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Review: HUSET by IKEA

Written on July 26, 2013 at 12:00 pm by Michelle
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Huset is Swedish for ‘house’, which is a very appropriate name for one of Ikea’s newest products: a set of doll furniture. I was particularly interested when this article made its rounds throughout the Blythe community. I was interested until I read that it would be 1:15 scale. For those that aren’t aware, Blythe (and Barbie) are 1:6 scale, or play-scale. A lot of dollhouse enthusiasts actually collect in 1:12 scale or smaller. 1:15 is an odd scale for Ikea to choose to use, and it would be much too small for Blythe to use. Turns out, Ikea is horrible at math.

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In HUSET, you get the following pieces:

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And no, that is not two couches – the one with the little legs is the couch, the other is the slipcover.

Additionally, you get all these fantastic punch-outs that can be easily removed from the packaging. You could colour them in, leave them as-is, decorate your house or your doll’s house with them. They’re really quite cute. Given that the set was created with children in mind, I think the colouring aspect was a fantastic decision by Ikea.

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My favourites of the punch-out pieces would have to be the mirror and the picture frames. The bird (parrot?) is quite cute too!

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Oddly enough, if you do a little bit of math between the sizes of the toys and the sizes of the actual Ikea items, you learn that it isn’t 1:15 scale. It also isn’t 1:6 scale, which would be ideal for Blythe and other similarly-sized dolls. Ikea has decided to use an approximate 1:8 scale for their furniture. The pieces are considerably large for traditional dollhouse enthusiasts, but luckily big enough that Blythe can use it without looking odd as you can see in the next few photos…

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Here are the pieces in individual photos, plus I included the names of the ‘real’ (1:1) Ikea products, in case you’re interested! The day I was at Ikea I saw the black LACK table for $9.99 – cheaper than the HUSET set and already assembled.

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Mini-EXPEDIT in white. It’s very well made and sturdy (all one piece of plastic). Finally a place for all of my dolls’ toys! To me, it was worth buying two sets just so I could have a pair of these shelves. Plus a pair of the lovely yellow item next…

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There’s the PS VΓ…GΓ–, which you can get in yellow for humans. I like it, but Belarus kept trying to slide forward. I may make a cushion for this one to make the Blythes sit easier on it.

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The LACK side table, which does not come in green for humans according to the Canadian Ikea website! It’s a shame, I know. But you can get it in a few colours that may suit your home better than an emerald green.

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The STOCKHOLM rug, which can be yours in bigger sizing for a cool $250 CAD. I’ll stick to my Blythe-sized one, thanks!

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The FAMNIG HJΓ„RTA is tagged HUSET, but I recognize it! I would definitely recommend removing the tag if you want to use it in photos with your dolls. It’s very long (I didn’t measure it, but it’s probably over 10cm / 4″ long!).

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Lastly, we have the KLIPPAN, which comes with its matching slipcover. I love it. I don’t think I’d ever have a pink couch for me in real life, but it’s quite nicely built. It’s sturdy, and the slipcover can come off if you need it wash it or something. It’s held onto the plastic base with thin velcro on the underside. If you’re sewing-inclined, you could definitely use the pink slipcover as a template to make your own… hint hint. It looks more like the KLIPPAN couches on the website when the slipcover is off, in my opinion.

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I’m of the opinion that this is a great purchase. And if the photos of cartfuls of the HUSET are anything to go by, a fair number of you think it’s a great idea too! The set comes with a good number of pieces, in bright colours and they seem pretty sturdy! They’d have to be though, considering that they are (first and foremost) marketed towards a much younger audience than the average Blythe collector.

HUSET can be found at Ikea in the children’s/toys department and it retails at $12.99CAD in Canada or $12.99USD in the United States. Officially, I believe this set is supposed to be released in August – so if you can’t find it at your nearest Ikea now, you can wait a week and see if shows up!

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This product review is of my own opinion. I was not monetarily compensated to do this review. All opinions are my own. I was not gifted this item to review.

16 Responses to “Review: HUSET by IKEA”

  1. Kimberly AKA @MaidenCanada
    says:

    I bought the sets…five to be exact. I think that you could spray paint them if you didn’t like the green. I am going to try and colour the little cut outs. I hope that they make a whole house full of furniture. Like their big closets would be amazing!

    • Michelle AKA @blythelifecom
      says:

      I’d love it if they came out with a bigger Expedit unit (like the 5×4). I think a closet would be great, along with a bed or a set of drawers! As for spray painting, just be sure to get the kind for plastic – I believe the kind formulated for outdoor plastic patio furniture would work well. πŸ™‚

  2. Jessica AKA @sewdosomething
    says:

    I was impressed with the weight of the package. It’s 1lb 12 oz according to my mail scale. And the bookshelf alone makes up 9oz of that weight. And unlike real Ikea furniture, I loved not having to assemble anything.

  3. Tracy Rivas says:

    I bought one this week! AND I am taking your little hint hint and am going to whip up a new cover for the pink couch since pink really isn’t my thing! πŸ™‚

    I thought the price was a steal considering that you get four pieces of furniture. It works out to less than $3.50 a piece!

  4. Pauleen Potter AKA @PauleenPotter
    says:

    OMG!!! I really love this furniture set. I just discovered it this past weekend in several Flickr photostreams and it was love at first sight. Unfortunately, there’s no Ikea where I live πŸ™ and it makes me sad I won’t be able to at least get one, unless somebody is kind and gentle enough to help me.

    • Jessica AKA @sewdosomething
      says:

      It could happen Pauleen. Someone was nice enough to help me because I’m 3.5 hours away from my closest one! They’ve also been popping up for sale on the Dolly Duds and Sundries group on Facebook.

    • Michelle AKA @blythelifecom
      says:

      Pauleen – Definitely post a WTB on BK or on Facebook about it. As long as you’re willing to pay for the shipping (it’s about the size of a shoebox and quite heavy), you’ll be able to get your hands on a set πŸ™‚

  5. SonjeB says:

    Seen it this week on Flickr and couldn’t sleep all night waiting for Ikea to open so that I could get my own. I already made a living room room-box with it. EXTREMELY colorful! And I adore the pink couch. Wouldn’t have one for real, but that’s the joy of having dolls.

  6. Elizabeth says:

    this set is SO cute!! we actually have the Lack table in green… few years old now but they seem to change the colours quite frequently here (in Australia)

  7. Heather AKA @littlebearries
    says:

    I really, really, really want one of these 0_0

  8. Carrie says:

    I love this set! My local Ikea was almost sold out! My friends and I were joking that Ikea will probably not be able to figure out why this set is selling so well. It would be nice if they came out with a bedroom set, kitchen set, and so on. Maybe if the sales are good enough, they will come out with other furniture sets. Ironically, I bought a couple of older Ikea dollhouse furniture pieces a few days after I bought this set. I bought the older dollhouse pieces at a garage sale, and they were scaled much smaller, like for petite Blythe. This new set is the right scale for Neo blythe, and is well made, and sturdy. Go get a set if you can (or multiples)!!!!!!!!!!!!

  9. Amy says:

    This product it not listed on the Canadian Ikea website, and I saw a few Canadians post on BK that they were unable to find any sets at the location nearest to them. But I’m guessing that some Canadians have in fact found them then? Does this mean it’s worth checking my local store at this point?

  10. Kimberly AKA @MaidenCanada
    says:

    They aren’t on the website but they are definitely In store and in the catologue.

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