Show us your storage!

That is an excellent idea, Huw! Actually the Beyond the Brick tour of your collection inspired me to buy an Ikea Billy bookcase with glass doors for displaying some sets (I went with white), and then I converted the closet in my Lego room into display/storage by hanging five 5 ft long bracket shelves. I thought the green felt you used to build on was a wonderful idea and I started using a large piece of white cotton quilting batting that I had. Unfortunately I won't be sending in photos and participating as, happily enough, my son, who just graduated with an electrical engineering degree, got a job at our provincial power plant and move back to my province on Sunday. As he is in self isolation and then will be working from home for at least the summer, I cleared up all the Lego on the medium sized build desk and put away the small and large Sterilite storage containers on the the large board room table where my parts were organized for easy access. In short, my Lego room is now his home office. I look forward to seeing and reading about other people's collections as your own helped me tremendously!

Unfortunately my storage is nothing to brag about, dust layers on quite a few ofnny sets but hopefully once this lockdown is near fully lifted I am going to get a room make over getting new shelving units and drawers and compartments to organize and store and display my collection

Oh I’m excited about this!

Some few shelves where the few complete sets (mostly new ones) are located and one box with parts from old sets that can't be completed anymore because I lost/broke important parts. Also some partly complete sets stored on my bed's chest.

Amazing, right?

"Dust free," yeah about that, are you interested in getting a layput of our collections to visit us? I'll make a video and then explain those points over it.

This should be fun, I recently moved houses, and my collection went from being in a garage to in a spare room. I'm waiting on my wall anchors to arrive (hopefully today!) So that I can mount all my drawer organizers to the walls. Can't wait to share and see what everyone else is working with.

My Lego space is currently a nest in the garage, with one work bench (covered in tubs) with stacks of storage containers and box files full of instructions. I don’t think there’s an angle that can hide that!

But a question for all those that sort- How do you decide your brick classification?

Mine is still derived from a brick ‘type’ that I set up with my dad when I was four- sure, they are split up by more subclasses these days, and the storage tubs are much bigger.

Could people that do submit give us their piece count too?
I have 41,535 pieces.

^ where do I find my piece count?

@Slobrojoe said:
"^ where do I find my piece count?"

If you have entered all your sets into Brickset, just go to https://brickset.com/mycollection and see under "Sets Owned"..

@Slobrojoe I feel u same here :( no room to have all my lego sets >.<

This is a fantastic idea! I’ve been sorting out my collection for the first time and really need some storage ideas since I want to organize by part type instead of color. I actually just took over our guest room and set up a small table and lights so I can have a building space. I’m very excited to see everyone’s rooms!

I'm kind of in the middle of sorting, but about halfway done, so I'll probably try my hand at one of these.

@ledmouse said:
"Could people that do submit give us their piece count too?
I have 41,535 pieces."

This piece count isn't accurate for me since there is no real easy way to keep track of Craigslist, yard sale, hand-me-downs from friends and family. I've also never bothered to keep track of Lug Bulk, PAB, or Bricklink purchases. It is a very handy tool to keep track of complete sets though.

Although my LEGO room may be impressive to some, the organization process has only just begun, and as most sets are on display, it takes up more space than most.

Really excited to see everyone’s setups and collection solutions.

I currently don’t have a great storage method; I have a closet FULL to the brim with boxed/unbuilt sets, and an additional 5-6 large totes with Ziploc-bagged individual sets. Long-term I would love to have all of my pieces sorted by type/color in as economical & organized a way possible.

Between us we own 24,986,862 sets worth at least US$728,239,277 and containing 7,124,146,283 pieces....

I could do with some ideas. Just counted around 24 tubs and crates of various sizes around me - Chaos, but I love it.

Should be good :-D

I love this post! But it is just a few weeks too early - my "LEGO Room" project is not quite done - but I am very excited about how it is coming together! Fortunately, we had a room that was empty except for Lego already - it was just bare sheetrock and unfinished wood framing. I am all-in on this Covid project, and it has very much stretched my minimal carpentry / painting / drafting skills. Currently, I am sealing the MDF I 've cut for the built-in desk...

My fave splurge so far has been making Lego-compatible studded switchplates with a a 3-D printer...

Storage is of course the next problem. Most of my collection is in giant bins in the storage locker.Can't wait to see so other folks ideas

This topic is interesting. It’s a good timing for me since it’s time to plan the set-up of my future Lego room.

Actual situation: I have one table + a ‘train table’ + 8 IKEA Trofast furnitures (6 or 10 high) + a bookcase with built things and boxes with small drawers. My collection is big, but I don’t have much space or time to enjoy it. >90% is in ‘long term’ storage, partly at my parents-in-law house. My wife doesn’t really like having Lego everywhere in the house, so it’s one of the reasons to move in a new house (we bought the lot 15 years ago).

So, the preliminary plans are completed, and we are already looking at the interior design details. The building will start in 12-13 months. My Lego-only room will be 800 sq ft, + an adjacent storage room (big shelves) of 300 sq ft ! I’m planning to have approximately 20 feet of built-in deep adjustable shelves with glass doors, to display some Lego sets or creations. I also want to display the nice non-Lego creations my kids brought from daycare and primary school. After the house project is completed, the Lego projects will start. I can't wait ! If my wife is allowed in the room, she will have to accept a possible mess and the fact it will be a ‘workshop’!

A partnership between IKEA and TLC was announced, but there was no update in the last year. BYGGLEK is supposed to come this year. It would be interesting to get some ‘previews’.

PS:
1
1like TheRichRocker, the text I wrote disappeared when I clicked on ‘Post comment’ – I had to write it again. Next time I will write my comments in a file and then copy it on the website !

2
I have 2 collections that I never mix, and both are mostly stored :
1- all the sets that I bought ‘new’ - the collection I manage with brickset.
2- a huge lot of old parts that I bought in a single purchase : I filled twice my SUV, there is 60 pounds of slopes, many boxes of 2x4 bricks, hundreds of almost complete sets (mostly SW, HP and Pirates), etc. The parts look far from new, so I never wanted to mix with the ‘new’ collections. When I get time and space, I would like to complete the sets, and give most of the collection to charity organizations.

TheRichrocker said: "If there there will be pictures of really big and impressive collections crammed into beautiful LEGO rooms it could even help with our relational peace. With those I could (if needed) prove to my wife that there exist even crazier people than I am and that my LEGO hobby/obsession could be even worse! ;-)"

So true! My wife thought I was totally crazy for obsessing over Lego (and to be honest, I kinda did too) until I started researching "Lego Room" ideas on the InterWebs, and found some INSANE projects. Some folks apparently have unlimited space and money to spend on such a thing... Very cool!

Looking forward to this. Hope to see some LEGO room/storage solutions in smaller apartments or houses. I really need to set up something more permanent but continue to procrastinate as my collections grows.

Great topic! I see the cabinet types from your picture. DId you mention the drawer type for your individual bricks?

Thanks
Can't wait to see.
I have a collection that is embarrassingly organized.

@jpx said:
" @Slobrojoe said:
"^ where do I find my piece count?"

If you have entered all your sets into Brickset, just go to https://brickset.com/mycollection and see under "Sets Owned".. "

Thanks!

I hope that people are able to include any links to the storage devices that they use because I see plenty of people's lego rooms with really useful looking storage but whenever I try to find these storage units, I can never find them. I'm still working on my parts storage so its quite messy.

Great idea. Is there a deadline for participation?

Wow, my lego storage is nowhere near that organised! I have three inbuilt cupboards, height of floor to ceiling, two of which are crammed with lego boxes of unbuilt sets and built sets, while the third has games and puzzles - 3d and 2d - with the odd box or so.

My modulars are all built and arranged in a sort of circular rectangle between my wardrobe and my bed. In the gap created are the Ghostbusters building, Pirates of Barracuda Bay, the Tree House and Old Fishing Store.

I have two ships on my bookshelves, the Silent Mary and Ninjago Destiny's Bounty, along with the Las Vegas and San Francisco Skylines, my most recent purchases of the architure skyline range. I used to have an entire city built in our previous home, along with the skylines taking up rooms on top of the main study bookselves, which took several days to dissemble when we moved a few years back. I don't have enough room to build it all here.

In my study I have the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty on the bookshelves - my book collection far outweighs my lego collection - along with W.A.L.L.I.E next to the Empire State and Central Perk behind my laptop on my desk. The Bond Aston Martin is on top of my tall bookshelf, next to the third cupboard.

I recently had to take apart my Ninjago modulars as there was not enough room. I want to put up my trains, but space for track is a dilemma.

It will be interesting to see what others have done, just in case it provides me with a solution, or better storage system.

Mine is still a work in progress. I can Give you Photos of a Gyproc wall :-D

This is a great idea.

And will motivate me to finish my room conversion. I’ve been slowly clearing a basement room for hobbies.

I can't wait to see Huwbot's LEGO room!! Resplendent with clickits no doubt!

@magmafrost said:
"Im kind of torn between wanting to do one of these but also not wanting to show what a disaster area my Lego room is"

It's great to show off the disaster. Send it in anonymously. Rest assured, there are thousands more of us who have the same disaster.

So many tangent possibilities....... The Least tidiest, the best sorting trays, the most crammed displays, lighting, MOCs, How to store empty boxes (inside other boxes), Shelving that takes the Weight, How to categorise parts, how to remember which place you put that set you bought last year, if you already have that one as it seems familiar but you didnt update your collection.......how to choose which one to build next, how you build, where you build, how much you build each session, how other people go mental when you open a bag onto a tray when a TV programme is on, how many rooms do you have lego in, does your family encourage, appreciate, despise Lego......

I like this! Now I can live vicariously through some of you and your awesome collections and rooms.

While I have a pretty neat little Lego corner and display area, many of the questions don't apply to me (I live alone, haven't sorted much lately, haven't had any need for extraordinary solutions, etc.), plus my place is a bit messy right now, so I think I'll pass on this, but I look forward to seeing everyone else's stories.

1. Mostly stuff is stored in the set boxes they came in.
2. I use Bricklink to tell me where I'm likely to find parts when I need them.
3. It's in every room except the two bathrooms.
4. MOCs are generally stored for transport, since they tend to get around a lot.
5. And I'm still working, so no appreciable bump in the amount of spare time I have. While it's true that I haven't gone _anywhere_ for the last several weekends (and our show schedule has been scuttled through the end of summer), it takes about a week to accomplish grocery shopping for the week, so I've basically lost a lot of what free time I'd normally have.

I wish.

In January I finally got a space to make a more permanent display. Only about 6 x 2.5 baseplates but I was excited for the possibilities. Started building a Ninjago / Asian themed layout with the Chinese new year sets and my 7yo son’s Ninjago sets.

By February it was pretty much trashed by my 7yo son playing with and adding his own stuff to it. I am happy that he is enjoying his play but it highlights that it is a waste of my time to get involved. I may as well leave the space to him and his lego for now.

Come March and it all had to be packed away anyway to create a desk for my daughter for online schooling.

One day....

It seems there will be a lot of Ikea references in the future of this feature. I, too, have installed an Ikea shelf system for my collection.

Back in December I'd already started working through the sets I owned, counting up/sorting out, as there were a number of half-built/played with models going back to when nephews & nieces had visited. Now was a good time to give it a sort out before our own children got old enough to climb the stairs to the attic & discover the treasure trove...

Most sets have gone back in their original boxes, where available, usually inside Ikea food bags for safe keeping (they come in all sizes, are transparent, and permanent ink pens work on them!). My wife is now regretting saying I could use "some". I think she is also regretting saying that I should do the counting downstairs, as it means all the boxes I'm using are currently stacked on top of the kitchen cupboards...

Remaining spares parts have gone into a bunch of Ikea "Glis" children's compartment trays, or Poundland "curry boxes" for larger/more numerous parts.

What the exercise has highlighted, though, is the differing part counts between Peeron/BrickLink/Rebrickable. I've no idea which one is most correct - for one part in one set where I did a deeper investigation, the count in Peeron most nearly matched what the instructions required.

And it's not easy to automate a scraping script to get all three part lists for a set and compare them...

I'm in the process of sorting parts. These work well for the smaller parts for me:
https://www.amazon.de/Allit-Kleinteilmagazin-Stück-schwarz-458100/dp/B00BIMHHXM/ref=sr_1_8?__mk_de_DE=%C3%85M%C3%85%C5%BD%C3%95%C3%91&crid=DTVSRLRISAQH&dchild=1&keywords=allit+sortimentskasten&qid=1589356955&sprefix=allit%2Caps%2C310&sr=8-8

The bricks/plates will be sorted in sorting trays. Each tray for a different colour, with the various parts in various compartments.
Then the bulk will be in larger storage containers. Most of the more special sets will have their parts kept together in a box. And the sets that are new which I really intend to build are opened and put in a box with another set, saving space. Usually about double the amount of parts will fit in a Lego box. The redundant boxes are then flattened (if that's possible by only cutting the seals on modern boxes and stored.

Most of the sets and built models are in large Ikea closets which are easy to open, sometimes with drawers for display, so my wife won't be bothered too much by it. She'd rather have I sell most of it. Unfortunately she doesn't really understand. But my daughter likes it :-)

Then there is some external storage and we have a shed.
There is/will be a train layout on a 2.30 x 1.00 m2 wooden board stored behind a closet.
On the Ikea closets is a custom closet for storing/displaying trains. That's about it.

Just thinking of the Palace Cinema movie billboard "Forever Sorting"...

Yes, I've had the "how much is all that Lego in the attic worth?" conversation with my wife. I showed her the Brickset valuation - a few hundred £s. I didn't highlight that that was based on RRPs, that they were only available for more recent sets, and most of my sets are older than that. Nor did I show her the equivalent valuation on Rebrickable, based on current value, which obviously is "slightly higher"...

@mfg3000 said:
"That is an excellent idea, Huw! Actually the Beyond the Brick tour of your collection inspired me to buy an Ikea Billy bookcase with glass doors for displaying some sets (I went with white), and then I converted the closet in my Lego room into display/storage by hanging five 5 ft long bracket shelves. I thought the green felt you used to build on was a wonderful idea and I started using a large piece of white cotton quilting batting that I had. Unfortunately I won't be sending in photos and participating as, happily enough, my son, who just graduated with an electrical engineering degree, got a job at our provincial power plant and move back to my province on Sunday. As he is in self isolation and then will be working from home for at least the summer, I cleared up all the Lego on the medium sized build desk and put away the small and large Sterilite storage containers on the the large board room table where my parts were organized for easy access. In short, my Lego room is now his home office. I look forward to seeing and reading about other people's collections as your own helped me tremendously! "

Ikea and the Billy bookshelves are the solution to my needs.
I'm about to invest in the following units, and then start sorting into plastic pantry bins (from Aldi) and small draw units... a long time coming but it's been cathartic thus far!
6x BILLY bookcases, white, 80x28x202 cm
5x BILLY bookcases, white, 40x28x202 cm
2x BILLY corner fittings

I figure it's a great and warranted solution to organise my millions of bricks.

The reported tally is 103,130 elements, but that's 5K-10K shy due to what others have mentioned. Unlisted sets, bulk bags, etc.

This seems like it provides a good space to ask a question I've had for a while: What wording do you use and/or what are the tray/compartment/little bins called?
Anytime I search, I get very few results, though I know they have to exist somewhere. And, for cheaper than what I'm finding.

I've resorted to making mine from printer paper, hundreds of them, based off a modified origami box design. While they're a teeny bit flimsy if heavily filled, they're pretty handy. They all have a standard width and height, due to the folding process, but using different lengths of paper have allowed for different length boxes/trays/whatever they're called. That way there are tiny ones for my round studs, or longer ones for longer plates, beams, or ship masts.

Not the best pictures, but it's a general idea:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/51391997 @N02/16141526779/in/dateposted-public/

Thanks for this series! Recently I've been curious as to how others have their rooms/areas laid out, and I'm excited to see what others have done. I also fall in the disorganized category but am willing to show it for what it is.

@CarolinaOnMyMind
@ledmouse
@curtydc

STORAGE

The way to store or store the legos, an interesting subject that is of great concern to parents, and adult fans of legos. Over time I was worried about where I would store my legos, in order to stay in drawers or the exhibition. In my case they are sets I chose to mount an exhibitor with glasses, and in a place where there is no sun, so that the white pieces remain white and do not yellow, just the time to do this.

Storage or archiving are subjects of study, there are courses, there are even college subjects. Anyway, here the discussion is how and each one can make their storage of the set or Lego pieces. That's cool, I love the theme and I'm going to send a text saying how I got my idea of storing my lego sets in an exhibitor, on several shelves. Congratulations to the Site, hugs co-legos (lego colleagues).