Review: 31139 Cozy House
Posted by benbacardi,Creator 3-in-1 sets often turn out to be good value for money, interesting builds, and use some creative techniques; 31139 Cozy House is the largest of this year's current releases, at 808 pieces. All three builds are a house of some kind, although all significantly different; I'll take a look at them all in this article, and highlight some of my favourite aspects of their designs!
Summary
31139 Cozy House, 808 pieces.
£54.99 / $59.99 / €59.99 | 6.8p/7.4c/7.4c per piece.
Buy at LEGO.com »
A delightful build with great little details, and two excellent alternative models.
- Well-designed house
- Delightful small details
- Great alternative models
- None
The set was provided for review by LEGO. All opinions expressed are those of the author.
Minifigures
Three minifigures are included; a reasonable number considering the size of the set. They represent a mum, a dad, and their son, and they all look pretty happy with their cosy house!
With medium legs, the son is wearing a green sweater, with tousled ginger hair swept to the side. The dad either works for City Space or is a fan of theirs, wearing a blue flight jacket with the new-last-year Classic Space emblem and flight patch. He has a cheeky lopsided grin, mirrored by that of the mum, who's wearing a colourful mountain-themed top.
None of the figures have a second expression, but the dad has a hearing aid (although it is not visible in the photos here, and is partially covered by his hair at all times).
Cozy House
The primary model of the set is the titular Cozy House (or "cosy", as we'd be more likely to write here in the UK). It's a fantastic little two-story building with pitched roofs, a delightful garden, and is full of excellent details!
The two roofs make use of the technique most recently used to great effect in 10316 The Lord of the Rings: Rivendell, with rows of 1x1 square tiles attached at an angle to simulate the look of a detailed tiled roof. Two different colours of tiles are used, both distinct from the roof itself, and the resulting effect is excellent.
Inside the house, there are four rooms; a kitchen and lounge downstairs, and two bedrooms (one for the parents, one for the child) upstairs.
Both bedrooms feature a brick-built bed with pillows, and a small bedside table and lamp. The table in the boy's room looks a little unsightly due to the way it's constructed; you'll find throughout the build there are some unusual choices for parts that would have been better served with an alternative piece, but the 3-in-1 nature of the set means that this is inevitable.
The boy's bedroom also contains a cat bed and scratching post; the cat itself is one of a handful of small auxiliary models built alongside the house.
Downstairs, the kitchen has enough seating for the entire family, each of whom are about to enjoy a bowl of soup that has just been cooked on the hob! They will have to take their three spoons out of the rather cramped sink first, though.
The lounge has a small fireplace and mantelpiece, with a bright orange chair facing it. Large full-height windows look out on the garden terrace.
The house is actually hinged in the centre, and can be folded in half to fully enclose the building.
A small clip at the base of the outer walls holds it in place when closed, and the large front garden turns into a small front garden and separate rear patio.
The designers have cleverly incorporated a slot in the side of the taller building to accommodate the eaves of the shorter roof when the house is opened up. It is surprisingly satisfying to click into place!
The rear garden is perhaps my favourite part of the set. A covered patio features two garden chairs, with a climbing plant of some kind making its way up and over the pergola, which is ingeniously made using three ladders clipped to the wall of the house. A small path makes its way down the garden, next to another colourful bush.
The front garden also holds a number of lovely little details. I love the small wheelie bin that sits in front of the window; immediately recognisable despite the few parts! It can been wheeled along, but unfortunately doesn't open. The red letterbox adds some bright character, and I like the use of the rounded 2x4 tile, first introduced for the Super Mario sets as printed character faces, for a doormat.
The way the two heights of roofs fit snuggly together looks great when the house is closed, and there's even a cute little snail crawling up the eaves!
As mentioned earlier, there are a number of smaller builds dotted throughout the instructions; I can make out what a few of them are meant to be but I am utterly stumped by the rest! The aforementioned cat is clear, although a little blocky, and the boy is playing with a remote control car. I presume the next two are also toys, but the fourth in the image below is completely baffling.
The product images show the mum holding it while standing in the garden, as below, but I am still none the wiser. Is it some kind of gardening tool? It looks like something from Stranger Things! I would welcome your thoughts in the comments.
Canal House
Both of the two alternative models in the 3-in-1 set are also houses. The first is a tall three-storey (plus attic) house sitting on a canal. It uses around two-thirds of the parts of the main build, perhaps a bit more, and is just as detailed. There's a small pontoon out onto the water, a little dog, two sail boats, and plenty of detailing on the building itself, including another climbing plant making its way up the side.
Inside, there is a small cafe on the ground floor with a coffee machine, an art gallery on the first floor, an office on the second, and some storage boxes and letters in the attic under the roof.
Lake House
The third build is more of a cabin than a house, reminiscent of the recent 21338 A-Frame Cabin, albeit much reduced! The ladders are repurposed to a jetty protruding into the lake, with a small motorboat alongside it. I particularly like the simple but effective trees, the small squirrel perched atop them, and the caterpillar on the roof.
Inside, one half of the building houses a toilet (it wouldn't be a proper Creator house without one, right?), and the other half a lounge with a comfy chair sandwiched between a pair of speakers. The pictures from the wall of the main build, or the art gallery of the canal house, are repurposed here as vinyl records for use with the small record deck.
Unlike the canal house, this lake house can also be folded in half to fully enclose the rooms. The resulting building is a very odd shape, and must sit on a peninsula or island between two bodies of water!
The detailing on the roof uses a mixture of 1x1 round tiles and plates, and creates a very different effect to the square tiles used by the main build.
Conclusion
Just as Creator itself is a staple of LEGO themes, 3-in-1 builds are a staple of the Creator range. They produce consistently high-quality, creative builds, and 31139 Cozy House is no different.
The main house has many delightful small details, and the three minifigures provide plenty of play value. My children spent quite a while playing with it before they would let me dismantle it to build the alternative models! I particularly like the garden aspect of the house, and the small builds such as the wheelie bin and kitchen.
Both the alternative models provide unique builds despite using all the same parts, and they are just as detailed as the main house, although smaller. This is a set that I can see being built time and time again, into all three of its variations.
31139 Cozy House is available at LEGO.com for £54.99 / $59.99 / 59.99€.
177 likes
68 comments on this article
"They will have to take their three spoons out of the rather cramped sink first, though."
I think that makes this the most accurate Lego house to date.
Doesn't everybody use a gardening octopus to clean and water the plants??
Also, if there were a snail of that size on my roof, I would be moving, post haste.
Great set, the second build looks like it has clips, so it can be fully enclosed if you take off the 2 top floors and add them to the back.
I think that middle toy build is 4940-1
I would put the snail in the cat bed and call it Gary
Love this set! I thought the squid-type thing was perhaps an homage to 8061 from the Atlantis theme. The one with the unicorn horn is definitely 4940! Such fun little nods.
This is an exceptional Creator 3-in-1 set. It could easily become one of my all time favorites.
Maybe the baffling mini-build is an uprooted plant. Or a baby hydra demon that relentlessly torments the family. Or perhaps a combination of the two.
Great set. I like all three builds.
I think I saw on Instagram that the weird octopus (or should I say, quadropus) thing is a reference to an old set, like the middle one (see naranek's comment above) but I can't remember which set it is.
EDIT: The toy is a reference to 8061 - credit to Brickfanatics. They have an article about the references in this set: https://www.brickfanatics.com/lego-31139-full-of-retro-references
@naranek said:
"I think that middle toy build is 4940-1
"
Agreed. The "stranger thing" is also a Lego product, the giant squid from 8061 . So, this bring up an interesting question: if there is a tiny version of this CREATOR set in the mini-figure universe, does it ALSO come with these sets, except even smaller? How far down does this go, exactly... Subatomic?!?
It's Q
Very nice, the squid toy is from the Atlantis sets, infact, these are all Lego sets, I am sure someone will post all the Set numbers.
I think you can take the upper two stories from the canal house and put them next to the lower ones to enclose it.
@Judgeguy said:
"The toy is a reference to 8061 - credit to Brickfanatics. They have an article about the references in this set: https://www.brickfanatics.com/lego-31139-full-of-retro-references"
Thank you—I am not particularly familiar with these older LEGO sets, so thanks to you and the other commenters who have enlightened me here!
I think the squid is definitely 8061 as the colours match exactly, but when I first saw it I thought it looked like 76255 the new Guardians of the Galaxy ship!
This really is a fantastic set, a much better purchase than I expected. It may be one of my favorite releases this year, though it isn't very swooshable.
Great set, as I thought, which is why it went straight on my wishlist when it was announced.
I can see myself buying several copies and doing some mix-n-match and expansions.
These Creator 3 in 1 sets are my favorites to use for my City. They give us so many options are are great for many alternate builds. This one is slightly more expensive than in the past but still great value. I bought 2 and looking forward to making a bigger model.
Others have pointed some of them out already, but I'm sure all of these toys are lego sets - and I love it!
From left to right: 4585-1, 6038, 4940, 8061
Except for the cat... which might just be a brick-built cat, just like the snail is brick-built.
Lovely little dollhouse. Not much to say otherwise, the set's pretty much a perfect example of Creator goodness.
@TeriXeri said:
"Great set, the second build looks like it has clips, so it can be fully enclosed if you take off the 2 top floors and add them to the back."
Oh, nice catch!
The black thing is surely Cthulhu. As the myth goes, in his cosy house dead Cthulhu waits dreaming. That is not dead which can eternal lie, etc etc
@FlitzerMitDerPizza said:
"Others have pointed some of them out already, but I'm sure all of these toys are lego sets - and I love it!
From left to right: 4585-1, 6038, 4940, 8061
Except for the cat... which might just be a brick-built cat, just like the snail is brick-built."
I thought the car was 42095 but 4585 would be more fun. I feel old with the reviewer not knowing about these sets while I lived through the period most of these are from, as a fan. Especially the Atlantis giant squid is instantly recognizable if you know about the theme and it's not that old being from 2010, right? It's probably more to do with people's dark ages more than time, come to think of it.
Another proof that creator is a best theme.
Love the alternate A house
@EvilTwin said:
"The black thing is surely Cthulhu. As the myth goes, in his cosy house dead Cthulhu waits dreaming. That is not dead which can eternal lie, etc etc"
Glad I am not the only one who thought this!!
@Judgeguy said:
"Great set. I like all three builds.
I think I saw on Instagram that the weird octopus (or should I say, quadropus) thing is a reference to an old set, like the middle one (see naranek's comment above) but I can't remember which set it is.
EDIT: The toy is a reference to 8061 - credit to Brickfanatics. They have an article about the references in this set: https://www.brickfanatics.com/lego-31139-full-of-retro-references"
Yep! I was responsible for that article; the Lego Racers and Rock Raiders sets were an easy spot as I own them myself, although the other two took a lot more time to identify.
@benbacardi said:
" @Judgeguy said:
"The toy is a reference to 8061 - credit to Brickfanatics. They have an article about the references in this set: https://www.brickfanatics.com/lego-31139-full-of-retro-references"
Thank you—I am not particularly familiar with these older LEGO sets, so thanks to you and the other commenters who have enlightened me here!"
Well, I feel old now.
Ah dang, this is a lovely house.
I feel like the 3-in-1 Creator buildings are (or well, used to) be a good way to build up a town on a budget. The only thing I didn't like, were some of the brick-built animals.
Now it's some of the brick-built animals, plus the price-tag.
I can’t get the roof section with the snail on it to stay attached. Falls off if I look at it wrong.
@Mister_Jonny said:
" @Judgeguy said:
"Great set. I like all three builds.
I think I saw on Instagram that the weird octopus (or should I say, quadropus) thing is a reference to an old set, like the middle one (see naranek's comment above) but I can't remember which set it is.
EDIT: The toy is a reference to 8061 - credit to Brickfanatics. They have an article about the references in this set: https://www.brickfanatics.com/lego-31139-full-of-retro-references"
Yep! I was responsible for that article; the Lego Racers and Rock Raiders sets were an easy spot as I own them myself, although the other two took a lot more time to identify.
"
Great article, too.
Lovely charming house. I can't say I'm over keen on a turquoise roof, but obviously easily sorted. Looks like someone has been painting their gutters and gone a bit crazy!
Another 3-in1 set crying out to be bought several time.
Gotta say again, this theme is just killing it. I don't want all of them, but they are so good for building out scenes. The minifigs in this appear to be fantastic, and the house will be a good addition to my city. The little retro toy references are great, though I'd have to add a 1x1 plate to the Wolfpack Wagon.
From the Sets designed by Marin Stipkovic BrickList (https://brickset.com/sets/designer-Marin-Stipkovic), he says,
"I had most fun designing the toys. If you were wondering, the sets referenced are: 4567, 4940, 6038, 7578, 8061, 4002016 + a whole theme, not just one model. That last one should be obvious from the blue, grey and trans-yellow colour scheme. ;)"
Nice set. mine arrived yesterday, with a small discount, which is always welcome. i know it's a creator set, so the cat is brick built...but i don't like it...maybe i'll replace it with the one in set 60382.
I wonder how well the three builds look next to (or connected?) to each other.
Probably not well, which is fine, because they're separate dwellings-- I'm just thinking of some of the Castle sets that are more-or-less designed to be linked together, or expanded with other parts.
Anyway, I love Creator 3-in-1 so much.
I put this on my wishlist as soon as I realized it had all the tiny micro-sets--I think it's a much better "Winter Cottage" than today's random-set-of-the-day (10229) ever was! This gives me an excuse to buy two copies--one to add to my Winter Village and one for my ordinary building collection!
I really like this set, i was going to buy it. But then I realized it doesn't have any specialized parts and I can build easily from my own parts in different colours. It's cool that one can just download free instructions and get going with already own parts!
I really miss the days of brick-build LEGO house roofs, but I guess those days are gone. Maybe it's time for me to accept that sloping plate roofs are the way of the future.
I'd like to point out that the designer, Marin Stipkovic, has actually clarified the referenced sets to be 4567, 6038, 4940, and 8061 in their Bricklist right here on Brickset (link below).
https://brickset.com/sets/designer-Marin-Stipkovic
Great set and great review!! I will buy it!
@chief7575: Never mind the snail, what about the Lake House's huge caterpillar? At least the snail would be fairly easy to outrun, if need be.
@ricecake said:
From the Sets designed by Marin Stipkovic BrickList ( https://brickset.com/sets/designer-Marin-Stipkovic ), he says, I had most fun designing the toys. If you were wondering, the sets referenced are: 4567 , 4940 , 6038 , 7578 , 8061 , 4002016 + a whole theme, not just one model. That last one should be obvious from the blue, grey and trans-yellow colour scheme. ;)
That’s great, I love when we get info straight from the designer. I can see the trains in the official picture of the Canal House but not in the review. I’m still hunting for the references to 7578.
This is so going to be added to my collection for City building.
@B_Space_Man said:
"That’s great, I love when we get info straight from the designer. I can see the trains in the official picture of the Canal House but not in the review. I’m still hunting for the references to 7578."
Me too!
Also, I found them in the instructions:
4002016: book 2, starting on page 87, building step 106
Classic Space: book 2, page 90, building step 107
7578: book 3, page 107, building step 121
Call me weird but this is so much better than Rivendell. And I could buy 10 of these for the same price! Love this set.
I love Creator 3-in-1. It's my favorite Lego theme. This is a great sweet and an incredible value for $60.
Just based on this review 31139 is my favorite set of the year. All three builds are great. It's not expensive. Lots a great detail and play features.
This set is Lego at its finest.
@guachi said:
"I love Creator 3-in-1. It's my favorite Lego theme. This is a great sweet and an incredible value for $60.
Just based on this review 31139 is my favorite set of the year. All three builds are great. It's not expensive. Lots a great detail and play features.
This set is Lego at its finest."
Agreed, all 3 builds work well, and this has some very useful parts with a right mix of colors , especially the greens , blue and brown plates can work as both as part of the house, or terrain, which is nice.
Even with 3 official set builds, each building has a different roof color , so basicly will look like 3 different buildings, that would be in a street or bungalow park etc.
I love the main build, so much detail crammed in there
@Binary_Code said:
"I'd like to point out that the designer, Marin Stipkovic, has actually clarified the referenced sets to be 4567, 6038, 4940, and 8061 in their Bricklist right here on Brickset (link below).
https://brickset.com/sets/designer-Marin-Stipkovic "
This repository of comments from the designers is a fantastic feature of this site! I had no idea! This should be more widely promoted!
Thanks!
@Judgeguy said:
"The toy is a reference to 8061"
Yep, definitely a gateway of the squid reference.
Purchased last week at Target, and I knew I couldn't go wrong. It's a great set.
Nice review and glad I'm not the only one who had no idea what those small things were. Thanks to those who've identified them.
I built the A-frame version, minus the waterfront, also added a couple of extra plates to make the roof slightly more angular.
Surprised you didn't mention the "feature" in the toilet.
Call me weird. But I really hate the brick built pets and creatures they do in these sets. The Creator animal 3 in 1s are fine. And I love the house itself. But damit! You have perfectly good Dog molds. Just use them already!
Why are they grinning so much? What's wrong with a normal smile?
@Faefrost said:
"Call me weird. But I really hate the brick built pets and creatures they do in these sets. The Creator animal 3 in 1s are fine. And I love the house itself. But damit! You have perfectly good Dog molds. Just use them already!"
Whereas I'm the opposite: I love the little brick-built creatures rather more than specific molds. I've now got quite the collection of small birds from various 3-in-1 sets.
I bought this set on release day, and I absolutely love it. This has been a delightful building experience, and I love how many details it has for being a 3 in 1 set! The main build is beautiful and kind of reminds me of the Lego Friends Autumn’s House. Of course, this Cozy House is an exceptional value because of the other very unique houses you can build. If this was the only Lego set I bought all year, I definitely wouldn’t be disappointed ??
@Arnoldos said:
"Why are they grinning so much? What's wrong with a normal smile?"
They've managed to snag a house during a housing-crisis. They're either grinning because they're lucky and/or rich enough to afford a house, or they're grinning because they know where the original owners are buried.
I think you may want to reconsider your frequent beef with American spelling—as you open the article with a critique of how “COZY” is spelled and shortly thereafter wedge in a British reference of “hob” but butcher it. You wrote “cooked the hob”.
As an American, even I know it’s something you cook on…and not something you eat.
Perhaps it’s time for a stiff upper lip?
Rather than all those tiles and cheese wedges what you really need for the same piece count is another bedroom window and 2 extra layers of bricks for the parents bedroom.
Hm! She is made of harder stuff!
Cardinal Fang! Fetch...
THE COMFY CHAIR!
The second house can be enclosed too, just look at the photo on the set page. That's why there's a weird middle-bit between floors 2 and 3, and the clip attachments.
This proves once again that the Creator 3-1 is the best theme Lego has ever done, period. It’s such an ingenious thing and is the epitome of Lego.
@AustinPowers said:
"Hm! She is made of harder stuff!
Cardinal Fang! Fetch...
THE COMFY CHAIR!"
(Fang's face contorts to pure horror)
THE COMFY CHAIR!?!
@Ridgeheart said:
" @Arnoldos said:
"Why are they grinning so much? What's wrong with a normal smile?"
They've managed to snag a house during a housing-crisis. They're either grinning because they're lucky and/or rich enough to afford a house, or they're grinning because they know where the original owners are buried."
This comment thread just took a turn towards disturbing...
@Jedijon said:
"I think you may want to reconsider your frequent beef with American spelling—as you open the article with a critique of how “COZY” is spelled and shortly thereafter wedge in a British reference of “hob” but butcher it. You wrote “cooked the hob”.
As an American, even I know it’s something you cook on…and not something you eat.
Perhaps it’s time for a stiff upper lip?"
Thank you for pointing out the missing word "on", I have updated the article to fix that typo. I wasn't "wedging in a British reference" - I'm British, I literally just call it a hob.
@Mister_Jonny said:
" @Judgeguy said:
"Great set. I like all three builds.
I think I saw on Instagram that the weird octopus (or should I say, quadropus) thing is a reference to an old set, like the middle one (see naranek's comment above) but I can't remember which set it is.
EDIT: The toy is a reference to 8061 - credit to Brickfanatics. They have an article about the references in this set: https://www.brickfanatics.com/lego-31139-full-of-retro-references "
Yep! I was responsible for that article; the Lego Racers and Rock Raiders sets were an easy spot as I own them myself, although the other two took a lot more time to identify.
"
They should call it 'AdFanatics.' I like their site, and I understand everyone needs to make a buck.
But, they've become so ad crazy, it takes 10 seconds for their webpage to load. Then, you get the full court press. They shove a full page ap ad in your face. Click on that. Quarter page top video ad, 2 lower ads, ads throughout the body of the (very short (but informative and well-written)) articles. You have to dance your thumb around the whole time clicking 'x's. It's exhausting. I rarely visit anymore because of ad mania.
BTW, I like this set. Lots of fun details with a full enclosure option. Quite smart.
It is interesting but small, comparing to old Creator houses
I have molluscophobia so I will not assemble that snail.
Also, I like the cat build but to me it looks more like a dog.
The amount of detail that was packed into the Cozy House is quite appealing to me.
Regarding the strange build with four snake elements, my first thought was that it could be some ancient evil demon-summoning relic that the residents of the house unearthed.
This set is MAGNIFICENT. 3 solid builds, very good bricks to start building own houses AND it provides amazing building learning experience