My New Studio - Completed

[Andy D]

It looks like my completed studio thread got merged with this thread. Look for new content around post number 12.

Or to get there right away, select the link below.

http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=80916entry1586201

This first post discusses the initial design and design criteria.

As many of you are aware I am in the process of refurbishing my Studio (LEGO room).

First I want to thank all of you who have been helping me with dimensions and sizes of competed sets and boxes. I am starting to get excited as the design is almost done, just a few dimensions to review and make certain about color choices for cabinets, work surfaces and display surfaces.

As you know, this year is my year to "Get organized and build more". The refurb of my Studio is a big part of the get organized, the other part of the get organized is to sort, sort and when I think I am done, sort more until I have a good system for my parts inventory.

I believe my new Studio will be complete by the end of April 2013, but as I mentioned, I am getting excited so I decided to post the as-is pictures (for the before) and the 3D renderings of the design so far (for the after).

Here is my current space... The North and East walls

http://www.flickr.co...8596313416/]Old Studio - North and East walls[/url] by http://www.flickr.co...MyPlasticBricks[/url], on Flickr

And the South and East walls

http://www.flickr.co...05/8596313554/]Studio - South and East wall[/url] by http://www.flickr.co...MyPlasticBricks[/url], on Flickr

Kind of a hodgepodge of mixed up furniture and stuff.

I wanted more space not on table tops (shelves for example) to display more of these...

http://www.flickr.co...596355874/]Some modular buildings[/url] by http://www.flickr.co...MyPlasticBricks[/url], on Flickr

To have a place to put a couple of these drawer systems in easy reach during building time. I've thought about it and I decided to use 2 of them. One for common parts that I will use all the time, and one for parts just for the current project. In theory is if I prepare more, it should help me to build more and not have to hunt parts so frequently. I am sure this will be an evolving system.

http://www.flickr.co...213251/]Storage drawer system[/url] by http://www.flickr.co...MyPlasticBricks[/url], on Flickr

I use these for storage, so I wanted to be able to store a bunch of them.

http://www.flickr.co...314002/]Plastic storage bin[/url] by http://www.flickr.co...MyPlasticBricks[/url], on Flickr

I also wanted to be able to store a bunch of these waiting to be built or parted out.

http://www.flickr.co...213399/]Example modular building box[/url] by http://www.flickr.co...MyPlasticBricks[/url], on Flickr

The new design of my Studio allows for additional storage of 16 of the plastic bins, and additional storage of 10 large sets. Overflow storage will still be in the existing closet in the room on the West wall.

Last, but not least the design should allow for my Christmas Tree to fit in the North-East corner of the room where the credenza and desk meet.

Here is a 3D rendering of the North wall storage, shelves for display space and the desk area on the East wall.

http://www.flickr.co...05/8595213803/]Studio - North Walls[/url] by http://www.flickr.co...MyPlasticBricks[/url], on Flickr

Here is a 3D rendering of the South wall storage, shelves for display space, place for my TV. You can also see the relationship between the desk area (on the East wall) and the South wall storage and shelves.

http://www.flickr.co...05/8596314442/]Studio - South East walls[/url] by http://www.flickr.co...MyPlasticBricks[/url], on Flickr

I think you can see why I am so excited about this project.

The cabinet manufacture/builder/installers is Norm Tessier Cabinets Inc. at: http://www.normtessiercabinets.com/

I have seen their manufacturing facility (which is very modern, CNC and such) and they use the finest quality materials and construction techniques.

The designer is Jennifer Beavers, she is a terrific designer and very patient with all my changes. But she says that now is the time for changes and to try to get as close to my exact needs as is possible to forecast.

I also want to give a big thank you to Jennifer for all her hard work, the great design and helping me with my budget and putting up with me (no easy task by itself).

I know this is early, but I was just bursting to share this with someone. I will post photos of the finished project when it it is done.

Thanks for reading,

Andy D

Edited May 6, 2013 by Andy D

[tomdobs55]

You are living my dream my friend. I've already told my fiance that we're having a Lego room in our house when we buy hopefully next year. She was my girlfriend last week now shes my fiance, and still after requesting a Lego room. I'm doing something right. Anyway... I love your ideas for the shelving to keep sets off counter space, more room for MOCing. I can't wait to do the same in my eventual studio.

[Andy D]

You are living my dream my friend. I've already told my fiance that we're having a Lego room in our house when we buy hopefully next year. She was my girlfriend last week now shes my fiance, and still after requesting a Lego room. I'm doing something right. Anyway... I love your ideas for the shelving to keep sets off counter space, more room for MOCing. I can't wait to do the same in my eventual studio.

Congratulations on both... The new fiancé and her being understanding about the needs for a room dedicated to LEGO.

Thanks,

Andy D

Edited March 28, 2013 by Andy D

[Grimmbeard]

Wow that is nice! The ultimate Man-Cave

Props for your goals this year, can't wait to see the studio finished!

[Andy D]

Wow that is nice! The ultimate Man-Cave

Props for your goals this year, can't wait to see the studio finished!

Thanks, I hope it does make it easier to find things and be more inspired to build.

My last year's plan didn't work out as well as I had hoped (I still spent more, but didn't build more), but maybe the get orgnized is what I need to build more. No excuses this year! Hopefully I will even publish more (feedback helps to improve technique).

Thanks,

Andy D

[tomdobs55]

I think that's part of my problem when my son and I want to build I'm so deep in sorting that we both get a little frustrated because our organization is grossly in organized

[Vindicare]

Looking good! After moving to a new(smaller) house, I certainly envy your dedicated room. I'm now confined to my room, whereas I had sets littered in multiple rooms. I have a few shelves and have started organizing, but I didn't realize just how many big bins I have...Ugh. And about 2 dozen unopened sets, mainly medium and big sets too.

Edited March 28, 2013 by Legocrazy81

[Andy D]

I think that's part of my problem when my son and I want to build I'm so deep in sorting that we both get a little frustrated because our organization is grossly in organized

What I found is that I have to have sorting done just enough to build, maybe not as I want it when I am done, but enough to build. The problem with this is that I sometimes forget what I have and go to BL too soon and wind up with extras, not a bad thing, but waiting for parts to arrive when I didn't have to because they were in the closet.

Organization is a MOC'ers best and worst friend. All I can say is sort and build, put a little building fun in with the sorting.

Looking good! After moving to a new(smaller) house, I certainly envy your dedicated room. I'm now confined to my room, whereas I had sets littered in multiple rooms. I have a few shelves and have started organizing, but I didn't realize just how many big bins I have...Ugh. And about 2 dozen unopened sets, mainly medium and big sets too.

I am very lucky to have this space and lucky that my wonderful wife said "go for it" when I proposed the room modifications. She sees how much time I spend in there and wants it to look nicer when company passes by the open door. Yeah, I feel your pain with the unbuilt sets, right now I have a bunch of unbuilt mostly big sets (some medium) that I had no place to display. THe new room will allow me to display sets longer before I have to put them in the inventory system. Some things may never get to the inventory system (modulars) but other sets get there within a month of construction.

Just build and organize, that's all I can recommend (it's what I should do as well).

Andy D

[Andy D]

Wow! We just spent 6 hours finalizing the design of my new studio. Wife and I met with Jennifer about 10 AM PST and went over everything with a fine tooth comb. I enlarged one cabinet by a little, changed the number and size of drawers changed the size of the shelves and made them free-floating to hide the hardware, selected stain and surface material colors. I can't believe all the little details we had to go over, but in the end it will look great!

Jennifer even did a trial run of sending the design to he CNC, all's well. They are going to order material and actually send he design to their CNC and cut next Tuesday. I plan to go down and watch part of the process so I can see just how their CNC cuts the material for my cabinets, desk and shelves.

We also finalized the order for the new carpet. Looks like everything might actually be done by he end of April!

I guess you can't tell how excited I'm getting!

Andy D

Edited March 31, 2013 by Andy D

[CisFran]

Those shelves are too short. Much better to lengthen it to have more flexibility in displaying your Lego

[Andy D]

Those shelves are too short. Much better to lengthen it to have more flexibility in displaying your Lego

Yeah, they were 5 feet on the North wall and 3 feet on the South wall. During the review phase the shelves on the North wall have been changed to 5.5 feet, the shelves on the South remain at 3 feet. Thanks for noticing. Also, all the shelves have been changed to a floating design to get rid of he shelf brackets. The exact height of the shelves will be determined at installation time as there are some LEGO set height issues from the top of the credenzas and between the shelves for size of some of my modular buildings. This will give me a total of 20 linear feet of display space on shelves and 8 to 10 feet on the 2 credenzas, could be a total of 30 linear feet of display space, more would be better, I thought about it and decided that more would make my studio look like a room full of shelves and less like an inviting place to be creative. I don't plan to display many sets at one time, as for me it is more about the building and just temporary displaying.

This is exciting, the contributions and questions and discussion are wlome and appreciated, but the design has been approved, so any further changes will have to be minor.

Later this week I will be going to the "factory" to watch the actual command to he CNC and watch the CNC cut the pieces for my room.

Yesterday I went to the Apple Store and bought a 15 inch MacBook Pro to replace the aging iMac I was using in my Studio, I wanted something I could completely move from my build space when not necessary. My wife is so supportive of the whole process, this starting to remind me of a boat... You know what BOAT means don't you? "Bust Out Another Thousand". Well, almost done spending. I told my wife, "at least I am not on the LEGO Black Friday Event list". I am afraid that was not very comforting.

Andy D

Edited April 24, 2013 by Andy D

[Andy D]

Studio finally completed, new cabinets, desk and shelves installed and moved in!

In late March I discussed my new studio here, and showed some preliminary 3D renderings. I said that I hoped to have it completed by the end of April. Well it almost was! The cabinets, shelves and desk were installed on May 2, 2013. Not bad, only 2 days after my projected installation date.

Just for reference, here is what my studio looked like before we started work.

The North-East corner..

And, the South-East corner...

Below is the North-East corner, new carpet and ready for installation.

Below is the South-East corner, new carpet and ready for installation.

The North-East corner with the new cabinets, desk and shelves installed.

The South-East corner with the new cabinets, desk and shelves installed.

North-East Corner. All moved in.

South-East Corner. All moved in.

There are a few more photos on Flickr if you wish.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/74992335@N05/

I am moved in, but not settled in. I still have a few things to store, then start sorting my inventory (again) and get it stored in bins in my new cabinets.

I know it looks like my shelves are already full, but that is all the display I want. I plan to install some shelving in my closet to put models that I will rotate in and out of the display area in my studio. Of course, some models will not make it into the rotation, past the first assembly and display they will simply be displayed once, disassembled and put in to the inventory for future models.

I was so pleased with the design that during the last week before installation I met with Jennifer of Norm Tessier Cabinets at: http://www.normtessiercabinets.com/ to start design on my office. While working in my home office, and thinking about my studio I decided (with the blessing and input from my wife) to get my office done as well. I hope to have it done sometime in June.

Well, I am off to enjoy my new studio.

Andy D

Edited May 9, 2013 by Andy D

[DroppinSuga]

I'm green with envy!

I hope to one day have a room such as that for my hobby. At this point, I have to stick with one shelf for my display pieces and the rest stored away in boxes.

[tomdobs55]

Wow looks fantastic Andy wish I was able to do that but alas, no spare room

[Grimmbeard]

Looks great! . So clean, organized, and modern.

I'll admit I'm jealous

[TheLegoDr]

The room looks great. Nice, clean lines. Rich, dark woods. Very formal looking.

The shelves look to be the right size for what you are displaying.

I should figure out how I want to do my LEGO room, even though it will be years before we do anything about it. We have a lot of other rooms to renovate first.

Thanks for sharing.

[Paul B Technic]

You have a great setup, well done.

[Kristel]

This turned out great ... I'm very jealous. I love the shelves!

[Andy D]

Thanks for all the wonderful comments. I really like my new studio!

I have several challenges now...

1. Get my inventory sorted and stored so parts can be easily located.

2. Keep the space organized so I will be able to maintain building space.

3. Build storage space for models to be put away while not on display. I know one of my biggest challenges will be not having too many sets on display at one time as that could look very cluttered and then no set would look special.

Thanks again,

Andy D

Edited May 8, 2013 by Andy D

[Brickington]

You are living the dream, man! It is a functional space, yet with a modern design and clean look.