Does anyone know how many different types and colors of LEGO pieces exist out there?
I have no idea, but there are a lot and when you have bags of unsorted pieces, they become kind of useless if you can’t find the pieces you need to build what you want. Especially when you have a bunch of plastic bags full of random parts like me.
Let me back up a minute. I move a lot if you don’t follow my blog. A few years back, I had a decent space where I had some trays and my parts stash was separated by… um… random categories that I made up limited by the number of tray spaces I had. The space I have now still has the same trays and drawers, but not as much space to get to them. I just assumed I would not do much free building until I move to a better bricking space (some day). Then I got some of the train kits from Brick Model Railroader. The kits come with a few unique parts and instructions, but you have to provide the pieces.
So there is my dilemma… I want to build from some instructions, I don’t want to go out and buy all brand new pieces (especially if I already have them), and I don’t have my parts separated so I can actually figure out what I have.
Time to do some research..
Okay, first off, this is a definite no. 159 bins and 189 drawers. Really? How practical is this? I’d need a map of the room just to figure out where everything is and would spend most of my time searching for what I needed. Sure it “looks” great for TV, but come on!
Former LEGO designer and now YouTuber Tiago Catarino has a good video on sorting. I agree with him that sorting by color will only get you so far. I also agree with his point that having a lot of tiny drawers with each part will take you a long time to find what you need. I don’t have an Ikea nearby anymore, but the big drawers he has with all of the compartments look awesome and seem to be really useful when you build.
AFOL Tom Alphin from Brick Architect has some good points on sorting as well. In particular he offers a file you can print to help label drawers. The article where he links to his labels is here. He has a section on sorting your bricks as well. His guide breaks it down by the size of your collection which is useful, but he still recommends some of the smaller drawers versus the larger ones Tiago Catarino recommends. Back to the labeling, I could see that as very useful and have even seen people attach one of the parts on the outside of the drawer to show what is inside.
Those are just a few examples and thoughts. Do you have any suggestions or other resources I should check out when I go to sort out my bags-o-bricks? Put them in the comments or shoot me an email. I’m always curious to learn how I can better set up my parts for future building. Thanks!
Happy building!