Tell me about your Lego storage

[Enigmasaurus]

We have a lot of Lego and are likely to acquire more. I am forever finding bits of it around the house and it is driving me mad! At the moment I’ve put it into boxes with clicking lids (due to small toddler) but that’s clearly not a sustainable solution.

So - on this rainy Sunday morning - enlighten me and tell me about your clever Lego storage solutions please

DH made a Lego table like the ones you can buy. Has a large base plate on the stop and plastic buckets hanging off rails on two sides to store the bits in. A lot of the figures live on the top and they build structures on there too.

If you’ve got space a table might be worth a go.

We have clear plastic drawers and sorted by colour. It took forever to do but at least DS can find what he wants.

The floor and every available surface, and sometimes my handbag or pockets.

We have IKEA trofast units. DS1 has the wall mounted and floor units he likes to keep completed models/specific sets in so they don’t get broken. The drawers are just plastic boxes really so can be taken out for easy access, and you could use them to store brick and parts, separating into type etc

We have lots of the Really Useful storage box which live on IKEA Kallax shelves. Mostly by type with instructions at the bottom. You can get them with inserts to sort the pieces.

We have a 4x4 kallax which displays all of the built sets and the kids creations.

Everything else is organised by size/type of piece.

Haha FlowersofSpring I feel your pain!

Thanks for the suggestions so far. I do like the Lego tables but an inquisitive toddler means it’s not as secure as I’d like.

Bernies where did you get your clear drawers from?

This may not work if you have a young child as well, but our Lego is colour sorted in Trofast drawers in a Trofast unit. It makes the bits easier to find, and the trays are shallow enough to take through quite easily. I find threatening the Vacuum cleaner tends to prompt a quick floor clear-up!

We've got this it's great!!

thelastplanet Toy Storage Basket Toy Organizer Bag And Play Mat Durable Floor Activity Organizer Mat Large Play Mat And Toy Storage Organizer Baskets, Outdoor Toy Quick Storage Bag https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B086BTPPCN/ref=cmswwrcppapiglttfabcM88RGZ7K153WMYQEWKX7??encoding=UTF8&psc=1

DS isn't very precious about models / sets so this works best for him. I'd love to have colour sorted plastic boxes and beautiful shelves to display the finished models but it would only be dor my benefit and is too much like hard work!!

It all lives in a giant swoop mat, hangs on a hook next to his dressing gown etc. Made things get put on a shelf, mostly the invented things he's made (a dinosaur with a long wobbly neck, police car with googly eyes off a cow, a snowman). It's all muddled together, just how DS likes it. We tried organising by colour, but that lasted five minutes.

DelurkingAJ I use the really useful boxes at the moment but at this rate we’ll end up with tonnes of them!

I have two sons (12 & 14) and a lot of Lego!
I never really found a long term solution but the best was large shallow really useful boxes that slide under the bed.
They hold a lot and are fairly easy to search through.

I use blok pod Lego sorter to sort by size and decant into IKEA drawers. It’s really satisfying to Chuck it in give it a good shake and pour into drawers. Also use it to display precious models away from little hands.

Trofast here. He's got so much of it that sorting it is not practical so it all gets tipped into together. Any special constructions are on a shelf until he vandalises them for parts.

He'd prefer to store it on the floor in great drifts.

We have four of these Really Useful drawer sets.

They all fit under a large coffee table that DS uses as a Lego table. He sorted the various pieces into types for each drawer. When he doesn't have many of a type he puts them in freezer bags and stores several of the bagged types in a drawer. The drawers can be pulled out so he can sit with a tray or two of pieces beside him while he builds.

Some sets that he thinks he might like to make again are stored in freezer bags in their original boxes in a big cupboard. But mostly he likes to design his own constructions so usually we just save the instructions, throw away the boxes and store the pieces in the Really Useful drawers.

We've had this system for over a year now and it's working well. Previously we tried to save all the original boxes - they got very battered and took up too much space - and just had a couple of large plastic Lego boxes of jumbled up bits and pieces - which were always being dumped all over the floor as he searched for particular types of piece.

This thread has just sent me down a pinterest/lego storage rabbit hole!

I love this idea but don't have enough space for it.

I’ve read this thread in somewhat nervous wonder, DS is turning 4 and getting his first Lego for his birthday. I’m sure it will take over the house.

Giant lego bricks.

Oh definitely ditch the boxes! I had to get very strict about that. DS has been collecting lego since he was 5 and he's now 23 (II and ASD). If we had every box, there'd be no room left in the house.

So far I’ve tried sorting it into play categories (Harry Potter/jungle/Arctic/city/space...etc), sorting by size and type (pushed me to the edge of madness) and a 10 month effort to sort by colour.
Right now we’re trialling the jumbled-up-all-over-the-bedroom-floor method which seems to be the one ds has a natural affinity for.

All our systems break down because there are so many extra special bits that cannot be broken up and sorted 🙄 I’ve even tried including boxes for special pieces and half built ideas but ds seems to be fundamentally allergic to boxes.

I’ve a half formed idea of converting a wall of his room into an IKEA pax system with a combination of display shelves and slide out shelves so he can play and spread out his Lego but slide it away afterwards. Except it would cost ££££ and I know it still wouldn’t work.

We have far too much and every birthday and Christmas more boxes of the bloody stuff arrive.

My recommendation would be to hire a big skip for it all

@MonkeyPuddle

I’ve read this thread in somewhat nervous wonder, DS is turning 4 and getting his first Lego for his birthday. I’m sure it will take over the house.

It does!

My brother is in his thirties and built a lego room as part of his house extension

I bought a couple of Really Useful drawer stacks on castors. The pieces are sorted into the drawers according to size and function. TBH we could do with a third set of drawers, but the dc are growing up and are losing interest in Lego, so it didn't seem worth investing in more. The drawers are easy to use, can be taken out easily, and the tops of the cabinets provide useful display space (aka not-quite-finished-this). Any kits that the dc want to keep as kits, rather than tip the pieces into general Lego, are kept in small, clear Really Useful boxes. Mostly 0.9 litre boxes, which stack neatly together.

Really Useful really are a useful brand. We store Knex in larger RU boxes with sorting trays, and I also use them for storing my sewing and knitting materials.

They're expensive, but versatile and robust - I've never broken even one, whereas all the other storage boxes have eventually broken or worn out.

So it seems Really Useful boxes are not a bad starting point. I do like the look of the drawers CatChant.
That table is amazing MissGendered but sadly we also don’t have space for it

Loving your name thelegohooverer!! So apt

Each child has two of each of these in their bedroom. Bricks sorted by type rather than colour.

amazon.co.uk/Iris-Ohyama-Europe-drawers-NMC-012-Dimensions/dp/B00KRAWM5Y/]]

amazon.co.uk/DURHAND-Drawers-Organiser-Storage-Cabinet/dp/B07JMLMQ4W/]]