Bumped for the night crowd feedback:
LEGO storage question time.
According to my collection report on Bricklink, between all of my sets I have about 70,000pcs among 120'ish sets. The problem of storage is starting to rear its ugly head. Up to this point, I've kept all the pieces in the boxes they came in, but the amount of space over 100 sets take up is getting a bit much.
How do those of you also with large collections handle the storage dilemma? Do you keep your sets together, do you break them apart and separate the pieces into organizer boxes? Do you put all the pieces (from a set or a theme/year) together in a zip-loc bag and flatten the boxes? Do you rent a storage container?
Long post, bit it's difficult to go through storage and not put detail in - hopefully something useful in here for you.
I might try and take some photos of our storage, but basically you just need drawers/boxes and break down by category (not colour. It's easier to find a blue 1x1 among other colour 1x1 bricks, than trying to find a blue 1x1 in a box full of different sized blue bricks). Our current setup is fine, but might need expansion when we break down the modulars and tower bridge (still have to build that so no hurry), but a good system should allow for expansion anyway. We have
- one big wooden chest of drawers built by my father with four drawers, each around 1.5 x 3ft, divided into 4-6 sections internally. In that I have
- one drawer for 1x and 2x bricks. Separate sections for different sizes to help prevent small pieces get lost among big ones, and quicker to find a certain size). 1x1 and 1x2 go together, 1x3 and 1x4, then longer than 1x4. 2x2 and 2x3 together, 2x4 on its own, then longer than 2x4. As the collection grows it'll be simple enough to expand and have a section per brick size as it
-one drawer for 1x and 2x plates, sectioned as above. I keep 1x1 plates in a separate box as they get lost too easily
- one drawer for slopes (sectioned into 45 degree, 33 degree, steep (not sure what degree they are), and inverted. I have 4x and larger plates in here too.
- one drawer for misc special pieces. This is basically the inside of a Lego advent calendar to give me lots of little boxes, where I keep things that don't have enough pieces for their own box, but are still useful to separate. So things like spanners, skis, skeleton/droid legs etc. this drawer also has larger compartments for minifig accessories and larger misc pieces (barrels etc) which all sit together.
Next to that I have a tower of 7 smaller drawers which holds things that aren't standard building bricks/plates, but can be categorised in common sections.
- curved bricks
- tiles
- wedge plates
- wheels
- house pieces (windows, doors, panels etc)
- car pieces (windscreens, seats ,steering wheels etc)
Etc.
Finally I have mini craft boxes which hold common small special bricks.
- headlight bricks, 1x1 round plates, 1x1 round bricks, things that you use often but are difficult to put in other sections and are small so would get easily lost amongst other bricks. obviously your definition of 'common' special will probably differ based on what you build. You could do the same with a drawer/box with dividers, but I happened to have boxes at hand, and it helps to have lids to prevent accidents when my kids are playing with the Lego.
You can keep some sets separate if they are special, sorting is really helpful for MOCing etc.
Try and find boxes/drawers that work with your room, can ideally be expanded later, and are suited to dividing up if necessary. In hindsight I'd prefer to find a drawer system and stick with it so it was more consistent - I have a bit of a hodge podge now
