My first lego sets, the legos that kept me happy til 1978 castle

My first lego sets:

This is my first lego set.  My major accomplishment was stacking the window pieces or the bricks in the color scheme on the box next to the logo!  I wasnt very creative except I think I did build a house like on the box but even with that set I knew I didnt have enough sloped roof pieces to finish like all the perfect buildings in the catalogs

Then came sets that I think were actually my brothers that I pilfered since he was in school before me

That blue car got towed every where ..I loved the doors and the blue arches...also loved having spokes on wheels vs the 4x4 studs..not very realistic

Then came the forklift...the first "minifig I ever saw or partially owned...that guy launched that red brick everywhere with the spring loaded lift

The learjet was actually given to me for sure I remember that plane was with me all the time I loved the jets

Then the biplane came and between the 1x1 yellow cylinders in this set with the headlights of set 196 made an awesome yellow column that made the perfect antenna on the blue car!

image from Brickset.com

What I have learned about the biplane picture is that the police car in the background shows a blue tile "illegally " wedged on the black roof if the police car which per internet was the beginning the studsnnotontop technique.  Ironic that the illegal tech was used to make the police car!

My favorite classic space legos Part 1

My favorite and first space legos...1978-1982
I got the mobile lab set as my first space lego set.  Honestly I never like the look of the set but I loved the spacemen vs townpeople..they just looked so official on a mission to explore something in space.  I just always thought the set looked like a top heavy elephant.
  

The thing I liked about the set was the green 3x6x1 windshield and the round table 2x2 structural support
...by just stacking the 6 you had an instant cool lookout stand although no where was there a place for hands to actually climb up it!.  Even the alternative builds on back of box showed the stack of 6 making a tower.

The other thing I liked was the tile 2x1 in gray.
  At the time I was delighted to have the gray 2x2 tiles for  baseplate driveway 555 hospital set but now the smaller tiles could add more detail.  Now days 1x2 tiles are just a given in most sets as a keyboard or phone but at the time of the mobile lab, 1x2 and 1x1 tiles were rare.  Now the minifigs could carry something other than the wrench and walkie talkie that  almost every minifig came with (really compare the blank gray 2x2 tile then with how advanced the female minifig is in the detective office set of 2027...that tile shows an addressed letter and red wax seal as detail...lego liked the idea of minifigs holding the tile...I was 38 years ahead of my time

The picture that really stuck with me and made me want a lego room

The picture that changed my view on the potential of lego
This book was written in 1987 and at my library
Heres the pic and bibliography pic

This picture left such an impression on me as that was unfathomable to me at that age that someone could have that many legos.  Yet with fairly block pieces and 4 colors the depth and beauty of lego really shined through.  I could not imagine having that many legos of 1 color....and how the stacking of yellow creates illusion of sand. The only legos I had were in red and yellow (from the castle set). I think the moment I checked that book out was the beginning of wanting more and more lego...an entire room :)...and now 32 years later...

2020 the year I hope to get organized with my legos

So today was a relaxing day to sort legos...I had ordered new pieces I didnt have...I love the lego rails that are new as I can make some really cool space communication towers with the girder/metal scaffold look.  I ordered from bricks and pieces and mostly got numbers from the lego apocalypseburg set

My organizers are new as I got a gift cert to menards who had some nice organizers

So hopefully with time I'll get my mess sorted so i can actually build a moc...!

Overwhelmed with lego clutter

Sometimes I am completely overwhelmed with how many legos I have...some days I am thrilled as I stand and look, then other days I think why would I spend so much $$$ on this chaos. Other days i wish legos would just put themselves together..  Most of the time I am just so thankful for what I have and how blessed I am.  I have been so lucky to have a family that gives me support and a good job and career.

My favorite part of these pics is the small drawers....I love the small pieces to give details to models.  (Above)

 The tubs of legos tend to be the plates and regular bricks..one tub is wheels and one is slopes (below)

The covered solid tubs were another mistake...I cant see what's in them and the colored stackable bins didnt work because of the dust present. Sterilite containers are the best thing I've found by far.

What worked really well was these sterilite scrapbook containers...each drawer has a lid so each drawer can be transported easily upstairs to go through.  I did have trouble stacking full ones because the wheel and corner on the bottom collapsed but in all fairness, scrapbook paper wouldnt do that I'm the one that put legos in them instead.

Merry Christmas!

What I love about my lego room

I think what I love most about my lego room is that I feel like I created a space I really enjoy.  It also is a tapestry of sets and pieces that started when I was a kid but continues til now.  Like my life I can remember when and where certain pieces and sets came from...those stores may be gone, the people I bought them with may be gone and I may never make it back to the particular lego store I bought them at but the pieces slowly accumulated into my own collection.   There are special sets that were once in a lifetime find and deals

Absolute favorite building inspiration pics...part 1 the beginning of wanting multiples of the same piece and in 1 color

I remember when I got lego hospital 555...before the modern day minifigs...that was the first time I had multiple pieces of the same color...both red for the hospital and gray tiles for the drive up squad bay...that was the first time I saw a creation somewhat more realistic than just random color pieces...it also drove me nuts losing one gray tile...the perfect smooth squad driveway now had 2x2 rough patch...too much vibrating for my poor squad patient...

A little later, the lego group gave another reasons to have multiple similar pieces....and this became my favorite lego picture idea...

The ski center and jump (lego group idea book 265, copyright 1981).  The ski jump was lined with the tiles just like the hospital driveway...and the supports were multiple of the gray round 2x2s.  Also of note is that the hospital set had only 1 tree, I had to get multiple trees!!

All pics are copyrighted by the lego group 1980 idea book 6000 and 1981 idea book 265

Style of my lego room

My vision of style for the lego room

When I was little I had a grandpa who was  locksmith...his basement was full of the small pull drawers and he had carousels of key blanks.  I loved going down there and seeing A workshop where quite honestly I didnt know what a lot of the tools were.
I think in designing my lego room I dodnt want the clean cut completely sterile look.  I wanted to be able to find things but also have the feeling that there might be treasures buried I'd forgotten about to rediscover...without having to pay for new sets.
As I look through the pages of lego rooms, it's funny how there are the afol type, the sterile room type\highly engineering  type rooms and then the worst, green baseplates used as wall paper...I think the only advantage of horizontal  building off walls is practice for horizontal construction in models, so there is purpose, but not for the type of room I imagine.  Actually for kids it's great and creative!
I want to have the look of a workshop where things are worn from constant use and fun building, where a clean slate can be used at any time and any preexisting models torn down to recycle.  I'm to the point where I used to get upset dropping a 1x1 plate on the floor, but now realize theres always going to be dropped pieces that can be lumped together someday when picked up that might make there own model.  I love the idea of random pieces from different sets being put together in new ways.
Last week I found more drawer cabinets for $15 and theyll need some cleaning up but they will help start to tame the legos I cant fit into the lego room yet

Troubles with space constraints...wasted corner space

One thing nice about lazy Susan type turn trays is the ability to use a corner somewhat...I have tried to put drawer cabinets but theres still a gap of a corner

I think I could have put train tracks  together or stack some burps or stack the huge premade wing parts of planes.  For now I stuck the lego box container there but the corners are such wasted space.  One idea I've had and started was getting metal pipe the diameter of lego hands so I could attach minifigs to the rods for storage.  It'd be like foosball or lego skewers!

My only worry is damaging the lego hands so that they wont hold accessories anymore

Credit to inspiring photos on internet

The pics that inspired me were  from brickshelf to user named whistlepig...

And another really cool photostream on Flickr from fuzzy thoughts and lego storage extravaganza

I just thought it was so cool to have a place where you could spend hours building . .and enough legos to lose track of how many and what types you have.  In a way though I sometimes started to think it's like trying to collect grains of sand.  The idea of having a tv with legos was such an awesome idea I saw.  I appreciate the pics from the two people above..they really gave me a vision of what I wanted before I had nearly the amount of lego that I have now.

The mistakes I made in making my lego room part 1!

I wish I had kept a running total of how many legos were there based on tracking sets I bought...of course half the legos were bought just from random bags found here or there.  I hated that I'd buy a 2.00 bag of thrift store toys for the 3-20 legos there, but I'd usually re-donate the remaining toys or find a kid with parents there to see if theyd want them.
The second mistake I made was covering the peg boards that I could have used for more storage
Third mistake...could have been anyways, is not saran wrapping the legos when i moved ..I'm still convinced pieces fell out where the lid could have lifted during moving.  I never thought of this til I saw another afol move his lego room... brilliant idea.
Fourth mistake:no shelving.  Eventually there were so many sterilite containers stacked that the lids began to cave in...enough to where I distorted some of my plastic wings. .that's when I got some heavy shelving and it has worked well.  I love the look of the stainless steel wire type shelves available at target. But I'm glad I got heavier ones more like what Sam's club has as warehouse industrial shelving.  I did work at a start up company with at least 50 of the stainless type that were industrial grade.. every time I went in for equipment all I could see in my head was a room full of boxes of legos...so many that I wouldnt even know how much was there or even what pieces i.e. beautiful treasures were there waiting to be found.  However on the other hand..how inefficient would that be...and unfortunately, there wouldnt be enough time needed to sort through...but it was a nice daydream for the workday.  I guess my ultimate goal would be to have the legoland workshop.

legoland workshop picture from google image search, 2013

First lego room attempt...

So in my lego room initially I had the sterilite containers...mostly pieces from childhood and early star wars.  Initially no one wanted the star wars and A big boost to my collection was clearance kmart star wars legos.  Walmart also had several clearances.
I went to chicago in late 2006 and absolutely loved the cranes from city theme...so much that I ended up with 5 of them...I thought the vertical part of the crane could be the perfect base of a control tower or the stand for approach lights for the airport I hoped to make someday...

Why I like lego

I think the thing that makes me like lego is the idea of being disconnected from the constraints of electricity...no matter how dark due to power outages, the legos are there..such a nice reprieve from modern tech.

I think on a deeper level there are 2 other reasons I like legos...the memories of times where I could just sit and build with no adult stress...homework and school were stress but my mind could just relax.  Putting legos together is always so fun trying to find the absolute perfect piece needed at just the right time.  And of course that piece would inevitably be buried under a flap of the bottom of the cardboard box!
The other reason I think I like lego is the idea of having the different pieces available...pieces can be used so imaginatively...an antique car wheel can be a pulley...an antenna as a ski pole...limitless possibilities...
These 2 pictures from idea book 265 shows in 2 pages why I like lego

In this picture there are so many small details that I feel like it's like deciphering the details of a Norman Rockwell painting

1)such an international perspective  as seen by the flags.  And the first 2 flags are similar design just different colors as well as 3 of the flags on the right...I think this symbolizes although different colors, we are similar in our patterns.  The majority of cars hit this point home too...same design, but diverse colors create different and more interesting images.

2) in the race, there is room for different style cars...different sizes and shapes and colors all create an interesting inclusive photo.  A simple car on the right can be on the track with a multiple steps to assemble car competing together as equals...in this day of phenomenal size lego collections, there is still room for the smaller collector with less diverse or vast number of pieces I hope this spirit of lego is never lost in the continued progression of larger, specific sets with specific pieces...theres always room for any size collection or age collector in the lego world.

How I started my lego room

Davidslegoroom, David's lego room.

How I built a lego room and random lego thoughts:

In 1998 I found a box of legos from a garage sale...sounded fun..I soon had a few hidden in boxes in the closet that I started collecting.
Then at a hospital book sale in 2002, I had another lego find -- a book for kids with legos enclosed..  I bought 4 of them and had a new pile of legos...I thought to myself that I  could make trucks and had 4 minifigs...just like when I was a kid.

Then in 2003. Walmart did a clearance of tie fighters....I bought 3 and the rest was a blur.  $10 each..at that time they couldn't get rid of them!!

Kmart kept putting star wars sets on clearance too!
I knew there was an issue when my wife said what's going in with legoland in the basement!
I had a life long love of lego...I used to mow 4 yards at 10$-5$ and get 28$ a week where at times, I would buy legos when I could get to kiddie korner toy store..I did that 3 times I think.  Every time I went though I would come home (no matter how lucky I was to have gotten anything) and feel after looking at the catalog that there was a kit that was better that I couldnt afford.  I dreamed of the day I would have an adult income to spend on lego... because all adults get to spend their check in whatever they want...right?

I moved from my first house with about 6-7 medium sterilite boxes, then we moved.
I needed my room to hold our tools and books too.  The room was a woodshop before I lived there!

2006 above

2021 above

On a subconscious level, My Jr. high friend Mike had grandparents who had a whole room of the space legos from 1978-1984.  He also was my chemistry partner in 7th grade; this kid was so smart and organized.  I guess I thought in my head that if I had the cool legos he had as well as the organization skills, I could be smart too.  He could put the sets together so easy while I took forever!!!