Storage solutions: RonnyN
Posted by Huw,
RonnyN gives us a tour round his house, in which he seems to have LEGO in every nook and cranny:
I'm Ronny, and I'm really excited to take you through a tour of my collection's display and storage. Like most of us, I got my first set as a kid and fell in love. It was the 8860 Car Chassis which I received from my dad in 1980.
Technic was always my favourite theme. It probably played a big role in getting me to pursue a more technical career as well. I find that I'm drawn more to large sets, as well as the very small ones - such as Architecture.
I see myself mostly as a LEGO enthusiast. I'm not creative enough to build MOCs, but I really enjoy the act of building and growing my collection.
I am fortunate to live in a house of approximately 5,200 square feet, and I have several areas for display and storage. Mostly, my items are in the office, where I spend a few hours a day working. This is also my main building area, and I invested in a large stand-up/sit-down desk to be able to build in comfort.
I attended two LEGO Inside Tour events, and have been to Billund several times because I travel to Europe a lot. Many LEGO employees became my dearest friends. Some even saw my place, met my family, and had dinner and a very early breakfast with us :)
I hope you enjoy the tour, and if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.
Let's begin the tour!
We start in the basement. The first area is where I store built sets that are not currently on display. I have several cheap ($30) shelves from Costco that hold the sets. The sets are wrapped in plastic to protect from dust.
The second area in the basement is where boxes and instructions are stored.
This is still an area I need to go over and clean...
The third area is in a finished area of the basement. Here I have sets that are still waiting to be built.
Specifically, all of the LEGO Movie 2 sets are here, as well as some of the past years' LEGO employees' holiday sets.
Also, there are sets sold in the LEGO House only, and the Billund airport.
Finally, the fourth area in the basement is a display area that I recently set up. It's all on foldable tables from Costco.
Quite a few of the large sets are placed here, and about 10 of the sets that were sold in cooperation with BrickLink.
I particularly like the vintage fire truck. Also here are a couple of the IDEAS set (the rest are scattered around the house.)
On the main floor of the house are several rooms that occasionally will have sets in them. Here you can see the Tree House and Stranger Things.
And now we're headed to the main location: The office.
This is where I work and where I build most of my sets.
The shelves are IKEA HEMNES shelves, and the minifigs are displayed in IKEA RIBBA frames which you can build yourself by following my instructions.
The LEGO flag was purchased online a few years ago, and is usually the first thing people see during video conferences :)
The modular buildings fit really well on top of the HEMNES shelves.
The Millennium Falcon is secured with screws and a rope (yes...) to a TV wall mount. It didn't fall yet!
The pics show more views from around the room. Including the 8860 Car Chassis, which, being my first set, is always on display (along with its modern 40th-anniversary version). Also, there are sets from the LEGO Inside Tours (more on those shortly) and a bunch of others from various themes.
The LEGO Inside Tour (LIT) has its own area on display, and it's where I have some unique minifigs from the tour itself, and from various employees.
The boxes for the LIT sets are signed by their designer (Steen Stig Andersen), other designers who were in the LIT, and the LIT facilitators.
The skeleton minifig has its designer, Niels Milan Pedersen's, signature on the bottom.
Various LEGO employees' minifigs are there as well next to two versions of the LEGO House (old and new).
The big grey Bionicle statue was given to me for winning one of the design competitions in the LIT. My entry was a puppet theater that is visible right next to the trophy.
Lastly, this box of the Tree of Creativity from the LEGO House is signed by its designer, Steen Stig Andersen, and Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen - the former president and CEO of The Lego Group.
I hope you enjoyed this pictorial tour, and I look forward to answering any questions and reading your comments.
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40 comments on this article
Collection impressionnante !
Really awesome displays!
Wow, amazing collection! Do you have two of the latest falcon?
That is indeed quite the collection!
What are your plans for the saran-wrapped sets? Are they stored long-term, or do you rotate the displays?
Or perhaps, is the mere ownership of them what counts? I, and other LEGO fans, could certainly sympathise with that!
Curious habit, isn't it, collecting...
It was fun to look through your pics and see your collection. Thanks!
The link for the RIBBA instructions didn't work for me, so I searched around it. Is this the intended page?
https://brickset.com/article/48370/building-display-cases-for-lego-minifigures-using-ikea-ribba-picture-frames
Superb collection!! It looks like you own almost every Lego set!! Really nice
I’ve looked at all the pictures several times, but I cannot see 8860 (and its 40yr anniversary counterpart) anywhere. The closest I get is part of a wheel that could be 8860 on the shelf above the shelf with the 3 staggered large red 2x4 bricks. Did I miss something or did you not include a picture of this centerpiece of your collection?
Well One Word "WOW" and one question. Are you a millionaire ? Very impressive but also nice to know that while the Display Areas look great the storage is still a bit messy / Part sorted. And I still can't get my head round a shelf with 1 or 2 items on, which looks great, but I have to cram mine with smaller, related sets to display as much as possible, then have to do a dance of up, down, left, right to see what that set is at the back id forgotten about......
@manulegomaniac, @Data_2006, @mfg3000 @JimmyO - Thank you :)
@flipus74, take a look here for all the pictures:
https://flic.kr/s/aHsmNjGFLW and here for the specific one with the 8860: https://flic.kr/p/2j3Nk84
@TerryWright, thanks! @Huw fixed it.
@belindaj, thank you! I have the original and the new Falcons.
@bananaworld, thank you!
"What are your plans for the saran-wrapped sets? Are they stored long-term, or do you rotate the displays?"
Eventually, everything will be on a permanent display, as a museum of sorts. For now, things are stored long-term, and occasionally going out on display (in the office).
"Or perhaps, is the mere ownership of them what counts? I, and other LEGO fans, could certainly sympathise with that!"
Yes... I won't lie. Since this is what I collect, the mere owning of something is important to me as well.
"Curious habit, isn't it, collecting..."
It sure is!
@Lego34s, thank you!
No. I'm not a millionaire. The collection would be probably larger if I was :)
What you see is based on years of collecting, and having a very understanding spouse. I get my sets for the cheapest price possible, and I don't mind waiting. For example, I want the Jurassic Park: T. rex Rampage set, but I think it's too expensive, and eventually will be on sale (same goes for the Technic 4x4 X-Treme Off-Roader). It's also not one I'm absolutely dying to have... if I get it, cool. If not, also cool. In these cases, I just wait and see what happens. I also got a lot of damaged box sets from the LEGO store. Often for 10% to 50% off! Everything inside is always fine.
What an awesome collection and display of sets. Fine gesture with the Danish flag.
Impressive collection
Wow Ronny, you are an absolute fan of Lego and collected an amazing collection! What a joy to look at your builds!
@Huw, really enjoy looking at the incredible collections and practical advice in the storage part of Brickset!
@Joostv
It is the Vintage Roadster (one of the 2019 BrickLink AFOL Designer sets)
Thanks, @Danishbrick, @jdm, @Joostv!
@Joostv, @Koolbrix is correct. It's this set: https://brickset.com/sets/BL19011-1/Vintage-Roadster
@RonnyN : My goodness, what a marvelous collection and setup you have! I keep looking back at the photos and noticing more each time! What an incredible setup (or should I say house ;-)) that you have. Thanks so much for sharing - and keep up the collecting!
Now THIS is what I was hoping this series of articles would showcase! Yes, we all have banks and banks of little drawers of bricks... they are all very lovely. But what we have here is a showcase of true LEGO-devotion! We see all the layers ranging from deep-storage to "main attractions" and "curiosities"! This is a place I want to go visit! Well done!!
@Koolbrix, thank you very much!
@John_Rhodes, thanks. I think you really "get" me and what I love about LEGO. Come visit sometime :)
For those interested, here's a link to more pictures: https://flic.kr/s/aHsmNjGFLW
I'd love to see instructions on how to build that giant Bionicle head. Also, there's a LEGO Store employee minifig holding a white 2x4 tile that says "Thank You <3 LEGO Store". What's the tile from?
I feel blind, which photo has the grey bionicle statue? I want to get a good look at that.
Also, what did you build for the 2014 LIT building competition? I was on the tour in 2014 (I even won the building competition on my tour), I don't remember many of the people I was with but I might remember what you built
I Ike the “LEGO enthusiast” moniker. That’s definitely me as well. I’ve briefly tried my hand at MOCing, but it’s not much.
That plastic wrapping is mighty impressive.
@PurpleDave said:
"I'd love to see instructions on how to build that giant Bionicle head. Also, there's a LEGO Store employee minifig holding a white 2x4 tile that says "Thank You <3 LEGO Store". What's the tile from?"
I'm sure, but that would require me to disassemble it. I had to carry it all the way from Billund to the U.S., and it partially broke. Luckily, I took about 100 pictures of it. It's incredibly complex on the inside and is made using some non-traditional building techniques. I enjoy its uniqueness, and I don't think I'll ever break it to create building instructions from it :)
I spend a lot of time in the LEGO store, and the tile was given to me by the manager.
Ps loving the Eaglemoss starships on the shellf under the modulars! (My collection room is actually the other way around in Lego vs Star trek ratio)
That is definitely a collection to aspire to! I like the idea to temporarily wrap in plastic for storage. A tolerant spouse is definitely another requirement for a healthy life. :)
All that Lego, plus your Star Trek and Doctor Who items, makes you seem like my kind of people. It’s a great time to be a nerd!
Question: with over 5k square feet of house, will you ever set up a full Lego city with roads, etc?
@Legonizer:
Like the Model Team sets, that's something you'll have to go to the album to see. It's pretty obvious when you see it, though, and it shows up in a couple images.
@RonnyN:
Oh, I wasn't expecting you to tear it apart. I've had a few pieces that I've had to tear apart to make instructions for, and it can be a bit nerve-wracking, even when it's your own design (this is part of why I do most of my design work on computer).
Very interesting tour. I force myself to have a maximum of 10 large sets around and change them every few weeks to avoid my dust problem. What are you doing about it?
@Data_2006, I have a bunch of the Eaglemoss ships in the boxes that are in the basement. I think I made it to issue 100 of Star Trek before realizing that they release some... meh ships that are not that good quality, and quite expensive. I canceled the subscription. Then I got the ones I really care about in XL form, and those are the ones on display.
@MTBrickHouse, YES! I think she's tolerant and loving. In that order, probably :)
@GeordiePaul, yes. Us nerds are unique people!
Yes, at some point the intent is to organize things better and hang more stuff from the ceiling.
I have another one of the UCS Tie Fighters still in its box. I always wanted to have two Tie Fighters in flying formation behind a flying UCS Millennium Falcon!
@PurpleDave, thank you for understanding.
@xarax, thank you! I dust once a month. We don't get a lot of dust here.
@Legonizer:
"I feel blind, which photo has the grey bionicle statue? I want to get a good look at that.
Also, what did you build for the 2014 LIT building competition? I was on the tour in 2014 (I even won the building competition on my tour), I don't remember many of the people I was with but I might remember what you built"
There's a link in the comments here by me to the full album. You'll see it there.
For the 2014 LIT I built "Bat Bee"... a combination of a bat with a bee. It was awful. I "won" the default prize... a Creator Tow Truck... LOL
@belindaj:
The one mounted on the wall is the 2007 version, and the one tilted on its port edge is the 2017 remake. If there's a third, I didn't see it.
I think you may have space for a home somewhere around that lego collection! Absolutely awesome collection. Thanks very much for the insight.
Wow, I see so much space but it's still not enough. It's hard to be a Lego fan. I loved the idea of CMF wall.
Ronny N, how do you buy damaged boxes from the Lego store? And do you have any specific strategies for buying Legos at a high discounted price? Thanks.
@RonnyN Of course, how did I not think to check the album? That Bionicle trophy is pretty impressive, and that puppet theater is very innovative. Unfortunately I don't recall a bat bumblebee, maybe we went to different tours in the same year or it was simply as forgettable as you make it out to be, no offense intended
Awesome collection. Is the USS Voyager you have at the top shelf a Lego or a model?
What a fantastic collection! I envy the space you have.
You were fortunate to have even two Inside Tours, and the Ferguson tractor would be my favourite set.?
?
The 8860 chassis was the car I dreamt of as a kid, and one day after my birthday enough money was saved to buy one.?
Back then when dreaming of what Lego to buy when if only I had a thousand guilders… How nice to be an AFOL :-)
@froggy49950 : LOL! Yes, there's more LEGO than house!
@Lego_lord: It's never enough!
@nick3c: Talk to store employees. Talk to the manager. I literally gave them a list of my wanted sets, and they'll call me whenever there's a damaged set in a shipment. The strategy is simple: I don't worry about boxes. I care about the contents. Also, I wait for discounts. I don't need to have the latest and greatest as soon as it comes out.
@Legonizer: no offense taken. In a sense, I'm happy to forget Bat Bee :)
@wangay3: It's a plastic model. I used to build those and spend a lot of time detailing them. This one is by far the most successful model I ever built.
I also bought the XL version of some ships from Eaglemoss.
@Wrecknbuild: You know... I'm actually not that fond of the Ferguson tractor...
Normally, LIT sets are connected to LEGO's history. The LEGOLAND train obviously is, but the Ferguson tractor is more of a "Kjeld used to have this tractor in his garage, and the entire family rode it occasionally"-kind of a thing... I just don't see it as connected to LEGO's history. Maybe I'm wrong.
@Corban2011 said:
"I don’t think one of the photos went through, I cant see the BIONICLE Statue or trophy anywhere..."
https://flic.kr/s/aHsmNjGFLW
Whoa
You have so many unopened sets!