The Lego Zone- Playroom Week 4: One Room Challenge Fall 2019

Hey guys!

I’m really excited for today’s post!  Do your kids love Lego?  If they are anything like mine, they love collecting, building, sorting, and using their imagination to create new Lego Masterpieces.  

That is EXACTLY why we need a Lego Zone in our Playroom!

If you haven’t been following, let me re-cap what I’m talking about!

I’ve entered the One Room Challenge for the second time and decided to renovate our kids playroom in our basement.

Here are some previous posts that you can read to get to up to speed on what’s been happening in our kids playroom thus far.

Related:

• Big News! I’ve entered the One Room Challenge Fall 2019!
• Kid Playroom Zone Inspiration Board- Week 1: One Room Challenge Fall 2019
• Kid Playroom Zones- Week 2: One Room Challenge Fall 2019
• The Pretend Zone- Playroom Week 3- One Room Challenge Fall 2019

Let’s begin from the top shall we!

The Inspiration for the Lego Zone!

When we were putting together our ideas for this playroom, we were assessing the needs and wants of our 3 kiddos.  We ended up with 3 different zones of play in our space.

Our kids have always loved building with toys.  It all started when they were toddlers and introduced them to Mega Blocks.  That evolved to Lego Duplo…and now we are full fledged Lego Fans & avid users!

In fact, we have been collecting so many Lego’s lately, that it was lacking in organization & storage! 

If you are wowed to the amount of Lego we have…don’t stress…most of it has come either as a gift to the kids at their birthday or Christmas…or purchased from an online buy/sell ad.  It’s amazing how much you save purchasing Lego used– all you have to do is clean the pieces & sanitize them prior to use.  My husband has found some amazing deals!

Anyhow, here was our inspiration picture for the new Lego Zone–

The Before of the Lego Zone:

When we first moved into this home, the Lego pieces were stored in large tubs and they would get dumped EVERYWHERE in the playroom.

Last Christmas, we decided to purchase the cubbies and plastic drawer systems pictured below in hopes that the kids would be able to display some of their sets and keep the pieces off the ground.  

What a mess, right!  The idea was good at the time, but the Lego’s just look sloppy and the kids end up building on the floor anyhow…which in turn means Lego pieces everywhere on the carpet…AGAIN!

Not good!

The Process of building the Lego Zone Wall:

1. Clean out all the Lego’s. 

• We moved all the Lego pieces into our current roughed-in basement bathroom.  Not ideal for playing…that’s for sure. 
• The kids really missed their Lego’s during this time.

2. Prime and paint the walls.

• This was the part that took the longest because we had to sand down the stripes on the wall first, then apply 2 coats of primer and then another 2 coats of paint. 
• We love the Beautitone Designer Series Paint from Home Hardware.  Our color is Milk Moustache!

3. Plan & Order the necessary cabinets. 

• We flip flopped from different ideas from IKEA.
• In the end, decided on 2 Billy Bookcases and 4 Trofast Toy Storage Cabinets to provide the much needed Lego Storage.

4. Next up- Putting together the IKEA products. 

Here are our tips:

• Pour yourselves a glass of wine and put on some music 🙂
• Follow the instructions
• Add Carpenter’s glue on all edges- to give some added strength!

Trust me…it really wasn’t that bad–for 2 Billy Bookcases and 4 Trofast Storage Cabinets– it took just over 2 hours to build. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5. Customizing the Billy Bookcases:  

• We wanted to add some visual interest to the backs of the Billy Bookcases, as a result, we decided to paint them with our grey accent color that we already used on the Playhouse. 

6. Creating a Custom IKEA Built-in Lego Display Unit.  

• Time to put all the pieces together to create the custom Lego Zone Built-in!  

7. Bring back the Lego in an “organized” fashion! 

• Yet to be “mom-ganized”…  I gave control to my kids to start dumping all their Lego pieces and transferring everything back into the playroom. 

 

Snags Along the Way:

We ran into a few adjustments during the process of putting the Lego Display Unit together.

1. Planning- in the beginning, we wanted to try to re-use our existing cubbies instead of purchasing new cabinets.  Unfortunately, despite the cost savings, it just wasn’t going to give us the “look” that we were trying to achieve.
2. Lego Table- our original idea was to have a floating table connected to the built-in in a T-shaped desk.  However, when we set it all up, we realized that the floating table was going to be too high for our kids when sitting on bar stools.  So, we had to adapt and alter our plan by using a table & chairs instead.  In the end, I think I’m going to like the final look better.

Next Steps in the Lego Zone:

This is where we currently are, however there is still a bit to be done prior to the final reveal.

The Lego Zone still needs a few details before the final reveal!  They include:

• Paint Lego Table & Chairs to go in-front of the unit and provide space to build
• Add Lego Mini-figure Display shelves
• Adjust Billy Bookcase shelves and “stage” the Lego Sets
• Add some labels onto Lego Storage bins

There are still 2 weeks left in the One Room Challenge.  Next week, you will see all about our Adventure Zone- the before, the process, and the current.

So stay tuned…or better yet subscribe!

Also, don’t forget to check out what the other featured designers and guest participants are up to in their One Room Challenges too!

Related Posts:

• 20 Activities to do with your Kids this Holiday Season!
• DIY Shiplap Fireplace
• One Room Challenge Spring 2019- Week 6: Modern Farmhouse Kitchen Final Reveal!
• Add Farmhouse Decor Signs to Create Style!

So…inspired to watch the transformation of our Kids Playroom?  Leave your thoughts in the comments below.