I recently purchased the 1x4x6 wooden frame. The box says it is Element Design #40289. The price in the US is listed as $89.99. Yikes! Quite a bit for a frame. Given the “only the best is good enough” slogan, I assumed it would be worth the price. My plan was to add this to the wall near my Brick Sanctum along with some of the other decorations I have. I figured I could print out a picture from my visit to the LEGO® House.
Here’s the box that arrived after I placed my order with LEGO Shop@Home. It’s consistent with the brand’s packaging. It looks professional and they highlight how you can stack these picture frames on top of each other if you want to spend a few hundred dollars on them. One of the side views notes that I purchased the “oak soap treated” version. I have no idea what oak soap is, but this frame is $10 cheaper than a darker stained frame also for sale.
Opening the box, you are greeted with a bunch of printed bricks and the word “Imagination.” There isn’t any packaging or covers to remove which didn’t seem to be an issue. The frame fits in the box snuggly and the box isn’t taped so you can use a tab to re-close the box if you need to transport or store the frame.
The front and back of the frame appear to be in good shape. It isn’t beat up or damaged in a way that I can see. There aren’t major gaps or cracks between the wood. On the back, there are two slots to hook the frame into nails so you can affix it to a wall.
As mentioned, you can connect frames together when you hang them on a wall. This probably will involve a lot of measuring to line up the nails just right so they match up. In order to do that, you use clutch power, but in wood form. The studs on top are a nice touch and I like the LEGO branding on each stud despite the fact that once you hang it on a wall, you probably won’t see the logo. The bottom looks like the bottom of a brick, but I don’t have another frame to verify how well it connects or doesn’t connect.
Okay, so I got to this part of the frame… the side has a slot where you pull out a cardboard like sheet. You put the picture in the sheet and then slide it back into the slot and you’re all set. Just hang it up on the wall.
Um… where’s the glass or plexiglass to protect the picture from the elements? What about having a backing so that it presses the picture against the glass to keep it flat? In my opinion, this is where LEGO went wrong. Now I’m not going to take the time to put a nice picture in the frame as I know it’ll start to warp with humidity and I’ll just have to print another one. Or maybe I print a picture out and laminate it before putting it in the cardboard sleeve?
My recommendation is not to buy this frame. The quality and design are good, but $90 before tax and you don’t get what would normally be a standard part of a picture frame. I recommend you go to your local big box store and pick up a real frame at a much lower cost. Then you’ll have more funds leftover to buy plastic bricks, which LEGO seems to do much better at than this frame.
