Book Nook Kit, DIY Miniature Dollhouse Booknook Kit, 3D Wooden Puzzle Bookend Bookshelf Insert Decor with LED Light for Teens and Adults (Beyond Library)

Quite a nice nook design. The ground floor detail is probably the best part with plenty of detail and even a dinosaur skeleton. The clear globe on the platform accessed by stairs has a map of the world lasered into it which is quite clever. The stair cases and platforms are quite interesting, but the upper parts of the nook don't have much other than book spines as decoration. It's a shame that they didn't include more objects on the higher shelves to add a bit more interest. The battery box just sits in a space at the back of the nook and is accessed through a door on the rear. On other nooks I've built, the battery box has been more securely enclosed. This particular nook just lacks a bit of attention to detail in the design. Other kit manufacturers include small molded parts where it's not possible to create a realistic part from just flat board or stickers. This company don't do that which is a pity, they could add more intricate details that would really make the design pop. The chair on one of the upper levels is an example of where a molded part could be so much better - the chair that's included is very clunky. On which note, the low point in the kit is the two shelf ladders - no detail and completely wrong scale for the model. I didn't bother installing them. The detail on the skeleton shows that they could have designed something with far more detail or at least to the right scale! Hopefully they will do a version two of this model and include a few more details and sort some of the disappointing bits. It could have been brilliant with just a bit more thought, hence the 4 stars. The assembly instructions are ok, but not brilliant. There's a QR code on the contents page of the assembly manual and it allows you to download a hi-res .PDF of the manual. This is very useful when the printed manual's drawings are very small and don't show enough detail to allow accurate assembly. I enjoyed assembling this kit and only resorted to using a pair of flat nosed pliers where I needed a better grip or more 'push' than I could achieve using the included tweezers. Nothing about the assembly is particularly difficult, at worst some things were fiddly, but nothing that a deep breath and another go couldn't fix. The printed instructions could have been better, but the PDF sorted that. The detail on the ground floor was lovely, but the upper areas of the nook were a bit uninspiring. The end result is dimly lit and quite moody. If you like this type of assembly kit, it's probably worth buying, but if it's your first nook, you may want to look at some of the others out there as they may give you a better first experience. If you buy this item, the following comments may be helpful: The "frosted rod" is actually an emery board for sanding down parts as necessary. Use a reddish brown pen to colour in the natural coloured areas on parts - where they were joined to the surrounding material before you pressed them out. Put the covers onto the book blanks as you need them. There are a lot to do and I found it better to do them in batches as they were required. Incidentally, despite following the plans very carefully, I had over 100 'books' and their covers left over... Maybe this is so you can decide which covers you like and just use those? The clear parts have protective film on both sides, for the chandelier, this was easier to remove before pressing the parts out of the main board as some of the components are very small. You get two dinosaur skeletons; presumably so that you have a spare in case the first gets damaged as you press it out from the board. I'm now trying to work out where I can use my second skeleton - it's too good to just throw it away. On page 12 of the manual, step 12, you are instructed to fit the screen and curtains to the mezzanine floor and then on the next page steps 13 to 16 show you how to fit the table and telescope. I couldn't fit the telescope rear foot in the hole in the floor and had to carefully remove the screen with curtains to do this. You may find it helpful to assemble the table and telescope and see what's going to work best for you before you start installing the screen and curtain. Before you assemble stairs that will have clear panels around them, look closely at the treads and also the fixing tabs on the clear panels. Some of the stair treads have tiny holes in them for the clear panels to locate in. I discovered this only after fitting all of the stair treads in one flight - it's perfectly clear when you zoom in on the PDF, but I didn't do this until afterwards...

Came with everything you need to assemble, glue, tweezers, tape to secure the wiring and a small sanding strip though we didn’t need this. Only needs 2x AAA batteries (not supplied). All the parts fit together very well and secure. Even comes with some spare wooden parts for fragile or very small items like the dinosaur. All the parts are wood, the printing is quite detailed and you can easily identify some of the small books. The glue takes a little bit of time to set (maybe 20-30 mins to stop sliding around), so when gluing some of the books it’s best to do in small batches. Be prepared to apply stickers to about 260 small books! Glad it comes with a clear dust cover as it would not be easy to keep clean otherwise. The instructions could be clearer in some areas but are enough to get the job done with lots of colour pictures that match the model. Bought as a gift for my wife who’s an avid reader and she loves it, we had lots of fun assembling it and couldn’t be more pleased with the result. Probably took 8-10 hours spread across a week.

From a budding book nook enthusiast I really enjoyed building this kit. This one was a little more challenging than the few I have already done but worth it.

It's relaxing. It looks beautiful. The assembly instructions are clear, except for the LED light installation. Some components are very delicate and can break, but good quality glue is included, so it's okay. The library's closing window is too dull, so I didn't even install it. I put the model together for a little over 10 hours and still don't have a light. So, it's not exactly easy to build, but it's worth it. The product quality is good.

An absolute joy to build and even more of a joy when it’s finished so you can sit and enjoy and sink into a magical world that you created 👍