Review: 41369 Mia's House

From the high pitched roof with a little birdhouse tucked under its eave, viewing balcony, and solid rock foundation -- to the acorn motif on the glass doors -- Mia's House is right at home in its forest setting.
Come over to enjoy its nougatty glow trimmed in Mia's colors -- and find a few surprises!

This set was provided by the AFOL Engagement of The LEGO Group for the purpose of sharing set details with fans. Opinions provided here solely reflect those of our reviewer. Photographs are property of FriendsBricks and are not directed by TLG in any fashion.


Box front shows her house surrounded by trees in a lovely forest setting. We know this is a core Friends theme set based on the upper right Friends-Heart insert.


Box back gives a glimpse inside and activities - apparently including potty training her rabbit Twister!
The box is 21-inches wide.




Box top shows us Mia's family activities by the water well, and let's us know her dad's name is Angus and her mom's name is Ann - while displaying the mini-doll size ratio -- along with some fun accessories. Plus, since Daniel is away at college, he's in a framed photo with Mia!


Side of the box with LEGO Life ad shows Twister next to a brick collage of parts in this set.


Side of box featuring what I call "scene slice" highlights the spirit of the set; plus helps to know what set it is when lined up with other boxes on a shelf.


Bottom of the box has another family gathering over another brick collage.
Languages for a global community and a "not for sale" sticker covering the UPC because this review set came from Denmark and isn't packaged for retail in North America (because we need extra legal info, apparently ;-)


Box contents:
Instructions book (188 pages) sealed with sticker sheet, 2 tan base plates, one grey horse, and six bags of parts.


Sticker sheet: The lovely acorn motif for the doors ... not printed like Stephanie's House windows -- and I have to admit, I was deflated when I realized this because I was so looking forward to them. I wanted to use in other creations.
I suppose the sticker for a roll of toilet paper making me laugh is my consolation.


The instructions book cover really is beautiful to me. The bottom right corner advertises a new feature.


New for 2019 is the ability to scan the set QR code and view instructions via an app.
I am happy to see a Mini-doll presenter, even though I don't see a name, she makes me miss Nina. This girl looks a bit like Naomi.


For the back cover of the instructions, we finally get a 2018 v.2 of Emma with brown eyes instead of previously green -- so we get a green camera to compensate ;-)


Bag 1 parts:
New of note: Dark azure 1x2x3 window frames

Bag of medium blue kitchen accessories, which are somewhat rare -- being in only 4 sets.

Mia's hair is LEGO color "bright red" whereas it used to be new dark red. I still think dark orange color like her parent's hair would look good. Or, bright orange like Batgirl's, which would match her graphic-version.


First we build Mia and her grey dapple horse named Metzie and the water well with a turning crank; you could add LEGO string and tie the bucket if you want.
Although there was a grey dapple horse before, this is a new pattern.


For the actual house -- first we build the "heart of the home" -- the kitchen! I love the lime and white tiled floor -- any tiling in a Friends build welcomed by me!
Some folks may balk at the kitchen being first, because you have to open a bag of accessories -- however -- it's a "play feature" and since this wave has zero slides ... we gotta play!
We put a medium nougat round 1x1 tile in the blue baking pan into the oven. Mmmm ... can you smell it?


Everything you build with bag 1 parts.
Mia's new shirt is so cute! I love acorns too! You can see her new bright red hair color compared to brick red in this image.
The sink may be a bit squished into the corner - yet is white, which is classic country style.


Bag 2 parts:
More dark azure 1x2x3 window frames. Although nothing else new, all very usable parts.


Exterior with all bag 2 parts added. This part of the build goes really quick and although there's no real amazing aspect yet, it's fun to see a house starting to emerge.


Interior with all bag 2 parts added. We get to clip the spatula into that nougat holder -- yay!


Bag 3 parts:
A wee bit rare is the gold frog (smaller bag), and we get new mini-doll parts -- which we'll look at closer in a bit.


All bag 3 house parts added. The brown stair piece connects on top of the red flower. The grey LURP (Little Ugly Rock Piece) works fine -- Friends and Elves usually have such great brick-built rock formations. Yet, with pieces count vs cost, we have to compromise.

Instructions have us build Angus and Ann first. I haven't added the acorn motif door sticker yet ... it's still concerning for me. Not only am I sad they aren't printed -- I'm a bit worried if I can place such a large clear-based sticker well enough!


We get to build the lovely Lime Green sofa independent of the house and then 'deliver' it! The back cushions recline, however, once in the living room, they won't be able to ...


Side and inside with all bag 3 parts added. We've built her parents and the kitchen table, which is really more like an outdoor table with built-in chairs. Ah, country living!


Bag 4 parts:
New of note: Dark azure 1x2x2 window frames

Rare solid white door


We build walls for the bathroom and it's fun to build the toilet independent from the room! This way it connects smoothly over the lovely tiled floor.
The bathroom door is solid for privacy, and we get another clear door for the acorn motif.
As you can see, I've applied the stickers. I hope it looks OK.


Adding to the second floor, we build the front-facing exterior house wall siding as independent panels, then "install" them by connecting to the profile bricks.
It's good to see Friends sets getting more horizontal build aspects.


Bag 5 parts:
New of note: Bright purple (what I call bubblegum pink ;-) 1x4 plate with 2 knobs [small bag bottom right] is only in this set.

More Dark azure 1x2x2 window frames
Beehive is not new, yet is rare


Bag 5 parts start out adding upper walls and windows, then we build the (awesome!) climbing wall as a separate section -- then add it to the side of the house, thanks to several profile studded bricks.


Inside the upper floor rooms are filled in with the rest of bag 5 parts. The desk, chair and dresser get built independent of the house, then installed. I always enjoy that.

The living room is a bit sparse, and you may notice there is no TV. Clearly, Mia and her family spend more time outdoors. I really do like the sofa design. A builder could expand on this room to customize to their own liking.


Bag 6 parts:
New of note: Dark azure Bow Window 1X4X1 2/3 (fan light design)
One more Dark azure 1x2x2 window frame
Medium Lilac 4x8 plate (hard to believe new, yet according to inventories)

Lots of yummy medium nougat!


All bag 6 parts added viewing front of the house. We get to build the large siding panel, with flower box, that attaches under the window with shutters as a separate panel, just like the 2 smaller ones. Again, a fun and useful technique for horizontal building.


All bag 6 parts added to finish off the house -- viewing inside. The roof sections are similar to the traditional Elves design -- which open to allow access and play. Building the medium nougat walls to end with a pitch angle on top for the roof panels is good for practicing that aspect in structures.


Mini-dolls: Ann, Mia, and Angus

Mom Ann has a green and lavender cross sash top with a necklace of round yellowish gold stones of some kind, plus a gold chain closer on her neck. Her eyes are a bit gray-green. Her hairpiece style is the same as Joy's from Adventure Camp series, yet is dark orange.

Mia's new shirt has an acorn motif that complements the house doors design, along with olive green rolled hem shorts and orange sneakers. Her eyes are bright green. Her hair is new for 2019 in bright red, instead of "new dark red" (as it's been since 2012). This outfit is only in this set.

Dad Angus has a khaki type of sand yellow/tan colored pocketed shirt with a tree emblem patch -- indicating some sort of park ranger position. His eyes are dark green. His hair is also dark orange like Ann's, yet non mini-doll rubbery -- classic brick hard -- so it shows a bit different in photos.

See what Mia would look like with her mom's dark orange hair. It's closer to v.2 2018 graphics, yet bright orange would still be a better match.


Mia's gray dapple horse Metzie. Subtle heart patterns emerge in the "dapple" print on both sides, yet unique.


Play and access: Mia's family home -- Daniel is in a picture frame with Mia by the front door -- Anna & Angus begin the day as Mia greets Twister.
We can open the roof panels for easier arrangements and for play. The design incorporates the floor above the kitchen to be easily removed because it sets on a smooth tile and only one stud on the left side. It's reinforced by an orange 2x4 tile 'rug' on top in Mia's bedroom, and a white round 2x2 shoe slide underneath.


Mia's House is quite narrow and wide. Here is a view of the climbing wall side. You can also see how the table and chair module fits up against the kitchen area.


Play scenes are quite easy to imagine here ... because who doesn't want a secret door behind their climbing wall, right?


The stairs and balcony side of the house.


Mia practicing her wall climbing skills with Angus cheering her on -- or yelling at Metzie to not eat his breakfast?


Spare parts from all bags.


Mia on her balcony: I can imagine her surveying the surrounding forest :-)
Her Tree House would look great in the back of this -- if I hadn't already rebuilt mine, I would have taken a photo of them together.

The front-facing 1x4 nougat tiles above both dark azure fan light windows are meant to have stickers of wood-grain. Considering there are at least 3 printed patterns in TLG inventory, I am baffled as to why we don't get any of those. I will switch out for some in my own collection.
It still doesn't look bad with just nougat; although sawed wood grain does add to the foresty look. At least I applied the door glass stickers, shutters, and picture of Mia and her brother Daniel. The rest are cute, yet I had intended to rebuild her house, or at least modify it, so I didn't stick them all.
Now that it's built, I don't really feel compelled to alter it ... for now.

Summary:

Mia's House is very wide and narrow -- very unlike previous Friends home sets, which are quite square in overall footprint. It's a solid build -- easy to pick up and move from table to shelf without any shifting -- as long as you mind its width and any loose elements.

It's referred to as "cabin-style" in its product description. I'd say more "mountain forest chalet" since it's more bright and airy than a cabin. Although the trim colors are Mia's signature colors (dark purple, orange and dark azure + green), this same house design could be built using more neutral colors for fitting into other theme settings. The fan light windows do come in tan and sand green, and maybe others.

Building this is very straight forward since we're adding parts to the main structure, not modules. Mia's is the only house not modular, so far. As I mentioned under the photos earlier, the siding panels being built independent are a really nice way of reminding us to build horizontally too.

Considering so many Friends fans have been waiting for a house for Mia (since 'most' all the core 5 Friends have one) I think it was worth the wait. I had wanted to build her one last year, as a mono-slope Scottish Longhouse. I had planned to modify The Old Fishing Store set into a house for her by adding parts from the Friendship House. Yet, I ended up building a Home for Anton -- with Mia's spirit in mind.

If you enjoy visiting a forest, this could springboard ideas for re-building Mia's House with more nature around it. The beehive is cute, yet I might re-locate it to a tree ... considering bears and all. Just like other Friends Houses, I can see this offering years of play, and loads of inspired modified versions. One that comes to mind already is a bedroom for her parents :-)

~~~