Home sweet Lundby {SMÅLAND Swedish doll’s house review}

I vividly remember when I began to think in miniature. It was one of the many summers I spent with my grandparents in their small town up north. One of our projects that summer was to build a dollhouse for my growing collection of miniatures my grandma and I had collected at swap meets and secondhand stores as well as things we had repurposed around their home that were to scale.

In my mind, my grandpa and I would make a house fit for our treasures, one with intricate details and style that was just like my cousin’s dollhouse my aunt had made from a kit. But, I will never forget when my grandpa and I started to sit down and design my dollhouse and I realized we were making a primitive A-frame house with scrap wood from the garage. My dollhouse would be without doors, windows, or details other than walls.

Don’t get me wrong, I adored the dollhouse we built that summer. It was more than a few steps up from the shelf in my room that had previously housed my miniatures, and it would be perfect for moving a play family into that didn’t mind a little bit of a fixer-upper. I played with that dollhouse for years and did my best to make it feel more homey and inviting by making my own wallpaper and adding realistic accessories.

But, my desire for a real store-bought dollhouse never went away. Even into adulthood, I would look wistfully at dollhouses that were done up to the nines and imagine my childhood dollhouse furniture I had collected filling those big, bright rooms. 

In one of those searches, I found Lundby, the Swedish Doll’s House, and it was as if my childhood play family had finally found “home”. I remember bookmarking the site, emailing the link to my husband and asking him how soon was too soon to start buying dollhouses for our baby girl. We both agreed to wait a few years, but I always kept Lundby in the back of my mind.

Last fall, I lost my grandpa after a long battle with illness and I, myself, felt a little lost. My grandpa had been such a strong figure in my life growing up and I wished more than anything that I had held onto that dollhouse we made all those summers ago. I wanted something to help my daughter remember her amazing great grandfather, and wished that they could have bonded over miniatures like we had all those years ago.  

So, when a package landed on my porch a few months later with a welcome letter and a “key” to a Lundby Smaland dollhouse, I was beside myself with joy.  I knew this was the perfect way to introduce my daughter to the world of miniatures and to provide a link to my past at the same time.

One look at the Lundby dollhouse kit when it arrived and I knew it was perfect. Even before it was put together, I could already tell it was even better than my dream dollhouse I had imagined in my childhood. It was just a few minutes of putting the kit together and adding all the little details that make a house a home and it was all ready to move in.

With wallpapered walls, patterned floors, a delicate staircase, and even a balcony just outside of the gorgeous French doors, the Lundby dollhouse is truly a work of art. But, more importantly, I knew it was exactly what my grandpa would have made for me had his spare wood and supplies in his garage house also held tiny doorknobs, wall coverings, window frames, and miniature doors that opened and closed.

But, that’s not all. The Lundby dollhouse held even more surprises for me with the help of a simple power cord. This power cord connects to little plug-ins in every room which allow you to plug in Lundby-specific lamps, lights, lighted furniture and more to bring the dollhouse to life with light.

And, with furniture available ranging from lighted kitchen sets with lit ovens and cabinet lighting all the way to fireplaces and television sets, Lundby has the most realistic dollhouse accessories you have ever seen. Ever since our Lundby house arrived, I have spent a good deal of time on the Lundby.com site wishing it was all available in the States and then checking Amazon for items I can buy to truly make the Lundby house a home.  

It's not "home" yet, but it's getting there with a living room set and the addition of the magic cord with two lights. A few more pieces and it will be ready for me to present to my daughter, who is not going to believe her eyes when she sees her new Lundby home.

Want to see more? Check out Lundby.com and follow Lundby on Instagram. Also, be sure and check out the Lundby Inspiration page to see how others are designing their Lundby homes. You can shop Lundby at CreativeKidstuff.com and on Amazon.com

A big thank you to Lundby for sending the Smaland Doll's House for us to love. As always, all opinions remain 100% ours.