Any tips for storing bricks so you can still play with them easily?

daswooten

As a child I dreamed of having vast piles of Legos to build with. Now as an adult (with a son), I have the funds and the dream was fulfilled. Unfortunately, having huge amounts of bricks to look through when looking for a single piece is hindering much of the fun of building with my son.

I currently have a 50 gallon bin - 40.1 x 20.5 x 20.7 inches (which is splitting down the side due to the strain) overflowing with bricks. I also have another large bin (I believe it is 30 gallons - there is no sticker on this one) filled with additional bricks.

Does anyone have any suggestions for parting the bricks in a way that is quick and easy (or my 10 year old son won't do it) and still allows for useability? I was considering separating the plain bricks (1x1, 1x2, 2x2, 2x4, etc.) from all of the other uniquely shaped bricks (the minifigs already have their own bin). To further separate the bricks, I was considering buying the "Sort and Store" giant Lego minifig head to sort each type of brick (plain or not) by size.

If anyone has any suggestions (other than taking some of the bricks from me) to help sort the Legos, I would be more than appreciative. FYI: I am color-blind (which doesn't make this any easier)!

Yellowcastle

I believe there are already a couple of sorting and storing threads started which may be able to help you. I font have the links handy but you should be able to find them using the search forum box.

atxdad

This is a slightly different question from the usual 'How do you organize your bricks?' in that accessibility must being considered too.

For what it's worth, my solution was to assemble lots of tabletop area in a "U" shape supporting open-topped boxes of pieces sorted by type. When sitting in the middle, every box is within arms reach so I never have to leave my chair to hunt for a part. Here's a picture:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/4412349824/in/photostream

This benefit my young kids too as they had access to every piece, and could see box contents, before they were even able to read my box labels.

daswooten

I had looked at all of the other Forum posts prior to posting (at this time there are only 9 pages total so I browsed them all). The problem with the other posts is that they either discuss storage of sealed boxes (btw - nice pics Yellowcastle, I'm jealous) or when they do discuss brick storage, they are stored in a manner that is not conducive to ease of use and simplicity in parting for a 10 year old (having a separate bin for every color or every piece won't work for me).

@atxdad, I like to "U" shaped table design. I am trying now to think of an easy way to do this in our dining room (maybe a couple of folding tables in addition to our regular table). My back sometimes gets sore from sitting on the floor all day now that I am getting older!