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[onions]

I won't go through my whole schmeal again that I posted on the front page. But here's my battle plan to deal with my shrinking storage space:

1) Rent a small, air conditioned space at Public Storage.

2) Pick up some medium sized boxes.

3) Put my overflowing collection of unopened LEGO sets and toys into said boxes and catalog everything while I do it.

4) Migrate full boxes over to the rented space.

This should all take me the course of about two or three weeks. The wife seems to think it's a bit ridiculous that part of my toy collection is going to be off site where I can neither touch it or see it. I don't know what else to do though, I'm at my wit's end.

Anyone else having similar issues?
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[DestructiveZombie]

I have a simliar problem, since I'm not old enough to move out yet, I have to keep all my Lego in my room, which isn't big enough. AT the moment I only have enough room left fora few more sets, including the UCS star destroyer. My solution for now has been to move none Lego things out of the way to make room for Lego things, like I got ride of my tv to get alot of room for some more sets. and I also trya nd be picky with some of the sets that come out during the year and only get the ones I really need, but by the ned of the year I generally bought a bunch that I never planed on owning.

[Jzaltheral]

I have the same basic problem. My wife, daughter, four cats, and I all share a smallish two bedroom apartment, so my legos are confined to one corner of our 11 x 15 bedroom, and my display space is limited to two shelves and the top of the bedroom TV, which basically means I can have my UCS Y-Wing and Snowspeeder up, plus maybe three or four other sets.

We are currently looking into buying a house, and one of the criteria we are using to judge them on is the available hobby space (my wife does puzzles and quilting, which also both take up prodigious amounts of space). So the amount of Lego building room is going to a deal breaker for any houses that we look at.

For now my solution has been to suck it up. I'm at a critical point at the moment, where I can't really buy too many more Legos without doing something significant about the storage issues, so my buying has slowed down, but there are A LOT of new kits that I really want. We'll see what happens.
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-J'zaltheral
To the pagan, the Christians are the heathens.

More about my MOCs and my own reviews at: http://www.aelfen.net

[Faulconbridge]

My issue right now is that I have absolutely no space to display my collection. Eventually, (and this project is entering its fourth year) I will get our office finished in our house and will put up some shelves that will allow me to put some things on display. Although we may just end up buying a bigger house before then. I'll never have the space to put everything out, but I would like to put a few pieces out at a time.

Right now, all my sets are disassembled in storage bins.
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May the Force be with you...

[HJR]

I'm even taking more drastic measures; I'm looking at finding a bigger apartment with extra room(s), just to store my sets; LEGO has been bulking my current apartment, and the jabba sailbarge which will arrive next week will truly be the last set I'll be able to fit in the apartment.

Meanwhile, I'll have to make choices concerning my collection and projects; I've got heaps of ideas, all of which will be realized at one point in time; but then I'll have to choose what to display and what not; i.e. what to put in boxes and what not. Just to a look at this:

my collection in 2003

my collection this evening Know that the UCS RBR stands on the heater, the 6211 ISD on the microwave, and the UCS AT-ST at my office at work


I concur with the fact that it's a huge problem, as I love each and every set and MOC I own. Decisions... decisions... decisions... ::D:

[renegade]

Due to a recent reallocation of household items I just lost a lot of my Lego space. It is all in sorted boxes in my office and I have a couple of sets up at any time. Short of abandoning future lego purchase or storing some in my attic space I really don't know what to do.

But rest assured I will figure it out, after I buy a few sets
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Renegade

In a gathering storm comes a tall handsome man
In a dusty black coat, With a red right hand

[Admiral Breaker]

I was/is in a simaliar boat. I moved. I had the RGS, AT-TE, and Turbo Tank in a box. I had packing peanuts surrounding them all. They survied. However my MTT is broken. I have not unpacked any legos yet, but i hope to have a little table/workbench by the time I "restock" in december ::D:

[ZombieSolo]

My collection is not limited to LEGOs, and it's cramed wherever I can get it to go. I can't display everything, and a lot is in storage in our garage... some is in our room in boxes, some is filling up shelves i na closet. It's a bad system, and I'm slowly thinning out what I have.

I feel your pain Ace. Good luck with the organization
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[Kaminoan]

I feel the pain. My wife has decided that Lego needs to stay in the office. Well it has spilled into other rooms on small scales, but for the most part that is where it is. I have discovered a huge extra space for storage, the ceiling: http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1501011 Of course it doesn't all fit on the ceiling so I got fishing line and suspended it from the bottom of shelves. Most of EpIII sets are still in the box because I have no display room. So I also have a rather large closet sitting full of Lego. All I can say is that it is quickly out pacing my storage capacity and I will either have to "clean-up" the area or move it to the dreaded attic, which I would rather not do.

Ultimately, I might have to go the storage building route too Ace. Good luck.

Kam
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[PocasNuckie]

Well. The Space Wars is a war with no end i suppose. And one we can't win... unless we decide to stop buying Lego (no way!).

Few Years Back when i had some loose pieces and 1 or 2 sw sets... i had them all in a table one of the living rooms of my house. I use to play there... using videotape cases to make walls and stuff like that....

Later as the collection grew up, i moved everything downstairs... i had some big tables where things could be standing, and the pieces were all spread so i could build, and crash and built again.

Since i had the box where we burn the wood for the house warming system there... it produced a lot of smoke and dust ... and was ruining my legos...

So i brought them upstairs to my room. I put all built sets there. And bought maybe 4 boxes each one with different sizes of shelves to keep things storaged. (I had almost everything randomly put in the shelves, bu with time ive been starting to store them by piece types, and pretend to buy more storage for a even better separation).

Problem is, that in my room there is no place where i can build at will, and the space to display sets is starting to come to an end. I have to build my sets on the table we have meals in (means legos most go off at meal time), and it sucks.

So, im in the process of moving everything downstairs again. My father got me a closet with windows where i can put everything to display, and i also got 3 huge tables there, where I can build a base, and have space to build my stuff....

Sorry for the long post, but as you see the Space Wars are going long around here, and it seems they wont end just yet...

Pocas

[bobthelegobuilder]

As my collection grows, it has slowly spread out over most of my room. I currently have twelve fooet of shelf for castle and twelve feet for mocs, my ISD, but still have alot of room. I have mostly filled my closed with sets (almost all star wars, 2/3 mocs) And my droid army is on top of my bookshlef. I currently have no lack of space. I used to have a problem but that was because I had everything spread out really nicely. Whenever I need more space, I start to squish things together. If I squished right now, I could double my space at least.
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[jedi knight 92]

My Lego collection as a whole is starting to overflow. I've used up most of the closet space, and mostly under the bed. My problem is having a 2-year old running around that enjoys the sadistic pleasure of hidng or destroying my Lego.

[Darth's Zombie]

I've got a storage shelf in the basement dedicated to my collection (200+ sets!! ). I've got Potter, Technique, Designer, Ferrari and Star Wars all overflowing the thing. In addition, I have 3 of the large and 2 medium rubbermaid tubs/chests full of sets. One of the medium tubs is dedicated to my original classic Space sets from the 70's (my parents kept them for me up until a few years ago).

My biggest issue is that I like to keep the sets in the boxes. My wife continually complains about how much Lego I've got and how much space it takes up. Hopefully I'll snap some picks over the next couple days to add to this post.

I should probably give up on the boxes, but I figure I may want to sell some of them someday. The boxes add value and make it easier to keep the sets whole and parts separate.

I guess I'm lucky to have a house with enough space for these things.

Storage space is expensive. Are there any sets that you can part with to reduce the space required? That would be my first step if I was forced to reduce (only under threat of divorce?? )

Best of luck Ace!

DD
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[pharmjod]

When looking for a house, I kept coming back to wanting a basement... for a number of reasons. The primary one was that my LEGO collection was completely overrunning my parents basement, and this was with most sets still in the boxes. My wife and I now have a house and plenty of space for my LEGO, but I truly didn't realize just how much crap I had in my parents basement. Not referring to the LEGO mind you, but all of the other stuff. I hear you on the space thing though, cause up until this past April, I was out of room.

[Marty]

I myself having a 2year old daughter I had to break down and bag every set I had as it was too much of a challange to keep them together while she was around.
So here's what I did I use the big plastic tubs and put the stuff in the garage that way I know it's complete and is less likely to get damaged.
Also putting it into the tubs keeps it organized.

Regards Marty

[Count Blacktron]

Another suggestion for storage might be to replace the frozen mixed veggies in the freezer with assorted bricks. Who needs those peas and corn anywho? ::D:
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[Battle Zombie Alita]

[bruce n h]

Hey,

On this:

[readybreak56]

well im lucky I live in a big 4 bedroom house with me any my wife and fish if they count.Anyway me and my wife only take up 1 room so Ihave 4 rooms to store lego.

If you dont want any of your lego I will have it for you
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[ZombieSeptemris]

Storage and sorting is my biggest problem too:



This is what I had to fit in my smaller 4 room appartment last July when I moved.

Most of the LEGO ended up in my kids room, but I have the LEGO table in the living room, 5 boxes of MISB sets to sell in the hall, big sets on display in the kitchen like the sandcrawler, RBR, new falcon, some more in the bathroom. Oh and a few boxes in my bedroom too. So yeah, it's all over the place.

I have to say that having a sorting system has helped. Keeping the sets in the boxes is cool, but it takes much more space than sorting them. Since I've sorted most of my collection (90 000 something pieces), I've trown out or flattened the boxes. I keep all the instructions in big photo albums with plastic pockets. All in all, storage space has been optimised and pieces are more easily accessible to build stuff.

Like Jzaltheral said, there are so many new sets that I want to get too. I'm happy that LEGO is going in the right direction, but I'm also angry that I can't get all the good stuff: there's so much of it!
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[Goose]

Space, well this is a never ending problem in my house, um, apartment. A tiny little two bed roomed apartment, accommodating myself, the wife and the 19 month old boy. The wife doesn't like LEGO, but the son does, hence Quattro blocks and the LEGO baby stuff are permissible anywhere in the house, except the toilet. However, if the Lego belongs to me, I get one temporary spot on the kitchen table for the display of one model. The rest, is disassembled and parted into zip lock bags and those placed into boxes. Now the boxes are becoming a problem, because, firstly, they are in the main bedroom, 2nd, even I have to admit brown cardboard boxes don't do the decor any good, and C, they are no longer big enough to hold my ever expanding *raises hands in delight* collection, hence the full zip lock bags are starting to overflow to places not in the boxes.

There is no space in the cupboards, the ceiling is out of the question as it gets to well over 50 degrees Celsius in summer, and the garage is just big enough to take the car, and a few other boxes of stuff that have no space in the apartment.

The solution, 24 liter plastic tubs. Lots of them! I actually got a few of them this past weekend. Haven't done anything with them yet, but the intention is there.

Space problems, oh yes, I know all about it.
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[Battle Zombie Alita]

Wow! There are a lot of us that have hit a "Critical Mass" point in our hobby. The question used to be "How much money can I spend on Lego?" This thread shows "How much space do I have?" is another. From a display standpoint, more space is needed for it to look right and time to keep it clean. From a building aspect, workable space is needed for easy access.

Outright Storage of sets raises questions:
Would I ever get it out for display?
How much time will I spend changing my display?
Will I really take on that 4'x8' moster display project?
So, is this just going into a black hole never to return?
As a seller, will the cost of storage eat up my profits?

Setting a limit on space for Lego raises a difficult question. What parts of my experience with Lego are most important to me? Which display sets are really my favorites? Do I really want to keep those bins of extra parts?
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[onions]

[Lt. Kettch]

I have a simple solution:

Be too poor to buy all the Lego you want That said, a third of my wall-to-wall wardobe is full of the stuff, and most of the space under my rather high bed
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Yub yub, Commander!

[Zombiekid24]

I just rented a storage unit with a friend of mine so a lot of my stuff will go there. I've cooled on the Lego buying for now but do have other items for other collections trickling in.

[bluemoose]

Currently, LEGO is the dominant life-form in my garage, my dinning room, & my home office. And it has also spilt over into the study, the lounge & onto the stairs We haven't been able to use the dinning room table for about 2 years because it is so deeply covered in LEGO, with nowhere else to put it ...

I got rid of almost all my boxes this time last year (and I've been getting rid of new boxes as I've acquired more sets), but it doesn't seem to have helped very much. I've got a huge back-log of LEGO waiting to be sorted - well over 100,000 elements ...

Yes, I admit it, things have got a little out of hand.

Ian

[Pete's Lego Empire]

I'm feeling the pain. I haven't even attempted to sort the tubs I got from Toy R US last years BOGO. I've run out of display space. You know its bad when.....

1. You have to switch your storage containers to the 55 gal rubber made, because the other ones are too small.
2. You open a container and say.... OHHH I forgot I had those 3000 2x2 green plates....
3. Your wife asks you why you keep putting the same castle minifigs in formation on green base plates night after night? Your response. Those aren't the same castle figs.
4.Your collection is no loger measured in lbs but in tons.
5.You have to register you lego collection with the fire dept., in case there was a fire at your house. All that ABS buring has to be lethal.
6. Too many to list.

Pete's Lego Empire

[Barbarossa]

I don't have any problems with space now, but I hope to in the future.

It sounds weird when I say it that way, but as I am really just starting to conciously expand the size of my collection in a logical manner (instead of just buying an occasional set now and then), I will soon (hopefully ) fill up the closet I have half dedicated to Lego. Then of course, I'll start selling off clothes to make space and finance my purchases, all at once!

Actually, I think there is space in my room for a collection about twice the size of mine (15k sorted but without much on display) so for better or worse I won't need a Lego room for a while. (Of course, seeing as I cannont even legally obtain a mortgage, let alone afford one, this wouldn't be an option even if I had 300k parts )
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~Barbarossa

[Obi-wan Jimboski]

[PocasNuckie]

Bumping this thread:

I just gave 1 very Important step in winning the Space Wars, specially in what concerns to piece sorting.

Yesterday I was talking to my father about going to a shop and buy some cases with shelves to sort my stuff in.

Then he remember that the yogurts i use to eat, usually come in some nice plastic cases both singular and some double (that bring two packs). Well I went to see where my mom usually stores that stuff, and man I had a damn load of those cases there (and will get more, by the way i eat more yogurts :D). Ofc i picked them all, and will start a better sorting of my bricks and plates by sizes and maybe colors since they are all mixed in two biggy shelves.

Basicly, I got a cheappy and enjoyable way of keeping my Lego. I eat my delicious yogurts and i get boxes to sort my lego. very cool.

Pocas In the NeverEnding Fight agaisnt the lack of Space to Keep Lego

PS: As soon as I have my move of Lego done to downstairs , and all organized I'll see if I can bring some photos.

PS: May take a bit since i have to repair almost every single set, that got crapped because of the damn handmaiden that brokes them all when she is cleaning my room.