My favorite corner of my lego room

 I like the left corner of my lego room because it is really where the biggest change has been since I started really collecting.

2006 the beginning of my room

2006 below.  I wanted the crane so bad when it came out but it was only available in Europe for the longest time.  It was on the back cover of the instructions of multiple sets featured in construction scenes

I started to fill up the bench with lego and my hubley metal cars.

Still adding more lego.  I bought gray display boards for the intent of  making a runway.  I had a friend who liked cricut things and she made runway lines and numbers

In june 2017 my wife bought me the star destroyer which was the biggest set I ever had!!!

In this picture below, I had started using drawer cabinets.  I had a blue one when I was young for electronics components .  Target had little craft boxes for $; I bought 12 but they were slippery and wouldnt stack without sliding off.  To make things worse, the compartments were too small to get pieces out without dropping into the next compartment.

2017 above

Unsure of date above picture...I bought the really useful box set from office max..nice for special parts

 

My lego storage and organization

 Cleaning storage cabinets for lego organization 

 I liked the metal ones as the plastic ones can be blown over just walking by. I found a small flea market where they often have these old metal cabinets filled with hardware...

I have bought some that are so rusty that I cannot "save" them, but I try.  Heaven forbid my beautiful lego touch a rusty drawer.  Thats why I use drawer liner from dollar general even in the ones I clean because sometimes even with a clean appearance and washing, there can still be grease.

here's some of my attempts to rescue cabinets

Plastic and steel akro mills drawer cabinets 

A lot of cabinets have labels, I now use razor blades to get them off, goo gone sometimes helps

Here above are some old plastic and metal cabinets that I cleaned. But haven't put liners into...

Rescued steel akro mills containers

Every once in a while I could find several in 1 week. I had to empty the hardware (and spiders/dead beetles) out of the drawers in the garage.  I always have to be careful about sharp rusty metal tacks or razor blades!  Also there are tubes if chemicals and grease and rust that are insalvagable 

Portable fatmax containers (black)

This is one of the the better find, 2 small containers on top and 3 "fatmax" storage drawers..3 for a total of $26!  Easy to clean except for the plastic lids on the top of the small carriers

Different types of cabinets 

These are examples of great cabinets with labels...now I get them off easy but I haven't gotten back to these yet.  Soaking in Dawn and then a razor blade works perfect.  The labels from older label makes peel off usually without residue...like below

Below: These 3 cabinets were at the flea market and full of ho train parts

Below: 

There were 2 of the gray cabinets so full of hardware that they were shifted to the side.  Board on the back was used for support because I dont think I could lift them without the cabinets. falling apart.  The woman wanted $60 for each cabinet 

Overpriced and in poor shape behind the blue one

I always wanted a rotating tray as the first lego room pic I saw had 2 of them.  This solid lazy Susan was only $20. I've cleaned the trays 4 times but it has a white residue with a grainy feel so I just need to line it with liner, then I can sit and spin...Literally, it was going to be awesome for sitting and sorting legos, but the steel base and core make it too heavy to move plus there's no good place to grab it at the top

Rotation tray

Above: These were specimens that were in my car and I was too lazy to take into the garage.  It did produce good braking and turning or I'd have hardware all over...literally screwed.

The unpainted cabinets of steel just are hard to clean rust from as washing in water and drying by leaving out just makes more rust.

In the pic below you can see how scratched the drawers are from age

Below: These are cabinets and drawers I couldnt save.  I finally gave up and pitched after trying to clean twice.

Below is where I clean dry my cabinets...and get the racks and bolts that fall to the bottom

I try to turn over after 2 days to prevent pooling and then finish drying after 4 total days!

The final product looks pretty good I think! Quite a few hours of work..

Looks pretty nice to me, it feels good to see final results

My left corner at the entrance to my lego room

Pictures of changes 2006 to 2001 in my lego room corner

 Progression of my madness making my lego room in the far right corner...

These pics were from 2006 ish, I started to get more and more legos.  This store near us couldnt get rid of their legos so they kept putting them on clearance for about 75% off.  Things have changed but I really cleaned up on those sets.  The 2 black lid containers came from Walmart but the black lids are easily flushable.  My rug later got damaged by water getting in so the pics below show the blue mat I got on sale at toys r us

The green lid containers were on sale after Christmas at bed bath and beyond

I spent money on the white sterilite towers.  The drawers are really for scrapbooking but they are nice for bring some upstairs with a lid locked on.  There are 4 of them that were $20-29

. The bottom one did break on the bottom part where the wheel goes in the bottom

The white sterilite below were a great thrift store find. (4) 3 drawer cabinets for $3 each!

The weight of the legos started to smash the ssterilite with red lids underneath...I got a metal shelf at Sam's club (where the door person accused us of shoplifting it...we never went back there!!!) I think if I was going to shoplift I would have picked something lighter!!!

Below are just ways of arranging my legos.  

Below are just ways I kept moving things around 2014-2021

I kept getting legos to where I got another smaller metal shelf.  I feel very blessed with being able to fill up the right corner of my room.

Dumb mistake #1 setting up my lego room

 I cannot get to my basement to get to my legos due to an injury ( I miss my legos so much).  When I built my room,  I thought at the time it would be neat to have legos stored from floor to ceiling, just like at the legoland workshop or a library where you need a ladder to get to the top/full collection.  Well I never thought about getting up to all the legos if physically I was unable. Now I've got to get someone to eventually get the top drawers down

Not so intelligent stacking cabinets so high!  No chance of reaching the top!  When I fill the 64 drawer cabinet on the particleboard bookshelf, it will be too heavy and unsafe...

Could also be a safety risk, esp. With steel cabinets!

Live and learn!

Dumb mistake in lego room setup #2

 Here was my second failure in an attempt to make a cool lego room, using dollies to move my drawer cabinets around on the work bench.

Ahh, the elusive $7.99 advertised dolly that's never in stock.  More elusive than the rarest of minifigs!

My inspiration for this idea came when I saw this picture below years ago...would give anything for this setup!!!

From Carney Castle.com (excellent website and builder!).  Also on Pinterest!

I looked up similar pics and found

So I had the brilliant idea to try this with the cabinets that I had i.e. the following inspiration, I would make my drawer cabinets and sterilite able to be moved around...

Like the childhood game below.

Although as the puzzle above shows, there has to be an empty space on the counter with the cabinets, not the vast one between my ears!

Rush hour, same type of game getting the red car (i.e. exact lego drawer) out

Well to do this, I was going to buy cheap dollies from a local store...unfortunately I could never get the dollies, they were always on sale but never in stock!!!

So I set up a front row of storage bins and a back row..such a genius...we'll see

Above and below are back wall bins withour being covered by the sterilite drawers

Here above. I put small bins in the back

Finally as in the 2 pictures below and the one above, I blocked all chance of getting to drawer cabinets with big plastic bins...what was I thinking?

So the back row hides behind the front row.  The problem is that I have no place to work on the bench and not enough room to move the front row out of the way....I wasn't as smart as I thought I was!

So ill keep looking at the options to make this work!!!

Also, I should put the lighter plastic cabinets in front...hindsight is 20/20