Wednesday 28 January 2015

LEGO Creator 31009 Small Cottage 3in1

Ever since I was little I always loved the idea of having a LEGO street. A miniature world I could immerse myself into. Last year we were lucky enough to find a few of the older LEGO Creator 3in1 house sets reduced massively, so I bought a few with my birthday money and I went home a happy person.

This set may be a little harder to find now, but I did find it in many of the larger shops online still, although it's currently unavailable from LEGO.com

LEGO Creator set 31009 Small Cottage 3 in 1

Set 31009 the Small Cottage is one of the smaller Creator house sets, with only  271 parts, yet it can still be built into 3 very different and interesting models. 

LEGO Creator set 31009 Small Cottage 3 in 1 build review

The smallest model is a very small cottage.

LEGO Creator 31009 tiny skateboarders cottage

There's a fairly standard rough 1/3 of the footprint taken by the building. A rail in the garden for the skateboarder, a fireplace and chimney, and actual furniture!  

31009 LEGO 3in1 set build skaters cottage

And somewhat surprisingly for such a compact model, it's hinged. 

Hinged building LEGO set 31009

It's tiny, but it ticks all of the boxes. Very easy and quick to build, and a very rewarding little house which really showcases how simplicity can be beautiful.

Inside skateboarders cottage 31009 LEGO

The second model (increasing in size and difficulty of build) is the Windmill.

LEGO set 31009 Windmill

This build has a hinged wall and removeable top section for easy access inside the windmill.

LEGO set 31009 Windmill rear open wall view

LEGO set 31009 Windmill removeable roof section

My nearly 5 year old wanted to try this build, and he made a very good attempt. The instructions look really easy to us, but actually to a 4 year old lots of bricks the same is really tricky because we can count and estimate very quickly already, whereas they can't. Excluding the sails though, he built the windmill by himself.

4 year old building LEGO Creator house windmill set

The third and biggest build is the Small Cottage.

LEGO Creator 31009 Small Cottage 3in1 set

It is still very small, and if I'm honest wasn't really much bigger inside than the first build, with similar furniture. It does however have a removeable top section and a hinged wall like the windmill, and a couple of nice little touches.

LEGO Creator 31009 Small Cottage 3in1 big garden and barbeque

LEGO Creator 31009 Small Cottage 3in1 overhead view

There's a nice lamp on a 'table' in the house, a great little barbeque built into the wall outside, and sliding patio doors that really work.

LEGO Creator 31009 Small Cottage 3in1 open wall at rear and patio doors

LEGO Creator 31009 Small Cottage 3in1 sliding patio doors

I really like this set because it's great value for money. The rrp was £24.99 and I've actually found it on sale today for prices from £14.99-£32.99 plus postage, so it pays to shop around. The patio doors are awesome, the windmill really different and actually the tiny cottage is so much into such a small package that it's pretty cute.

It works as a playset and is a really sturdy and rewarding build. It's a great starter model and perfect if you don't wish to commit a lot of money or time to LEGO at that point.

14 comments:

  1. I thought about getting this for Z as he is forever building mini houses for his Minecraft Lego characters.

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    1. But it would be too posh. Minecraft characters live in caves and shacks :p

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  2. Thanks for this review. My boy has said he wanted a Lego house and I hadn't come across one before I'm sure we'll be getting this with his Christmas money.

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    1. You're welcome! These are older, but there's generally a smaller house on offer in the Creator series each year if you don't find this one (try Toys R Us online 0 they were showing as in stock at £15 yesterday) :)

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  3. Just a question as you obviously have lots of Lego sets. I struggle with the fact that once made sets don't get dismantled and put into the original box but become part of the general Lego mound we have. Sure they get remade into other things but if he then wants to rebuild the model I can't find anything. How do you cope with this problem or are your boys super organised and put everything back again?

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    1. We're not super-organised. Favourite models get put on shelves, and very occasionally back in the box. All the Christmas LEGO gets boxed. We spent a long time before Christmas sorting the 'general LEGO' into lots of different storage boxes for different sizes and types, and so in theory we can now just walk over and choose the right boxes and get whatever we need to rebuild an entire set, but I've not tried it yet! :D

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  4. Oh these are too cute, I love little Lego buildings. You should totally make a whole Lego street! x

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  5. They look great set! My kids love to build houses with all the spare bits! This cottage set look like a great set where you can build three different houses.

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  6. E loves the LEGO Creators and I have been looking into one of the buildings sets for him. This one looks lovely and one I would quite enjoy doing myself!

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    1. It's relaxing. LEGO gets a bit hard when your bump gets in the way though!

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  7. Miss M got this set for Xmas and just the other week got it out and built the bigger cottage herself. She loved the hinged side and I thought the patio doors were cool!

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    1. I'm with Miss M! The patio doors are lovely, I can't believe they have'nt used that technique in more sets!

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