The making of a LEGO room

[Matn]

A place where you can relax and take some time off from the daily life, a place stored with your precious LEGO. Who hasn't dreamt of that? I think everybody with a big collection of LEGO would love to have a special room dedicated to his hobby, not only because it's just awesome, but also because it won't stand in the way if you can store it all together. Well, last week my wish came true! Let me share you my experiences with the making of a LEGO room.

We don't live in a huge house, but it's nice and comfortable. The only spare room we had left was the attic, but it was crammed with stuff from our childhood and stuff from my parents which we don't use anymore. It was a complete mess. My granddad and I had some thoughts of renovating the attic, so we made the plans and I got excited. I drew a very simple plan of the attic (but with the wrong lengths) and an idealistic idea of a big table.

However, I didn't hold reckon with my sister who also wanted some space. And this isn't very realistic, is it?

Last week we had autumn holiday, a week not thinking about school. So my granddad, my dad and I decided to clean up the mess in the attic and renovate it. Monday we bought a new staircase which you can fold out, before that we used and old ladder to get in the attic. Tuesday we applied a the half of the insulation. Tough job, especially because it itches so much. And we also layed a little part of the floor (the floor was a mess at the start, just layed with loose planks). Curious how it looked in the evening on Tuesday? What a mess, isn't it. We had to move all the stuff to the other side. And then we could use the loose planks beneath the ending of the roof, to place the stuff on it.

Ah, Wednesday. Almost there, we thought. On Wednesday we layed the whole floor, and we did a part of the insulation on the other side of the roof. I have to say, I was feeling pretty tired and it was like throwing away my week vacation, a time of relaxation (but I really can't complain in the end ). On Thursday had we isolated the last part and we stored all the stuff that stood in the way. Here and here are pictures of the process, almost ready now. You may ask why we didn't cover the insulation? Well, it's simple. It would have cost to much and with the light reflects on the insulation, so there's more light.

On Friday we installed the table for my, oh yeah, tabletown! . We used three loose planks that layed on the floor to build the table. It's now 3 metres in length and 1 metre wide. If I have to be honest, I wanted it to be bigger, at least 4 metres in length (as you can see on my first plan, the result doesn't even look like it). But 3 metres is really long, so I had no reason to complain. And I'm not the only person in our family who wants a place for his/her hobby. I also started to clean up a bit more, putting away some more stuff so I had more space. Yesterday my granddad installed the electricity, two bright lights and a couple of sockets. A big part of the attic is now my LEGO room, or LEGO corner. The other parts are for my sister, she doesn't know yet what to do with it and for storing things in the future.

The attic has now really evolved. Here and here are pictures of the two sides. This is my corner, where I will build my MOCs and store my sets behind glass and here my big table for my future town. Perhaps you notice the black stereo installation on the left, ripped from its contents with only one piece left. That's recycling!

I couldn't be more happy with how it looks, I consider myself a very lucky guy with great parents and grandparents. The work, time and money that went in it is well spend, and my bedroom will be forever tidy now! And I hope to have inspired some of the members to start cleaning up their attic (or cellar). You can accomplish much in only one week time. The only thing that is left to do now is moving every piece of LEGO from my bedroom to the attic. I've already started it and when I'm ready I will surely upload some pictures of everything together.

Thanks for reading this big text, I hope you've enjoyed it. Don't hesitate to ask questions!

Edited November 9, 2009 by Matn

[allanp]

That's awesome thanks for sharing. I hope to do that myself. My main goal is to buy a house with one more room than is needed so I can turn it into a lego room/man cave! UG!

[Milan]

You are one lucky guy!

I want so much to have lego room for all the parts and drawer-cases, but still nothing.

I am in a reorganization process in my room, so I can use more of its space.

Attic is a great place for a lego room.

It looks really nice and tidy!

The pictures are not public yet

How much is the height there?

[Eskallon]

Congratulations with your new room, you have truly worked hard and must have deserved it. I wish we had a big enough attic for it to be my lego room. Ok this next bit is gonna sound really stupid but I don't care.

I actually want a smaller room than my bedroom. My room is actually huge and my lego gets lost, messed up and even more disorganized. There is no proper storage but I do have 2 big walk in wordrobes and 1 stores about half my lego and the other is for my clothes. I hope to sort out my lego properly one day but whenever I come to buying some proper storage drawer etc. I end up deciding to buy a lego set instead as where I live there is never any good storage containers that are cheap to buy.

Now that most likely came out as showing off to you guys but I am sorry if it did as my room is nowhere near to perfect. I am looking for a solution to my problems.

[legobazooka]

I assume by isolation you are refering to what in the UK is known as insulation? In which case I hope you left an airgap between the insulation and the roofing material. This airgap is essential for proper ventialtion to prevent condensation which can then lead to rot setting in the rafters. The recommended gap is 50mm (2 inches). Hope this helps, would hate to hear you had problems in the future.

[Xenophilius Studz]

Congrats on your new room! I just moved into a new house and my room is connected to an empty attic. My folks and I plan to clean it up, put insulation in in the walls, and either move my room there and have my current room be the LEGO room or vice versa.

[Peppermint_M]

Heh, nine people, a three bedroom house (I sleep in the living room once everyone else has turned in for the night...) A Lego room is wishfull thinking on my part. I do have plans for when I move out but that will be a few months yet (gotta learn to drive). I just want a big table and space for all the subdivisions in storage .

Nice table you have there

[prateek]

That's an awesome attic! Lots of moving space available. Our attic is only about 3-4 feet high

[MrTools]

I would use our attic as a LEGO room but its being used for storage and there are to many vents "running" around in it. When will the folder be public, i would like to see a few more pictures.

[Big Cam]

What a great thread, thanks for sharing this LEGO room. I knoe an entire room I could have all to myself is a small dream of mine.

Lovin all the pictures!

[Matn]

I assume by isolation you are refering to what in the UK is known as insulation? In which case I hope you left an airgap between the insulation and the roofing material. This airgap is essential for proper ventialtion to prevent condensation which can then lead to rot setting in the rafters. The recommended gap is 50mm (2 inches). Hope this helps, would hate to hear you had problems in the future.

Ah, yes. Insulation. I knew I forgot something to check, thanks. And don't worry, everything is added like it should be.

And thanks for the comments, everybody. Don't hesitate to post your LEGO building place.

[charlieboy]

We have a lego room too although its not quite so big as yours,it needs a good tidying up before i post any pics!

[Matn]

I'm looking forward to your pictures, charlieboy.

Here's my LEGO corner, a big part of my collection is now standing there. I'm slowly organizing and sorting everything I move up there. The wooden sorting boxes are called 'Fira', they were bought in Ikea and build by me. When I've sorted everything I will make some detailed photos. The tabletown will change (and lots of things added when I rebuilt some sets), I'm just fooling around with the setup at the moment. The right part of the table isn't photographed because nothing is standing there and I will need that spot for something else.

[Davey]

This looks great! You have a nice space up there and your town is looking really awesome. It also looks like you have some pretty good storage solutions going on there. :thumbup:

-Dave

[Torax]

Congratulations on this! Eventually, I want something similar. What a great idea to put it in the attic.

Also, your town is looking good. Is there any topic/website/gallery for it? and will we see the individual houses?

[badboytje88]

Wow Matn,

This LEGO room looks great! I'm jealous! I'm saving up to buy a large amount of these babies:

http://www.soer.nl/shop/images/Schroevenbak498.JPG

To sort my LEGO per piece per color. But sorting all my LEGO will be a big project. I'd probably have to move out of my parents house first because they aren't very supporting of my hobby.

Once again great LEGO room, you diserve it!

[Ras 74]

I am always so envy when I see someone got a LEGO room.

You are not making it easier to all of us getting envy ;)

It looks really great. Are you bothered by the leaning ceiling?

[Matn]

Is there any topic/website/gallery for it? and will we see the individual houses?

Thanks, and of course, in the near future I'll make a topic or an appropiate website to go with the town.

I am always so envy when I see someone got a LEGO room.

You are not making it easier to all of us getting envy ;)

It looks really great. Are you bothered by the leaning ceiling?

I just wanted to share my experiences, my intentions aren't to make some people jealous.

I'm not bothered by the leaning ceiling, however I am bothered by the horizontal wooden bars which support the ceiling. I've already hit my head sometimes when I forgot they were there... But they aren't really a big problem.