat to display pet or accessories.

Overall I give the set an A-. The minus is for the window seat being too small. This is a beautiful set and is well worth the $300 price tag.

The rest of my photos can be seen here.
s33.photobucket.com/albums/d75/sailorstitch/American%20Girl/Parlor%20Playset/?start=all

SailorMolly

[SaltySeaDogFarley]

This item exceeded every hope and expectation I had for it. It is outstanding and I agree it is worth the cost. I also agree that the window seat could have been more appealing if it were longer and wider. I will rate it an A, deducting the + I might have added.

The above review included many particulars and great closeups, so I won't repeat those, but post some overall photos with and without dolls.

[dragonflybg]

The parlor set is heavy and sturdy and came very well packed and protected. I love that there is built in storage with the drawers and window seat. As others have mentioned the window seat is a little short and makes sitting awkward but it does work. There is an elastic loop in one corner of the curtain that's supposed to hold it up, but I think a piece of ribbon or something that ties may have looked a little better.

The firescreen is embroidered and is very well made. The wood is similar in color to Rebecca's settee, but it has a matte finish where as the settee has a shiny finish.

The horse is plastic and looks odd with a blue mane and tail, red blobs on it's body and a wonky looking back leg on one side. The rest of the accessories are great. The ship is plastic, but has fabric sails. The fabric is folded over on one side so you can really only display one side of the ship. The sailor's valentine has a nice rich wood frame. I love that the picture/mirror is 2 sided so you can change the look.

I think this would work well in a modern setting too if you change up some of the accessories.

Overall I would give this set a solid A.



Bench fabric:


Fireplace detail:


Window seat curtain:


Weird, blobby horse:

[skukla]

The Parlor Set can work well in time periods that are later then Caroline's too. Rebecca lives in a building built in the 19th century. Her apartment includes a fireplace in the kitchen, and a front room with a large window facing the street, as well as a built-in shelf.

[☆ Sara ☆]

Parlor rant ahoy!

It's fine for Rebecca. Genericized and romanticized arts and crafts type elements were so common they were cliche by Rebecca's time.

The house I just moved from was a working class house built 1901 and had a similar fireplace (long bricked up) and the exact same rosette molding that is around the windows in it's parlor. Those elements had a very long life.

Ditto Julie. A lot of the hippies in SF moved into Victorians in the 60s because no one valued them. They were a dime a dozen. Many of them were converted to be several 1-2 bed apartments instead of a single family home.

They were often very outdated electrically, uninsulated, and leaky. A lot of them still had builtins and pretty things reflecting their earlier lives as really nice townhouses for the rich instead of low rent housing though.

Ironically, the doll I think it fits least is Caroline. The elements that make it work so well for so many other time periods count against it here. They are too over simplified.

Simpler designs came after mass production in the mid 19th century made them accessible. Things before that were hand carved , finely made, and were more ornate. First floor windows were big and bold shows of wealth and would not be the size of a child.

It's not awful by any means and for any other room it works great but for formal parlor it misses the mark.

[SaltySeaDogFarley]

I saw the "horse" sculpture in a museum yesterday in Holland,
Michigan ! There were actually two matching pieces, about 6 " tall, and they were strikingly similar to the AG one. The sign said they were made in the mid 1700s in the Netherlands, of clay coated with tin. Yes, they looked "blobby" and casually painted, just like the AG one. Wow.

Wanted to take a photo for these archives, but the guard wouldn't let me.

[Catlin]

I have ot regretted a single penny I spent on the parlor. I love this piece so much that I was buying it, room or no room. The window seat is just large enough for my Caroline to fit sideways and look out the window. The amount of storage is wonderful - all her books, shoes, skates and smaller accessories now have a home. I take down a few items and the parlor becomes a retro modern parlor. A+