The Emerson: Now in Chocolate

Back in August, I had posted about receiving the Emerson House.The original kit I received had some damaged pieces and the follow-up replacement kit also had some damaged pieces so the good folks at Brinca Dada suggested that I wait for the second production run of the house. Well, it has finally arrived and I was pleasantly surprised to see that several improvements have been made to the kit, as well as the nice new chocolate delicious color. Granted, I know some of you may prefer the caramel finish for personal reasons and because it hides any bumps and dings better than a darker wood stain, but I am quite partial to this cocoa mood goin' on here. It's oh so swanky swanky! HA!

Anyway, the second production run improvements to the kit are in the overall packaging. The manufacturer has more carefully protected the plexi pieces with film and individual sleeves.The wood floors and walls are also sleeved. The placement of parts inside of the box is more thought out this time around. All the parts to build the structure are assembled like a puzzle and then sandwiched between styrofoam cushion walls. A few wood pieces in the new kit had some minor abrasions that where actually covered up by overlapping pieces. I only had one casualty in the new kit and it was a cracked piece of plexi known as 1M.

The instruction manual has changed and is easier to understand. They've included more images of the completed structure and have broken down the build into three stages: side 1, side 2 and then connecting the two sides together. I definitely need to mention that the parts are labeled this time around and so there's less time involved trying to match up pieces with the illustrations.

Due to the plexi fatality that I mentioned earlier, I was only able to build a portion of Side 1(which you see above). I do notice that the screws and parts line up better and that the loft portion is staying level so far. I have received some inquiries from other Emerson House owners who had concerns about the loft portion not staying plumb, etc. I'm not having that experience with this new version of the kit. I did assemble side 2 completely and only struggled with the sliding doors. Oh! and pay very close attention to steps 11 through 13, there's a part in step 13 that directs you to slide plexi piece 2I into a groove and there's no way you can do that without damaging pieces or untightening several screws, so you might want to slide 2I in during step 11 or 12.

Side 2 of the Emerson House looks pretty good assembled. I'm already trying out designs in the structure even though it isn't complete with side 1. You definitely can use some 1:12 pieces in the second half of the structure and it looks fine. I'm sure that 1:12 options increase in side 1 since it has a double height ceiling. And, of course, I'll be posting more pictures of this house as I finish building and start experimenting with the interior.