New in-depth Ultimate "LEGO Storage Guide" (Free guide!)

[henrysunset]

I'm Tom Alphin, author of The LEGO Architect book. For the past 6 months, I've been working on a new in-depth guide exploring LEGO Storage topics.

 

I'm pleased to announce that my LEGO Storage Guide is ready for people to enjoy (and give feedback.)

 

The guide is extensive, with 10 chapters and around 50 pages of free content:

• Section I: Organizing, Sorting, & Storing LEGO Bricks — The guide walks you through the process of understanding your LEGO collection, exploring different ways to organize your collection, great storage solutions for a LEGO collection of any size, and additional tips and tricks.

• Section II: Displaying & Storing LEGO Minifigures — This section explores some of the best ways to show off and protect your favorite LEGO minifigures.

 

 

The guide is informed by detailed surveys of around 200 LEGO enthusiasts.  The data analysis helped me prepare LEGO storage recommendations based on the size of your collection and other factors.

 

The guide is well researched... 
It contains results from a detailed LEGO Storage survey with about 200 responses, learnings from interviews with top LEGO builders from around the world, and recommendations based on numerous articles, books, and forum discussions on eurobricks.com website.

 

LINK: http://brickarchitect.com/guide/ 

 

I hope you enjoy reading the guide, and I can't wait to hear your feedback! I will continue improving the guide in the coming weeks, and am tracking your suggestions for future improvements in the acknowledgements section.  

 

 

Sincerely, 

---tom

 

P.S. I'm eager to hear - what's your favorite LEGO storage product?  

Edited November 6, 2017 by henrysunset

[JopieK]

Thanks for the suggestions. I use a somewhat 'modular' system. I have those sorting cabinets for electronics and they are not very flexible so although they have their advantages they do have limits. I use standard sized stackable crates (from Curver, most of them are 20 liter versions) that fit in the kind of shelves that I use. I label the crates (Tiles / Round tiles / Minifigs / Minifig Accessories / Animals / Bricks 1x / Bricks 2x / Plates / Train parts / Straight track / Curves / etc / etc). Depending on how many I have of items I group them in zip lock bags (disadvantages include that they sometimes are left open (mainly by me) and now and then do end up with the opening down).

[henrysunset]

19 hours ago, JopieK said:

Thanks for the suggestions. I use a somewhat 'modular' system. I have those sorting cabinets for electronics and they are not very flexible so although they have their advantages they do have limits. I use standard sized stackable crates (from Curver, most of them are 20 liter versions) that fit in the kind of shelves that I use. I label the crates (Tiles / Round tiles / Minifigs / Minifig Accessories / Animals / Bricks 1x / Bricks 2x / Plates / Train parts / Straight track / Curves / etc / etc). Depending on how many I have of items I group them in zip lock bags (disadvantages include that they sometimes are left open (mainly by me) and now and then do end up with the opening down).

This makes a lot of sense to me.  In most cases, it isn't about picking one storage product, but rather finding multiple products that work well together. 

I personally use a mix of Scrapbook Drawers with dividers, Akro-mils drawer cabinets, tackle boxes, large drawers, and plastic bags.  I also use a small file cabinet for manuals, and an ikea Expedit (now Kallax) shelf for LEGO-related books and a few favorite LEGO models.

thanks,

---tom

 

P.S. While plastic bags have their disadvantages, they are cheap, flexible, and you can squeeze the air out allowing you to fit a lot of LEGO in a small container. 

[Andy D]

Very good, it looks like you have covered just about everything we've covered here on Eurobricks, but a nicely organized format!

The only thing you left out is using Glad Entree storage containers. I use just about every type of storage container you mentioned, plus I also use the Glad Entree storage containers and Sterelite 15 quart storage bins.

Good job!

The ruler you included is nice and the only one I have seen that has the Technic Angle connectors.

Is your guide going to be "Online only" or will you have a PDF with hyperlinks to some external resources you mention?

Thanks for all your hard work!

Andy D

[henrysunset]

3 hours ago, Andy D said:

Is your guide going to be "Online only" or will you have a PDF with hyperlinks to some external resources you mention?

 

It isn't a PDF because I don't want to maintain two formats, but I did create custom style sheets so the guide will look great when printed on Letter or A4.  (Headers, comments, index and other superfluous content are omitted when you print to save paper. Please print double-sided if you decide to print it!)

---tom

Edited November 11, 2017 by henrysunset

[Redhead1982]

I have your page marked for a while now, but haven't had the chance to read through it all. Definitely it's a very extensive guide covering pretty much everything. That's also why I plan to read it.

I'm currently sorting my bags and boxes of mixed parts, either from sets or dissasembled MOCs. I've been postponing it for a while now, and the bricks really piled up. Since I have a small space for my collection hidden in the bedroom, I'm trying to keep most of the parts in zip bags, small drawer cabinets, and large plastic crates. Of those I have some from Ikea and majority of smaller ones are food containers, which are great. I'm sorting in two phases, first to sort by major category, such as bricks, modified bricks, SNOT bricks, tiles, plates of different sizes, minifigs, slopes etc. Now I'm on to part two in the sorting process, which is by color and type. Initially, I had everything sorted by type and color, but now I'm changing to have boxes of mixed odd parts all in the same color. I save some space by doing this, and it doesn't take as much time.

I'll add more feedback as soon as I read it all.

[ShaydDeGrai]

I've only had time to skim things over, but my initial impression is that it looks nice and presents a lot of well organized tips to, well, being well organized.

From a quick read I guess I fall into the category of owning an extremely large collection.  [ I have no idea how many parts I own. I'm not very good at keeping up with my BrickSet inventory and between Pick-a-brick walls, Bricklink orders, random donations from parents whose kids (sadly) have lost interest in Lego, etc. sets are only a fraction of my collection in the first place.  ]  I like to build fairly sizable things from pretty small parts (my Barad-Dur used an entire K-Box of gray cheese wedges alone).  

My preferred organization method is sort by both part and color for most things and to use what you refer to as tackle boxes, though I opt for the Stack-On cases over the Plano due to the built in handle, curved bottom to the cup rows - and the fact that the last two dozen I got were effectively free ;-)

I first started using the tackle box approach when I got the 8062 Technic Briefcase set 20+ years ago and it just seemed like storage solution for my most commonly used parts (at the time).  It kept out dust and cat hair (the failure of open bins).  It had a much higher packing density than a parts cabinet (and if it ever got knocked over while I'm not using them, it stayed sealed, unlike a friend's parts cabinets that had an unfortunate encounter with his dog and undid days' worth of sorting hours).  They are a lot easier to get into than a plastic tub filled with ziplock baggies (though I still use this storage approach as well for bulk parts and small "family" groupings (e.g. "purple 4x plates").  I also make it a point to always have a decent size bin of unsorted parts on hand for tinkering.

My collection is largely sorted first by color (with the exception of mini-figures, which just go in a bin, and Technic, which is segregated and sorted by part), and then by part - to a point.  If I have fewer that a few dozen of a particular part in a particular color, say bright yellow cheese wedges, they might end up in a "misc yellow slope" baggy instead of getting their own cup. 

The downside to the tackle box system is that no one tray ever has all the parts needed to build something so I need lots of counter space to keep a dozen trays open (and pray that my cat doesn't knock an open box onto the floor while I'm working)

One point you touched on in your book that I think people underestimate is the value of not being too organized.  You mention it in the context of a small collection for young children, but I'm older than dirt and have a major collection and I deliberately keep a few thousand pieces just dumped in a tub.  Granted these are mostly either sets that I've scraped or the spoils of Pick-a-Brick wall visits to my local Lego Store that are just waiting to be filed properly, but I never put _everything_ away.  Sometimes you need to rummage around and build without a plan just to get the creative juices flowing.  An unsorted pile of parts is great for that.

I appreciate that in several of the discussions you call out "Best for" to highlight the strengths of a particular solution over the others, but it might be worth offering a deeper discussion regarding some of the drawbacks/trade-offs each storage option and organization method has (beyond just "hard to find a small part in a bin of like-colored bricks").    From my experience, it seems like the various methods _I've_ explored could be rated against several (admittedly subjective) axes, such as: speed of retrieval; space consumption; "rummage-ability"; time/effort to set-up; time/effort to maintain; extensibility (as size of collection grows); vulnerability (how easily can this system get undone by kids, pets, movers, drunken party guests, etc.); and, "MOC-ability" (the ability/level of effort to find a wide variety of parts in just the right colors for a given MOC); 

Parts cabinets and tackle boxes sorted by element are clear winners when it comes to speed of retrieval when you know what part you're after, but how do they compare when browsing or brainstorming what the "next" part should be?  How easy is it to maintain one organizational method over another?  When do I reach the point when it takes longer to take a MOC apart than it did to build it in the first place because I'm trying to be too organized and trying to put everything away where it "belongs"? Where is the sweet spot between being organized and being creative?  Obviously I wouldn't expect you to have universal answers for those last few questions as, I'm pretty sure, the "right" answer varies widely from person to person.  Still, I think bit more discussion of various trade-offs and their implications for the overall creative process/time management/fun factor, would help further the point that people need to develop a system that works for them.

[henrysunset]

@ShaydDeGrai

Thank you for the kind words about the guide.  It definitely sounds like you have a pretty epic collection of parts.  It seems like sorting by both part and color is the local conclusion of a life of collecting and sorting LEGO.

I fully agree with your point about the creative benefits of a pile of loose bricks.  In my personal case, I keep one copy of the LEGO Architecture Studio set at work. It is sorted only into rough parts categories, and one of the pleasures of working with that collection of parts instead of my bigger collection is that I just start picking parts up and playing with new ways to combine them.  (Obviously, a huge bucket of random parts offers the same opportunity for serendipitous discovery of parts, and creative free-building.)

 

I like the idea of normalizing the "best for" sections into a standardized format across all storage products.  This could be a 5 point scale across a small number of criteria (I like the set of criteria you proposed as a starting point.)  This is the most immediately actionable of your comments, and I'm adding a future work item to my backlog of potential improvements to the guide here: http://brickarchitect.com/guide/history/

 

Sincerely,

---tom

[Isavarg]

I tend to store mine by the set they were in, but as it gets bigger, and I'm getting more into doing MOCs, it will need a storage system. I spent ages the other day trying to find a part from the 'Classic' sets I have, only to find it in a box I'd not bothered looking in after giving up searching for it. I'm considering getting some really useful box storage boxes. (I've used them before for sewing for keeping needles and threads.) I've found the boxes used for storing skeins and small beads to be useful for the really small, easily lost parts, but I don't have enough of them to sort my collection out properly now. (They are useful if you don't want the room you keep them in to resemble a garage.)