Storage solutions: dpadovano
Posted by Huw,
Damon, aka dpadovano, gives us a tour round his LEGO rooms...
I’m lucky enough to have a wife who’s very supportive of my Lego addiction/hobby! She would say every room in the house is a Lego room, but actually I’m allowed three rooms. One for all my bricks, another (smaller room) for storing of unopened sets, and the third room (renovated basement) for display.
For the storage of my bricks, it has evolved over the last couple of years. How it currently stands, I use a combination of three different sized Sterilite drawers, various sized Akro-Mils hang & stack bins, and finally the Akro-Mils craft cabinets.
The pieces are sorted by colour and type, with more common pieces (of same colour) stored together. As required, different pieces move from different containers when either running low, or when they outgrow their current one.
So far it’s working out well for the room I’m using, but as we all know, a bigger room would be better.
The storage of unopened sets are just stacked away on metal shelf in my Lego panic room. Nothing fancy at all.
Lately my building area has been the coffee table in the living room. I’ll bring down the pieces I need and build whatever I’m building there. That allows me to spend time with the wife and have some background noise/watching going on with the TV.
The overtaking of the basement for display also evolved over the last couple of years. For the shelves on the walls, it started with very basic wall shelves, but those were changed out a year or so ago to use pipe shelving, and painted boards.
The main attraction though is my ever growing city build out. I finally settled on tables from Ikea (Linnmon/Adils). They are sturdy enough, cheap enough, and light weight. Currently, the display is 3 x 6 with those table so roughly 10ft x 12ft with some room to expand.
To quote my wife every time something new is added to the city “Oh God, we’re never going to be able to move!”
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44 comments on this article
Oh my! You could start a LEGO shop with all that stuff. Then I saw the sets. I’m currently washing all my sets to rid them of dreaded dust; I don’t envy your dusting job.
3 LEGO rooms?!?! I’ve only got my bedroom! :(
Next series idea: how do you dust off your sets on display?
Great layout and collection. I often wonder if people that have a large collection like this, what ever there hobby may be, get overwhelmed with how much they own.
When does it end?
Would also be very interested in how people keep these large layouts clean from the dreaded dust?
OMG, that is incredible! You could host the entire BrickMaster show in your home.
I have to make due with 1 small bedroom, and that's for Lego, comics ánd multiple gaming platforms. On the bright side, atleast now I have some good ammunition for the next time my wife starts complaining about yet another Lego-delivery. (evil laughter...)
@Vasko said:
"Next series idea: how do you dust off your sets on display?"
Genius. Please make this a thing!
Insane set up
Next series: how to find the right wife for an AFOL :-)
Just one question....is there actually any LEGO set that you don't have? You're collection leaves me gobsmacked!
@ALESSANDRO416 said:
"Just one question....is there actually any LEGO set that you don't have? You're collection leaves me gobsmacked! "
Well, according to his Brickset profile, he has 1526 of 16691 sets in the Brickset database. So I'd say that there's a lot for him to get :)
That bridge though!
Just when I think I have too many unopened sets which need building, pictures like this come along; I feel better now, thanks!
Hahaha, to think that I build, sort, store, display all my sets not only in one room, but also on only one wall of that room. And still my wife complains about my Legos. I guess I'll share a picture too...
Unopened sets!? Now, that's beyond me.
Looks like Will Ferrell’s basement at the end of The Lego Movie!! WOW!!
Very nice city layout, I love the tall blockhouse.
Thanks for the display tables tip!
Love that bridge made of curved rail tracks.
Not keen on the open storage boxes though. More dust traps!
@marcushenningsen said:
"Unopened sets!? Now, that's beyond me. "
I had about three at the beginning of this pandemic, but I’ve built them all since. I can’t imagine having unopened sets at this particular time.
Wonderful display! Looks like the set for The Lego Movie 1. Out of curiosity, what are the large blue letters? Haven't seen those before?
Pretty insane collection there... question... the sheer amount of unopened sets, especially having multiples, are they to keep sealed, to open and sort pieces, to sell at a profit to help fund the hobby?!
Very impressive, puts my 1 room to shame!
Nice! The Star Wars sets look great with the blue paint and pipe shelves and that city is awesome!
Seems like I need a bigger house, better wife and one of those Wu soft toys.
Only joking...
I dont need the Wu toy
:)
@legocrazy1234 said:
"I often wonder if people that have a large collection like this, what ever there hobby may be, get overwhelmed with how much they own.
When does it end?"
I had this very thought at the end of last year. I am in the process of getting the attic done and while working there realized how many LEGO LEGO.com shipping cartons filled with unbuilt sets I had. It was then that I decided to drastically cut down on my LEGO spending. That also includes my other brick built stuff by manufacturers like Cobi, BlueBrixx, Mega Construx, Qman and the like. I made the new year's resolution to only buy one LEGO set per month this year, and so far have managed to stick to it. Otherwise it would become unmanageable one day in the not too distant future.
@Samdefisher said:
"Pretty insane collection there... question... the sheer amount of unopened sets, especially having multiples, are they to keep sealed, to open and sort pieces, to sell at a profit to help fund the hobby?!
Very impressive, puts my 1 room to shame! "
Pretty much all three. Some sets I tell myself I'm never going to open or sell, but.... Also, it's kind of been established (for nieces & nephews) that most likely any birthday or christmas gift from us is probably going to be a lego set.
Really amazing! It's my dream made real! I've only a city on a table and it is always a "dust fight". How do you win the battle?
The city sign on the railway bridge is a great idea! Really like how you set everything.
What are you using to hold those polybags in your unopened storage room? I'd like to do something similar with my polys in my storage room; thanks!
These rooms are amazing! Congratulations! Many problems of the other members sound familiar to me, but one question in particular:
how do you keep your collection 'dust free' ? that's the hardest battle i'm having here at my place.
really like how you did the water/beach setup!
@oldfan said:
"What are you using to hold those polybags in your unopened storage room? I'd like to do something similar with my polys in my storage room; thanks!"
Do a search on Amazon for "hanging merchandise strips". They work great!
Amazing! Love your city layout and those storage solutions.
@Slobrojoe said:
"Oh my! You could start a LEGO shop with all that stuff. Then I saw the sets. I’m currently washing all my sets to rid them of dreaded dust; I don’t envy your dusting job.
3 LEGO rooms?!?! I’ve only got my bedroom! :("
I just have a pile on the floor in the garage...
Color me green with envy! Love your basement setup.
Wow! That bridge is so awesome!
WOW. This is some next level stuff!!
It looks fantastic and you're very fortunate to live in a house with so much extra space. But the amount of unopened boxes? That's got to be to be able to fund the hobby.
*jealousy intensifies*
Three....rooms....
Wow - looks amazing. We decided to have kids!
Well, that solves it: I need three rooms to store my LEGO. Leaves only the slight problem of where to store my daughters... ;-)
@Farmer_John:
Custom brick-built designs, using the 24599 round corner brick that debuted in 10252 Volkswagen Beetle. The color looks like it might be Dark-Turquoise instead of Medium-Azure, however.
Awesome setup! My first thought is that you have tons of parts bins but not many self made models. Also where is the Ghostbusters HQ?? :)
@Vasko said:
"Next series idea: how do you dust off your sets on display?"
I use make-up brushes. You can buy them in sets in the cosmetic department and they come in several sizes: from very small for more detailed dusting between studs right up to the full brush for general dusting. I just 'slap' them against the palm of my hand to clear the dust and keep on dusting the next part of the build.
@oldfan said:
"What are you using to hold those polybags in your unopened storage room? I'd like to do something similar with my polys in my storage room; thanks!"
Hi they at called clip strips. Shops use them.
@AustinPowers said:
" @legocrazy1234 said:
"I often wonder if people that have a large collection like this, what ever there hobby may be, get overwhelmed with how much they own.
When does it end?"
I had this very thought at the end of last year. I am in the process of getting the attic done and while working there realized how many LEGO LEGO.com shipping cartons filled with unbuilt sets I had. It was then that I decided to drastically cut down on my LEGO spending. That also includes my other brick built stuff by manufacturers like Cobi, BlueBrixx, Mega Construx, Qman and the like. I made the new year's resolution to only buy one LEGO set per month this year, and so far have managed to stick to it. Otherwise it would become unmanageable one day in the not too distant future.
"
Exactly the same thing for me. I had over 1000 sets at one point. I also thought what's the point in having all of this stuff if you can't see it. I sold off the big boxed stuff to make more room to better manage it all and and cut down on some of my themes. I am more into classic space and other vintage sets now anyway. I only buy an average of one set a month now too.
The beach front and water effect is well done, together with the bridge gives a Sydney harbor feel to the layout, very photo panoramic. Your stowage organization is amazing, such patience.
I found the MOC apartment block interesting, as relatively simple modular design for each floor with common enough bricks, but the effect is very realistic. So will need to give this a go myself.
My current collection is on a 4'x7' bookcase and some smaller shelves in the office. A collection like yours seems so out of reach for me.
I see displays like this and wonder, "What are their jobs? How do you afford all that?"
@dpadovano / Damon,
Lovely collection! I'd love to have half that much space for displaying models...
Couple clarifying questions as I love learning about optimal LEGO storage solutions:
1. It looks like you sort by both part and color. What do you do for less common parts which come in multiple colors? Do they remain sorted by color, and go into a bin with other less common parts in that color?
2. what do you do about the Uncommon/Rare colors? (or colors gaining in popularity, like Cool Yellow which was pretty uncommon until this year's Fiat 500)
Thanks for sharing!
—Tom Alphin