A few weeks back one of my readers suggested that I check out Temu for miniatures (thank you for that suggestion Sue).

I’d certainly heard of Temu.  Quite a few of the miniaturists that I follow on YouTube get things from Temu.

I’d never really checked them out though, mainly because they have a reputation of being somewhat shady.  The product quality can be hit or miss, it can be difficult to return things, and shipping can take a long time.  Worse yet, their cybersecurity is somewhat questionable and that’s never good when you’re purchasing online with a credit card.  They’ve also been know to copy (a.k.a. steal) designs from other sources, but then the same has been said about Hobby Lobby and even Target.

But their prices are quite low, and I really liked the look of the particular item that Sue had shared with me, so I decided to go ahead and give them a shot.

Here’s what I ordered:

Well … most of it anyway, I’m still waiting on two more pieces (and I placed my order on January 12).

For the most part, I’m happy with the quality of the pieces I’ve received.  The unfinished furniture looks pretty good, just a few rough edges here or there.  But that’s typical of these unfinished pieces.

The little carton of eggs is a tad oversized in scale, plus the color of the eggs is a bit off.

They are a little too orange.  I plan to try giving them a paint job to make them look more realistic.  But I only paid $1.62 for them, so I can’t really complain.

Ironically, I had just ordered a dresser from The Modern Dollhouse before I ordered from the Temu site.  I paid $15 for it, and it did not include knobs.

I only paid $7.74 for a similar dresser from Temu, and I won’t have the additional expense of adding pulls or knobs.  As you can see, the Temu version is going to require a little bit of sanding though, and it’s also slightly larger.

I may also be removing those knobs and replacing them with something better anyway, we’ll see.

I also ordered a set of 20 mini cutting boards for $2.61.

And actually, these are more ‘to scale’ than the set of three that I shared on Tuesday.  As a reminder, I purchased those at Michael’s for $4.

The unfinished coffee table that I purchased from Temu is going in the free-at-the-curb dollhouse.

I’ll share how that turned out with you soon.

Finally there is the item that motivated me to order from Temu in the first place, and that is this chair …

Isn’t that lovely?

I was really hoping it would be the right scale, because the description of it says it’s “1:8 – 1:12” scale.  For reference, Barbie doll sized items are usually 1:6 scale, my dollhouse is 1:12 scale. So it is a tiny bit big, but I think it still works.

Here it is next to the bedroom fireplace in my dollhouse.

The description of the chair on Temu also simply said that it was made out of resin, so I was really hoping it wouldn’t look too ‘plastic’.  I’m guessing that it’s 3D printed and sometimes 3D printed items lack in realism.

However, the cushion is covered in actual fabric, rather than also being made of resin.

Of all the items I ordered at Temu, I paid the most for this chair at $20.10.  But I do rather love it, so that still feels like a bargain.

My one complaint about Temu is that despite going into my account and turning off all notifications other than those related to shipping, I am still getting a barrage of emails from Temu with subject lines that say “ATTENTION REQUIRED!” and “Purchase will be returned as CREDIT!” which makes you think it’s something important that you need to follow up on.  Instead they are just trying to get you to buy more stuff.  So if that’s the kind of thing that is going to bug you, then buyer beware.

Anyway, as you can see I have quite a few miniatures to get painted now!  But first, I’m going to try to escape the cold with a trip to Florida.  Last week we hit a low of -22° F and a ‘feels like’ temp of -45°.  It’s definitely time to head to a warmer climate for a few days, so my sister and I are headed to Florida for 4 days at Disney World followed by a 5 day cruise to the Bahamas.  Well … it’s supposed to be a warmer climate but Florida is expecting their coldest weather in 15 years this weekend including windchills in the 20’s.  What?!  Oh well.  That’s still 65 degrees warmer than our -45°, right?

I do have some blog posts pre-scheduled for the next week or so though, so be sure to stay tuned!

But before I go, how about you?  Have you ever ordered from Temu?  And if so, how was your experience?  Leave a comment and let me know.