What Have You Done To Your House To Accommodate Your Lego Hobby/Addiction?

CCC · June 2014

^ We had our some of our floors up when I was relaying some parquetry flooring and running some cabling under so I decided to leave a time capsule. It's a plastic box containing the Winter 2013 catalogue, the then current Lego Club mag and a MISB small cottage set. There is also a photo of us with some of our mocs and a note written by the kids to whoever opens it in 100 years time (?) telling them what it is, in case Lego doesn't exist then. There is also a note written on the floorboards telling future owners to have a look underneath so it is not missed forever.

Bluefairy_56 · June 2014

Wow that's amazing. What a great idea. Maybe you could draw these on canvas and the kids can colour one each for their rooms.

littletoki · June 2014

@leemcg ~ I thought that was the after! Not the before! Come draw on my floors, please! :) That looks amazing.

leemcg · June 2014

Ha ha - usually the floors are just floor, no pictures.

Whilst I could do some drawings for them to put on their walls, I think it was the fact that they were drawing on the floor that so excited them to keep going all day. Their mum even joined in, and did all the heads. At one point one started a sentence "if this was real..." as if he were dreaming.

I do wish I'd had the idea a little earlier though, then we could have enjoyed for a bit longer, but I didn't want them (they also have a little sister) to get too used to the idea of the floor-drawing.

The final drawings. Zane not so good as we didn't have any greys - the floor was grey so I left gaps, but he looked a bit unfinished. Jay also looks to have odd arms.

All gone today, unfortunately, so I can't make any changes.

Lee

CapnRex101 · June 2014

@leemcg - Perhaps budding interior designers? They are certainly at the cutting edge of fashion!

In all seriousness though they look brilliant, and it was a great idea on your part :o)

Bluefairy_56 · June 2014

Have you ever lifted up the old carpet or Lino in your house and found old newspapers and stuff?
Wait until the flooring you put down gets lifted up to be replaced in say 20-50 years time by another family...boy will they be surprised.

leemcg · June 2014

^ afraid not. Literally all ripped up today!

bobabricks · June 2014

That would be kind of fun to put a time capsule type thing under the floor for someone else to find after tearing up the floors :P

fenderbender336 · June 2014

I basically set up a bunch of tables in my basement and have begun to construct "bases" (the majority of my collection is Star Wars) for these sets. I literally can never have enough space so the plan is to start building upwards...

mnbvc · July 2014

I am in the process of redesigning my Lego room at the moment.

What have you guys found to be the best option for storing your bricks? I'm leaning towards trays and drawers on top of the building tables, but I'm not sure which brand or style to go for?

thehornedrat · July 2014

Wow! I can't wait to do the same! I dont have space at my place, but hopefully I shall in a few years' time!

KiwiLegoMeister · July 2014

I use drawers. Unfortunately my tables were trestle tables, and the legs prevented effective storage underneath. Most of my 'Duplo' is stored underneath now. So um - 33 large drawers; a couple of dozen small drawers; containers, shelves with containers full etc. Um. I store my spare Lego anyway I can!
See http://www.mocpages.com/moc.php/382658

prevere · July 2014

I use small, medium and large Sterile drawers for basic and smaller parts stacked on foldout tables. Below the tables are bins by part # and organized by Bricklink category. These are for the larger parts.

monkey · July 2014

I installed few wall shelves and on the shelves placed ikea moppe drawers. The desk in the room is used for builds in progress. My collection is very young though.

This was a compromise to achieve a not-straightforwardly-lego-looking room (it is a guest room), and non-permanent installation as we are hoping to move the house soon.

prevere · July 2014

An important part of the set up is to have free space included to plan for new parts/sets as well.

Farmer_John · July 2014

I like what @littletoki did with her Lego room. You can see the images of her room on the previous page of this thread. That's Lego Room nirvana in my opinion...it doesn't get any better.

I tend to build sets and then put them back in their original set boxes. The original set boxes are then placed in larger numbered cardboard storage boxes and stacked in such a way to minimize a collapse. I track the contents and location of these larger storage boxes on a 3-D grid in an excel spreadsheet for future retrieval (think of the final scene in the first Indiana Jones movie). So while it's easy to know where a particular set is, retrieving said set is another matter and requires planning, willingness to go into confined spaces, AND Advil on standby.

timinchicago · September 2014

Just thought I would share a pic before things got a little less organized. This is my building room in the basement, storage is in the adjacent room that still needs much work.

Pitfall69 · September 2014

Everything looks nice except for the picture of Wrigley Field :)

kor · September 2014

We just moved into our new house a few weeks ago. I do not currently have a space set up but the entire basement is mine to do whatever I want with. Over the winter I plan on finishing a good sized chunk of it for my new LEGO room. I'll post some before and after pics when it's done.

Roberto_R · October 2014

Here's the table I made for my son, I used an old Ikea center table with an agglomerated board over and added borders to prevent pieces falling to the floor:

This week I modified the table, I added an old drawer and raised the surface (my son keeps growing :D ):

I'm still looking for ideas on how to build a couple of tables for my own collection (my son has his own, hehehe). I'd like to have at least two display/playing tables one for classic city and another for my classic space collection (80's), I haven't yet decided where I'll put the technic collection.

prevere · October 2014

Those faded road plates look so familiar to me. Love to see the vintage stuff in the hands of the today's kids.

ChrisJThunder · October 2014

Gosh, all you lucky people with big spaces :) My dorm isn't big enough but so far I've reserved a shelf for some models. Hopefully, later, I'll expand the business and start rebuilding my LOTR sets. Then the Adventurers. Then finish the BIONICLE collection. Then ...

legogal · October 2014

Hahaha! This is outstanding! What a wonderful idea to dress up the departing floor! Bet your guys had a lot of fun doing this!

dneul · October 2014

After a year I have my shelves up in the cave.

kor · October 2014

Looks great!

legogal · October 2014

Just moving most of my LEGO to the fourth room we have tried as the LEGO room in our home. This one is larger, has no outside windows, and lots of wall space for displays. It also has room for three tall rolling racks to hold Rubbermaid containers. I am excited about having a larger building area and space to display more sets and more of my large Duplo village. It is a shame to have to always close the shades in windows that have lovely outside views...because LEGO fade. That will not be a problem in the new room! My advice would be to use your downstairs/basement location if possible to avoid the window problem.

kor · October 2014

^ I had to move mine around to several different rooms in our old house. The collection kept growing but the room didn't!

legogal · October 2014

@kor, Most of us can identify with that statement! It needs to be easier to get rid of LEGO than to buy it! What do you do with parts that we might need some day? Beats me! Maybe that is where trading should take an expanded role, except that it leaves with about the same GIGANTIC number of LEGO, which is THE PROBLEM!

flowerpotgirl · November 2014

I have just lost my Lego room as we have moved in to a tiny house . Most of my lego has been packed away for a month now and I am missing it. I would normally be building my Winter Village sets around now. I do have a 64 litre box of unsorted Lego close by, so that may come out very soon. Plans for a shed to be built are hatching.

graphite · November 2014

^ Your avatar picture perfectly reflects the stress I'm sure you are going through without your LEGO =)

flowerpotgirl · November 2014

Also feeling really jealous now, after looking at all the amazing rooms above. I may have to scale up my shed idea somewhat.

FollowsClosely · March 2015

I have not updated this post in a long time. I have competed most of the basement. The only area I have not finished is... yeah, the Lego Area! I started this project last fall and I am putting the finishing touches on it now. Here are some images that show the state as of last summer. I will post more current images soon.

Storage that I built 10 years ago that we brought with us when we moved. They had to be cut down as my current basement has only 8' ceilings. Also not all units where able to be reused, but I am pleased with how it turned out. This is our dedicated craft area.

Custom shelving area for our games. My modular buildings are currently scatted all throughout these shelves. I will get an updated pic eventually.

I recently inherited a bunch of DVDs/BluRays and I built this built-in storage. The back of this cabinet is in the utility room and it opens up for easy access. The media room equipment was entirely financed by selling my personal copy of set #10179.

See Flickr Album for more.

I will get an update soon showing my current space for Lego. Thanks for looking.

Brickarmor · March 2015

We just finished moving into a temporary location while we look for something more permanent. We're really squished compared to our previous house, so the loft has to multitask as my son's bedroom, playroom, and my BL store. The right side is the store, the left side is play and display, and the table is split between us. The real bummer is that I'll be moving all this again in a few months.

mldj77 · March 2015

My collection has always seemed to outgrow the space I had to build. I've already filled the basement with my Lego city, so I was forced to start a new city in one of the bedrooms upstairs. Early on in the planning of the second city, I knew it wasn't big enough still. Last year I finally did it. I had the wall torn down between the two rear bedrooms to create one big room for my Lego city. Who needs doors, I even took them off to allow my city to extend into the hallway somewhat. I'm just getting started with this new city with hundreds of sets and MOCs yet to be built!

Farmer_John · March 2015

I really like your train setup. Very nice!

Things are generally peaceful in our house if I keep to a single room. However, if my hobbies start to "migrate" into other rooms, then I usually get called to the principal's office at some point. :wink:

mldj77 · March 2015

Thanks, it's been my passion, my obsession for years. These are some pics from my "Forgotten City" in the basement. I feel like I'm cheating on it since I haven't finished it and all my efforts on focused on the new city upstairs. I bought a house so I would have room but now it seems I need a bigger house!

oldtodd33 · March 2015

@mldj77 I see you've been collecting for a while. Did you buy all of those #10183 sets when they were $50 each?

TheLoneTensor · March 2015

mldj77 said:
Thanks, it's been my passion, my obsession for years. These are some pics from my "Forgotten City" in the basement. I feel like I'm cheating on it since I haven't finished it and all my efforts on focused on the new city upstairs. I bought a house so I would have room but now it seems I need a bigger house!

May I suggest you reverse your stacking of the Maersk & Emerald Night boxes.

Farmer_John · March 2015

^Glad to know I'm not the only forum member that has OCD.

mldj77 · March 2015

@oldtodd33 No I bought them at full price when they first came out. I usually buy two of each of the trains when they come out.

oldtodd33 · March 2015

@mldj77 I have a question for you then if you don't mind. Are the boxes glued from the back or do they have clear seal tape on the sides?

piratemania7 · March 2015

I don't feel so out of place saying this now after having read through much of this thread. My wife and I are under contract on a single family house and one of my specific unyielding requirements was to have a Lego room. Looks like I'll have a whole basement out of this! No Sunrays!

jlbblue · March 2015

I really need you all to finish my basement. I wish I had the time and talent to make a great space.

mldj77 · March 2015

@oldtodd33 The boxes have two clear seal tape on both sides.

mathew · March 2015

mldj77 said:
Thanks, it's been my passion, my obsession for years. These are some pics from my "Forgotten City" in the basement. I feel like I'm cheating on it since I haven't finished it and all my efforts on focused on the new city upstairs. I bought a house so I would have room but now it seems I need a bigger house!

No personal offense but I get creepy "The Man Upstairs" vibes from your basement setup. ;)

mldj77 · March 2015

@Mathew Yeah that's totally me, minus the kragle! My Lego craze began when my mom bought me my first Lego set, 6634 Stock Car. Soon after, my city was born with 6395 Victory Lap Raceway & a few road plates to make an oval. It was all downhill from there! :)

klatu003 · March 2015

Thank you for sharing @mldj77. Now I don't feel so bad that my Lego city just took over the guest room. The tables went right over the bed and we rarely have guests. So, now Lego has taken over three rooms in the house. The library, which became the Lego room, is now dedicated to Middle Earth and other fantasy realms. Mr. Klatu is a gem! Since we bought him a fancy new car, he has gone from benign observance of my Lego purchases to downright encouragement.

TheLoneTensor · March 2015

^ Was the car 6 or 8 studs wide? :)

juddtaylor · March 2015

mldj77 said:

@Mathew Yeah that's totally me, minus the kragle! My Lego craze began when my mom bought me my first Lego set, 6634 Stock Car. Soon after, my city was born with 6395 Victory Lap Raceway & a few road plates to make an oval. It was all downhill from there!

I just bought a bulk lot off craigslist that has most of the parts for 6395... I'm thinking of sorting it out and putting it together.

klatu003 · March 2015

@TheLoneTensor - with Mr. Klatu driving, it is one stud wide. <3

What Have You Done To Your House To Accommodate Your Lego Hobby/Addiction?

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