How do you organize your bricks ?

[Hob Took]

For now I only sort by color as my collection is still somewhat small compared to other people's collections. I use big plastic tubs to store all my pieces in, and have one tub which stores plates and ziploc bags of minifig pieces (one for heads, torsos, capes/armor, accesories, etc.). Some day I will have to go to sorting by piece, or at least by type (tiles, plates, bricks, roof bricks, etc.). Oh how I dread that day...

Hob Took

[speaknspell]

If only i could have a room

My girlfriend doesn't want to see it either, so i try to build when she's not around, but it is not easy

lol, my fiancee insisted we have a room for the LEGO when we moved to Connecticut. she was tired of stepping on it as I'd kept it all in the living room before. thankfully she still likes what I build from time to time.

Anyways, I have a fun organization system. I have about 18 stackable underbed storage boxes that are essentially big, flat, stackable drawers. I have them in stacks of nine in two corners of my room and parts are split up by type.

1x1 bricks -1x3 bricks in one drawer
1x4 bricks & 1x6 bricks in the next
anything longer than that in the next
and the pattern holds for most of the bigger parts.

I have a bunch of the multi-drawer boxes from target that are meant for sewing supplies I think. each has either an individual part like 1x1 plates (divided by color at this point). anything that I have a small number of or would just be silly in the big drawer scenario gets the little drawer treatment. Other parts are stacked by type in LEGO buckets (i.e. swivel hinges, click hinges, canopies, windows, etc.). then any part that I have way to much of gets a bin or box on the other side of the room. there's a table in the middle, and now to the building.

Steve

[DARKspawn]

I sort bricks into large castle shapes Failing that in piles across the floor, sorted by colour & type.

I have a room. That way, my wife can close the door and the "problem" goes away.

Very true

[FishRfine]

i dont. no wonder i cant find anything.

[boses]

I do not sort my Lego. I have a few shelves full of completed mocs, though. I find it easier and more practical to keep my collection together instead of taking the time to sort them out, piece by piece. I just store my loose parts in 18 gallon sterilte bins. I love the sound they make when I dump them out.

[RebelRock]

I just store my loose parts in 18 gallon sterilte bins. I love the sound they make when I dump them out.

That's fine and dandy until you start taking close up pictures of MOCs and realize your bricks are mangled and scratched to hells and back.

[evilnailman]

Type, then size, then colour depending on how many I have.

Seems to be the most common way

Matt

[boses]

RebelRock---

Most of my Lego are actually in very good condition, regardless of the way I store them. An interesting side note, when it comes to storing bricks that is, is how short of a period of time it takes for Block-offs *cough*mega blocks* *best-lock*cough* to become damaged, even when handled with care.

[Sir Fredric]

No organization whatsoever for me, just large tubs and a bookcase for creations.

[ook22]

I think first thing to note is that you should not try and sort every piece by type and color! I started down this path and it's a big waste of time.

I find logical categories are the great way to sort lego. The main reason is this: You want to know where pieces are and you want to lower your search time and sort time. If you end up with zillions of little bins all over the place and only a handful of pieces in each you will spend forever both sorting and searching for the piece you need.

Some categories I use:

Sea Creatures
Livery
Archery
Propellers
Modern Wheels
Wagon Wheels
Deserts

etc...

Oddly when grouping lego by category you will end up a with what appears to be jumbled groups. However there are so few types of piece in each group that searching for the piece in the jumble takes little to no time. I recommend keeping it to groups containing between 3 and 7 different lego types in the same category. You should then spend less time sorting into less bins and less time looking for them!

Another nice result is that this technique can boost creativity! For instance you can be looking for a clam and stumble across a crab you forgot you owned and decide your beach could use both!

A caveat: This technique only works with groups of a few hundred or less pieces. Once you get into the thousands you'll find it a pain to dig tough a large bin when building. Usually when I get this many of a single piece I just make a bin for that piece alone.

Hope this helps!

- ook

[Brickzone]

I find logical categories are the great way to sort lego.

That's what I was trying to describe. You point out the advantages very well though.

One thing though, I am sorting a lot of sets for the first time, and I keep having to rejig the groups to keep them small enough (but not too subdivided either).

[rogue27]

I have a drawer/bin cabinet for 45 slopes. Another one for 33 slopes. Another one for small plates, and one for small bricks.

Large bricks and plates are kept in ziplock bags and stored inside those double-wide 1000 piece buckets. Same with burps and pre-molded castle wall sections. Parts I don't like are all tossed into another bucket and forgotten or put into my bricklink store.

[ook22]

I find logical categories are the great way to sort lego.

That's what I was trying to describe. You point out the advantages very well though.

One thing though, I am sorting a lot of sets for the first time, and I keep having to rejig the groups to keep them small enough (but not too subdivided either).

There's not much you can do to reduce the discovery time initially if your collection got fairly big before starting to sort. (as mine did) My solution was to first do a fairly coarse sort by color while at the same time pulling anything out minifig or castle related to help me understand roughly what was in my collection. From there is was almost entirely by category.

Good luck!

- ook

[Lord Felix]

Mine is by color... Well, kind of. I have three large drawers and a sheet covered in unsorted lego bricks. I don't really sort... I build. I find it disappointing when I'm sorting and I want to build something BUT I NEED TO SORT. So there. Ha.

Although it gets tough to find exact pieces, especially when I want a large amount of them... Really a lot when they are tiny pieces.

[Brickzone]

I've now sorted far more of my Lego (gave up washing ebay purchases except for obviously dirty sets; some look to have been washed already or near mint). I have already got serious imbalances, I've had to move some items from bins to tubs, e.g. tan building elements (that's Harry Potter) and black flats (turns out I have a crazy amount of these - the plates nearly fill a tub now). I also have a lot of grey and black bricks - great for castle building! I was surprised how much grey even Harry Potter sets have. Having deconstructed Western sets, I now have more old brown log panels than fit in my standard tubs, and a tub nearly full of old brown log bricks too! I already have tubs of new brown log bricks/panels from Vikings.

I have about 8 one litre tubs left (out of 40!) - I may have to get some more storage! My bins are all occupied now, but some contents will be migrating to tubs, and others still have plenty of room for more bricks.

Started building more on my castle. I'll have to go deconstruct more sets though, as I've nearly run out of dark grey and dark bley (cliffs using a lot, even with burps) - even with the latter being from the entire Viking line deconstructed! Annoyingly some of my remaining constructed sets will have to be washed. If I can get my castle finished by the 31st it might be suitable for the fortification CCC entry - it has a natural fortified situation that can be separately "enhanced" by extra walls/towers/battlements.