The LEGO Group has offered a range of LEGO-branded home decor for many years, but the collection has grown over time to include a lot of different products. In addition to a broad range of plastic products which resemble massively oversized LEGO Bricks, they also now offer a selection of higher-end wooden products. Since they make the same selection of picture frames, wall shelves, and wall hangers in both wood and plastic, I wanted to see how they both look in a side-to-side comparison — and decide which one is a better fit for my home and for my office.

Unpacking the Book Racks, Picture Frames, and Wall Hangers.

For this article, I wanted to offer a legitimate side-by-side comparison showing both the wooden and plastic interior decor products. That’s why I created a custom decorative piece using an IKEA Expedit bookshelf on the bottom, but with a vertical board attached to the back which I’ve covered with rough burlap fabric for a more organic appearance. I also wanted a conversation piece for my workplace where I could display a few books, LEGO sets, a family photo, and hang a few hats or jackets. I wanted to make something small since I need to change offices frequently.

My expectation going into this project is that the wooden home decor will look better in a professional context and the more colorful plastic decor will shine in a kid’s bedroom — but let’s find out together!

What is Room Copenhagen?

Room Copenhagen is a Danish design firm that produces a selection of home decor and storage products. I do not know how their complete product lineup is perceived, but they appear to target a premium but budget-sensitive audience. They have partnered with other brands like Crayola in the past, but it looks like the only cross-brand product they currently produce is in partnership with The LEGO Group.

Room Copenhagen Logo.

While Room Copenhagen is producing these products and their logo is on the bottom of the box, it is pretty clear that these products are produced for The LEGO Group under close supervision, and are meant to be seen as LEGO products.

Wood or Plastic?

I find it interesting that Room Copenhagen offers the same selection of home decor in both wood and plastic options. This is why I approached this article as a comparison, since we have this unique opportunity to see how The LEGO Group reflects its brand across a range of products and in two different materials.

Plastic Home Decor

Thanks to significantly lower pricing, I suspect that the glossy plastic home decor products are radically more popular than the wooden ones. The significantly lower price makes them a reasonable choice for parents to consider when decorating a child’s room. Besides, the bright colors will appeal to many kids’ aesthetic sensibilites!

The plastic home decor collection comes in a range of different colors.

Wooden Home Decor

When compared to the plastic products, the wooden home decor is very expensive. I’m sure they are more costly to produce than simple injection-moulded plastic parts, especially after amortizing the cost of custom moulds across many customers.

The wooden home decor collection comes in a light and dark finish.

This higher cost is reflected in the packaging choices as well, which are thick protective boxes with flap-top enclosures and an elegantly simple packaging design reminiscent of many 18+ LEGO sets. I believe their primary audience are Adult LEGO fans, but the minimalist design will also appeal to parents with a contemporary aesthetic and higher budget.

The box of wooden wall hangers show the part number they are based on (part 6141), and the scaling factor for all three sizes.

The boxes even show the part number that each piece of furniture is based on, as well as the scaling factor for each part. The scaling factors are shown as a percentage (600% / 1000% / 1200%), although a more typical way to describe scale is as a ratio (6:1 / 10:1 / 12:1) representing how many times larger it is than the original item.

Book Rack

While it may look like a chunky floating bookshelf, each shelf is actually hollow so that you can put books inside without them falling down.

Wooden and plastic book racks.

The shelf is deep enough to fit several books, but I do not prefer to use them in this way. I would rather see the entire book cover by leaning it against a wall or display a row of book spines so I can easily find the book that I am looking for.

You can see that the book rack is hollow when viewed from above.

Instead, I decided to display LEGO models “on top” of each shelf. Long-term, I may create a floating platform to make it easier to display objects flush to the top of each shelf, but for my initial display I simply attached a stack of LEGO bricks to the bottoms of each model so that it appeared at the right height.

The holes used to attach the wooden or plastic Book Rack to a wall are in the same position.

Should you decide to try both the plastic and wooden products, I was extremely pleased to discover that the screw spacing is identical for both products. You will need a longer screw for the wooden book racks, but the position is the same.

Book Racks:

• Brick Bookrack – Bright Red (Plastic), $20.
• Brick Bookrack – Blue (Plastic), $20.
• Wooden Brick Bookrack – Light Oak, $78.
• Wooden Book Rack – Dark Oak, $90.

Wall Hanger

Each box of Wall Hangers contains three oversized 1×1 Round Plate (Part 6141). Including more than one hanger encourages people to create a small grouping of hangers in an artful layout, but I do not love the decision to include the same part at three slightly different scales: 6:1, 10:1, and 12:1. I am very fond of consistency when it comes to scale, which is why I decided to only use two of the 10:1 scale hangers on my room divider. I chose those two because they are the same scale as the Book Racks, creating a harmonious backdrop on a vertical plane that feels like one (oversized) brick-built LEGO room. (The wooden drawers I reviewed in 2022 are also 1:10 scale.)

Wall hangers in wood or plastic.

The smaller 6:1 scale hanger are still large enough to hang most lightweight jackets or hats and match the 6:1 scale used for the Picture Frames. The largest hanger has a massive 12:1 scaling factor, which feels too big when shown near the Book Rack. I will likely hang the larger and smaller hangers on other walls of my office so that the mismatch in scale is less noticeable. (The largest size should work well for chunky headphones, and the smaller size will probably work well for hanging extra charging cables.)

Wall Hangers:

• White, Black and Gray Wall Hanger Set, $12.
• Pink, Light Blue and White Wall Hanger Set, $12.
• Wooden Wall Hanger Set – Light Oak, $66.
• Wooden Wall Hanger Set – Dark Oak, $78.

One problem that I encountered is that the wooden wall hanger comes with only one way to mount it to the wall, an intense and very long threaded bolt which is designed to attach into a thick wall with a stud directly behind it. This would be a very strong attachment, but it is totally overkill for hanging my jacket in my office, and won’t work in my case because the plywood is only ½ inch thick.

The wooden hangers attach with heavy bolts and the plastic ones use small screws attached to a plastic cleat.

I decided to create my own wall mounting system using a very thin piece of plywood and a couple of screws from a specialty hardware store near my house. The staff helped me find bolts with the right diameter and threading of bolt. I cut a 2″ circle out of thin plywood, drilled a small hole through the center and a larger recessed hole that is big enough for the hex head to sit flush with the surface. Two more countersink holes were added to attach the mount to the wall, which I positioned in the same spot as the mounting location for the plastic wall hanger.

I created custom hangers out of thin plywood and bolts.

If I had a 3d printer and more experience designing parts in CAD software, this would have been a good candidate to design and share online. (Maybe I will do this for the smaller 6:1 scale and larger 12:1 scale wall hangers which I have not installed yet.)

Picture Frame

The picture frame is also based on a real LEGO element — 1×4×6 Window/Door Frame (Part 60596). The picture frame is a bit of an outlier in this collection because it only comes in a smaller 1:6 scale and feel lower quality than the wall hangers and book racks.

My main concern is that they do not have a glass (or plexiglass) front to protect your photos. Instead, you need to tape your photos into a flimsy paper mat that slides in on the left side of the frame and hope for the best.

The box for the wooden frame clearly calls out part number 40289.

It’s surprising to me that they mention a specific LEGO element on the front of the box. While the frame clearly has 4-studs on top, the proportions do not actually match part 60596 because the frame is too short relative to it’s width. It’s also confusing because the top and bottom of the frame are thicker than the walls, which is not the case in the real part.

Packaging for the wooden and plastic frames.

I think the proportions of the frame and mat feel natural compared to a 5×7 print, so I do not think that this inconsistency makes this a bad product. Rather, I wanted to highlight that they shouldn’t have tried to say that this is a wooden (or plastic) version of a real LEGO part!

Picture Frames:

• LEGO® Picture Frame – Multiple Colors (Plastic), $17.
• Wooden Picture Frame – Light Oak, $60.
• Wooden Picture Frame – Dark Oak, $66.

LEGO Decor in the workplace

If you decide to use them in a professional context, I think the wooden products look better if guests will be able to see them in person. That’s because you can only really see the wood grain and pretty high finish quality up close. (If you need somewhere to store smaller items on your desk or a bookshelf, you can also pair them with the wooden drawers which we reviewed a few years ago.) By contrast, I think the plastic products look a lot better if you decide to use them as a backdrop in a room where you do a lot of video conferencing. That’s because the color accessories really pop on video while the wooden products do not stand out as much.

Comparing the wood and plastic decor in the same scene.

I use my small office for both meetings and to have 1:1 conversations with colleagues, so I decided to stick with the wooden products. It really does look classy, and the more neutral wood tones draw more attention to the books and LEGO models I have on display in my office.

Conclusion

Between the radically different aesthetics and radically different prices, the plastic and wooden home decor are clearly aimed at different audiences. Generally speaking, the wooden options may make sense if you like the minimalist look, can live with the concerns highlighted earlier in the article, and can afford the high price. The plastic decor is much easier to recommend thanks to a much lower price point and how the colorful plastic accessories are an exuberant celebration of the LEGO brand.

While none of the products are perfect, my top pick from this collection is the Book Rack because it has the strongest LEGO DNA, and it’s pretty easy to repurpose the Book Rack as a shallow bookshelf. Although most people will be better served by the plastic book rack, both versions earn a 4/5 Star (Recommended) rating. The Wall Hangers have an even bigger cost difference between wood and plastic and the wooden ones are much harder to install. That’s why the plastic wall hangers get a 3/5 Star (Good) rating and the wooden wall hangers only get a 2/5 Star (Acceptable) rating.

Lastly, the picture frame sees a huge divide in my ratings. The lower cost of the Plastic frame brings lower expectations. Even without a glass or plastic cover, it manages a 3/5 star (Recommended) rating due to the reasonable price. The lack of a glass covering and high quality chamfered mat is unacceptable for a 60 dollar picture frame, so the wooden picture frame earns a dismal 1/5 Star (Not Recommended) rating. I do plan to look into whether there’s enough clearance to slide a thin piece of plexiglass into the slot, but I really shouldn’t have to modify an expensive frame to meet my needs.

Wooden accessories (left) and plastic accessories (right).

Overall, I think both of these options work well for people with a more minimalist aesthetic, since both the wooden and colorful plastic accessories look best on a neutral background. They do a great job of capturing the LEGO brand in a sincere way which will be very appealing to people who want to show off their hobby in a novel way.