The winner of the Guidecraft Classic White Vanity and Stool set is………..Tammy D!!

Congrats Tammy, I’m emailing you and will make sure that is sent to you shortly. For those of you still looking for great giveaways check out http://www.mommybknowsbest.com/perfect-portions-scale/and be on the lookout this week for another great giveaway!!

Starting December 1st my Holiday Gift Guide and Giveaways will be posted (at least 1 a day) so be sure to keep checking in for the latest tips, tricks, reviews, and giveaways on MommyB Knows Best!!

When the box arrived I was super excited to open it up and get the pieces together immediately. When I open packages with lots of pieces I take each piece out and lay them out on the floor so I can inventory. I always recommend this before starting a project because you may be missing something important.

Unfortunately, as I pulled the items out of the boxes and Styrofoam I noticed what I’m almost 100% sure to be delivery damage on the vanity mirror. Guidecraft did an amazing job of packaging, I think I have about 1,200 (I’m exaggerating a little) large pieces of Styrofoam in my garage right now, but things happen and in this case one of the side mirrors fell off the center mirror and stripped the screw holes, (this piece was pre-assembled).

Lucky for me this is a Guidecraft product. I promptly called Guidecraft and they immediately apologized (although it was probably not their fault) and sent me a replacement part right away. In the meantime I put the pieces together that I had because the vanity mirror is the very last piece to put on.

It took me about 30 minutes (with Little Miss A helping) to get together. I did not need any tools other than the Allen wrench that was provided. It was very easy to put together although I do have to tell you it was a little monotonous screwing in all the pieces with the Allen wrench. I think total of about 32 screw and a couple of them I could not rotate 360 degrees, instead I had to do 180 degrees because they were close to the wood, but again, not hard to put together, I just put on some music and worked away! I’d much rather Allen wrench than hammer, screw, and glue pieces together. And once again with Guidecraft instructions, I’m such a visual person when it comes to putting things together and I want all the details spelled out, so I had a little bit of a hard time figuring out what to start with but once I got rolling I was fine, just nervous that I wasn’t doing exactly what I was supposed to. Guidecraft luckily has their assembly instructions on the product pages too, so that’s nice!

Here’s a picture of the stool, Miss A was so excited (can you tell)!!

And the vanity and stool set minus the mirror:

This beautifully made vanity and stool set match the rest of Miss A’s white bedroom furniture and fits right into her bedroom design. I love the mature look of the vanity while at the same time being easy enough for Miss A to use. Don’t tell anyone but I would love to steal this away for myself, and being that I’m only 4′ 10″ it’s almost the perfect size for me too. Yes, I know I’m short.

She loves opening the drawer and lifting up the stool top to store her favorite little toys and a Barbie too! But most of all she loves looking at herself in not one, but three mirrors! There is a good amount of space on the actual vanity to put her toys, and hair accessories and when she’s done she can just put them into the pull out drawer in the vanity or even inside the flip-top stool. I’m always one for hidden compartments! Less clutter = a happy mommy.

This vanity would make a great present for any girl 3 and up. It’s very safe for children, no “pokey corners” to run into and the mirror is acrylic mylar so no worries about broken glass (although Guidecraft had me fooled because I really thought it was glass.)

Me being a Type-A mom, checked out the differences between glass and acrylic mylar and here they are: Glass is less easily scratched but when scratched acrylic mylar has kits you can use to remove scratches. Glass is heavier so in this case the acrylic mylar is a much better choice. Glass can be broken much easier than acrylic mylar and that’s my favorite part because I like to keep Miss A’s toys as safe as possible.

All in all I really love this piece and know it will last a long time in our household and the girls will get a lot of enjoyment out of playing dress up, doing play make up and just making silly faces in the mirrors.

Guess what?? One lucky MommyB Knows Best reader will win their very own Classic White Vanity and Stool set from Guidecraft!

Here’s how to win:

Using the ENTRY FORM directly below this post (NOT the comment form), submit your name, an email address that you check regularly, and the entry/entries you are submitting all at the same time. There is no need to fill out separate entry forms for each item you complete. *Please note the Mandatory Entry MUST be typed into the form BEFORE you can qualify for additional entries.

Giveaway ends November 25th @12:00 am. The winners will be chosen at random, verified, emailed, and announced in a Winner’s post. The winners will have 48 hours to respond to the email from MommyB to claim the prize, if the prize is not claimed within 48 hours a new winner will be chosen at random. You must be a US resident and 18 years or older to enter.

Not only am I unimpressed by the quality of most of these toys, but the little fabric bins I have them in are starting to burst at the seams, thank goodness for both the amazing quality and durability that Guidecraft offers in all of their toys, but especially this amazing Noah’s Ark Toy Box I got to try out.

From taking the pieces out of the packaging to Little Miss A helping me fill it up with her toys we had an overall great experience and here’s how it all went down…

The day that we got the package in the mail Miss A wanted to open it, but we just weren’t ready, finally the day had come, so I brought it in the house from the garage and decided that it would be fun to try to assemble with Miss A. As we unwrapped I noticed how much great care was put into packaging each toy box piece. Each one was individually wrapped, Miss A especially enjoyed the packaging!

Once I laid out all of the pieces and looked at the instructions I decided that it may be easier and safer for me to just wait until Miss A went down for her rest time, especially since Daddy B was at work and Baby C was due to wake up anytime.

I’d have to say I’m pretty handy with putting things together, or rather following instructions on how to put things together, so I’d give this job maybe between beginner and intermediate because a few of the sections, mainly the safety latch on the lid, would be a million times easier with two people. One thing I think that Guidecraft could improve on would be their instructions. Now I know a lot of companies are going more for the “less is more” approach and trying to keep the instructions to one or two pages, but I’m a fan of instructions giving you every single step, even if it’s something they think you should already know. I did get a tiny bit confused, but it didn’t take too long to figure out my next step, and I think also with assembling this toy box in most cases you couldn’t really mess it up too much if you went out of order from the first picture grouping to the next.

After the 45 minutes (mostly uninterrupted,) it took me to put the Guidecraft Noah’s Ark Toy Box together, I ended up with this beautiful, finished product. Miss A displays it nicely!

Things to complain about? Really there’s not much, and they’re pretty small details, but I did have a few good ideas on how Guidecraft may rectify any issues.

One of my pieces had a small scratch on the blue paint, luckily it was on the back of the toy box anyway so it ended up not even mattering, but I would have loved to have maybe a can of touch up paint, even for future scratches that my lovely girls will bestow upon, if not the outside, then the inside of the box. I was thinking although it looks great that it may even be wiser to make the inside of the box just natural wood color, no paint, so there isn’t even an issue of scratching it up. Just a thought.

My other suggestion would be for Guidecraft to have a better online description, I guess maybe that’s where product reviews come in, because this piece is extremely beautiful and you cannot tell just from pictures and the description on http://www.guidecraft.com  doesn’t let you know about the quality paint job, or how sturdy the toy box is, or the raised wood features on the front of the box (Noah’s Ark.)

I love that the toy box has the safety latch so the top doesn’t come crashing down on my girls and their friends. *Insert sigh of relief here.* Not only is it practical, and fit a good amount of toys (see image below,) but the workmanship on this piece of furniture really blew me away, I was very impressed and I know this may sound funny but I really feel like it made my house a little brighter and homier. Definitely worth every penny and I would recommend not only this product, but the company for sure.

All the toys have a home, a beautiful home, and I can quickly throw all the toys in before guests come over. Problem solved and less stress about toys overtaking our house! Hooray!!

Aside from this lovely Noah’s Ark Toy Box Guidecraft has a huge selection of kids furniture, toys and teaching equipment. If you want to get your toy box or check out what else Guidecraft has, go to http://www.guidecraft.com

Guidecraft is giving one very lucky MommyB Knows Best Reader a chance to win a Noah’s Ark Toy Box of their very own!

Here’s how to win: Using the entry form directly below this post (NOT the comment form), submit your name, an email address that you check regularly, and the entry you are submitting. *Please note the Mandatory Entry MUST be completed before you can qualify for additional entries.

Giveaway ends June 14th @12:00 am. The winner will be chosen at random, verified, emailed, and announced in a Winner’s post. The winner will have 48 hours to respond to the email from MommyB to claim the prize, if the prize is not claimed within 48 hours a new winner will be chosen at random. You must be a US resident and 18 years or older to enter.