184 Organizing Legos: Part 3 - Creating Organized Lego Storage

Welcome back to Part 3 of my little Lego series.  So far I have blabbed about the build buckets and the build table, but I know what you really have been waiting for.  What in the world did we end up doing with all of those big bins of  Legos?

Well, be ready for a picture filled post to find out!

First, I have to mention, we have been accumulating Legos for YEARS.  In fact, my husband had a giant bin of them under our stairs for the longest time, just waiting for our boys to grow old enough to play with.  Not to mention, as you know we have three boys, so what is always the easiest gift choice at holidays and birthdays?  Legos. 

This project started out with four large Rubbermaid bins full of Legos, along with the craft drawers we attempted to use as storage as well.  {we only had one small cart and it just wasn't big enough for our growing collection}.

My initial reaction was to sort out the pieces by type.  Bricks, boards, wheels, etc... The boys disagreed.  They wanted things done by color.  They were so nicely reminded it was going to be their duty to maintain whatever new system we implement and that the whole point was to make building easier and more fun for them.  So I let it be their choice on how things were done, and sorting by color won.

The next step was to come up with the best way to containerize all of the pieces by color.  I instantly knew the IKEA Trofast system was the way I wanted to go, but I did try and think up other alternative solutions... Cricket cricket.  I had nothin', so Trofast it was!

Then came the REALLY fun part.  The sorting.  OK, not so much fun.  But we tried our hardest to enjoy it.  We all sat together, surrounded by bins, watched movie after movie for an entire day and a half until it was done.

I had the boys help me for 75% of the time.  I figured if they were part of the sorting process, they would appreciate it more and be more apt to help maintain all their hard work.  It's been a couple of weeks now and I am happy to report, so far SOOO good!

When it came to labeling the bins, I sat on this one for awhile.  I wanted to do vinyl with my Silhouette.  SO badly.  And I wanted the words on the front to be the same color as the blocks in the bins.  So when I looked online and in stores at vinyl prices, I about had a heart attack.  10 bins at $7 minimum a color... um no thanks.  Shucks.  I did some research and heard about adhesive backed cardstock.  Again, $5 per color and not every color I needed.  Strike two.  Then it hit me!  I could use regular colored cardstock, cut the words out with my Silhouette, and adhere them to the fronts of the bins myself, all while saving a TON of moolah over the alternative options!  Whew, almost struck out, that was close!

So that's what I did.  I started cutting out letters from each color of cardstock.  The best part of this was that I could use shades of the color that I liked vs. the harsh, primary color that Legos usually are.

I used Dr. Seuss shaped font, it is for a playroom after all! 

To adhere the letters, I wanted something that would last.  And look clean and resemble the look I would have gotten with the vinyl.  So I went with Mod Podge in a matte finish {which is the same finish of the Trofast bins}.

I used some painters tape to give myself a straight line to work with and to ensure the letters were placed in about the same location on each bin.

Then, I used a brush to "paint" on some Mod Podge, stick the letter on the bin, and then Mod Podge over the letter to really make it stick.

Don't worry as you are doing this... it gets worse before it gets AMAZING....

{while drying}

Once all of the Mod Podge dried, you wouldn't have even known it was there to begin with!  WIN!

Totally stinkin' adorable.

The only items we didn't do by color were the boards and little people.  The boards got a large Trofast bin, the people got a smaller storage box.

So did all the manuals.

Again, I hashed out manual storage options.  I originally was going to binder them into plastic page protectors.  But I know my boys.  I imagined that over time, they would take the manual out and it wouldn't easily find its way back.  So they now just get piled in a storage box and it's done.  I am very OK with that since I want it to be easiest for them to maintain.

When it comes to the "builds" they create, sometimes they like to keep them for a little while {however, they play with Legos because they love to create and build, so they don't seem to be too concerned about keeping their sets together for long periods of time}.  I wanted to give them a place in their new playroom to begin displaying their creations, so we installed some inexpensive shelves above the Lego storage bins.

Up until now, they have never really had a place to display their projects, which is why you don't see anything up there right now.  But now they have a place should they want it.  For the time being, I just shopped around the house for items to prop up on the shelves as placeholders, along with some free kid's printable art I found through the lovely world of Pinterest.

Ready to see the whole Lego wall in all it's organized glory?

We are so incredibly smitten with how the whole entire project turned out.  We now have a place that the boys can build and create and the storage is both functional, yet dressed up to blend in and become part of the decor. 

And that my friends, concludes my Lego mini-series!  Until next week that is, when I will host a Lego Link Up Party and we can all swoon over all of your other ideas and Lego storage solutions.  I know there are tons of Lego organizing options out there, many of you have already shared with me incredible ideas that are working well for you!  Next week we will have a chance to share those ideas with all the readers!