[WIP-MOC] My apartment II

[antp]

Hi,

Some of you may remember the thread I made a few years ago when building a replica of my apartment. Four months ago I moved to a new one, so a few updates to that MOC were required

 

One of the rooms of the new apartment is a dedicated Lego-room, where I'm making a city layout with a train track. As the main parts of that layout were done, I had time to start to work on the replica of the new apartment.

One of the challenges is that I want to put it in the same coffee table as the previous one. Knowing that the new apartment is a duplex, bigger than the old one, it is not simple; but by putting the two storeys side by side it should work (unfortunately, not both in the same direction).

So I started by estimating the needed size:

For reference, the blueprint:

At that step I started dismantling the old MOC; keeping all the furniture for integrating that in the new one, and sorting the materials for recycling (Lego is environment-friendly ).

A new base with the same technique as before, two layers of 4x6 & 2x6 plates:

(sorry, rotated at 180° compared to the blueprint, and we see here that I forgot a cutout corner)

Using most of the parts of the old one (normal, it is about the same surface), I had to make a Bricklink order for the upper storey.

Starting the construction:

(here again rotated at 180° - can be clicked for larger version)

For the floor it will be mostly dark tan, also from a Bricklink order, as in the previous one it was mostly white tiles. Most of the furniture can be re-used, same for the large window of the living room (same model).

This week I worked on the kitchen:

The real one:

As one can guess, red doors will be replaced by white ones later, I didn't had that in my inventory

The dishwasher door was funny to make:

(here in blue because originally with a "left" door like the fridge, but I replaced it by a "right" door so I can order one of each)

I also made the balcony:

Which looks like this:

And now that my Bricklink order with parts needed for the wooden floors arrived, I can continue with the living room.

To be followed...

Edited November 25, 2017 by antp

[antp]

Next step, the living room

(I'll do better photos once all is finished)

in reality :

[Man with a hat]

Nice. It is progressing well. And that dedicated LEGO room looks great! 

What scale are you using? I do have a feeling as if it is really big compared to the minifigs.

[antp]

Thanks :)

As scale I use 1 stud = 20 cm

It more or less matches the door size and gives enough details for most of the furniture without needing too much parts for the walls. In my previous apartment the kitchen cabinets were 60cm wide, so that was good for the 3-stud-wide Lego cupboard, but here they all have different sizes anyway.

As minifigs have weird proportions, it is good compared to the width of the fig, Also, normal Lego houses are very small, so in this case it looks indeed big for a minifig :)

As the walls in reality are not 40cm thick (2 studs here, to have different colors on both sides) I had to cheat a little at some places, but in overall the proportions seem right.

Edited December 5, 2017 by antp

[antp]

The bathroom:

(not easy to take pictures of small rooms)

The mirror is an existing Lego part: https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=2494pb13#T=C&C=12

the real one:

And the stairs (+WC):

Here however the mirror of the WC is the only non-Lego part: aluminium foil put behind a 1x2x2 window.

in reality:

Edited December 9, 2017 by antp

[Littleworlds]

Looks very good! And spot on, as far I can tell. Where is the picture of your minifig building his own version of his apartment? I would probably have left the doors without doorhandles. They look a bit big. Maybe grey round plates instead? Superb job so far. And I really like the detailing in the bathroom. 

[antp]

Thanks :)

Indeed for the door handles I was hesitating, due to their big size. Thanks for the input, I'll test with simple round tiles (or round plates ?), that may look better - for the next photos I make I'll try to think to change that, to compare.

I finished the office room (I'll try to make photos tomorrow), and the next thing to do is the Lego-room, where I could indeed put me as minifig building that MOC, good idea :)  Though that for the "final" version of the MOC, that would be changed: the MOC would then be in the living room coffee table (symbolized by two 1x2 decorated tiles, that may look a little "random" but I didn't had a better idea).

[antp]

Plates/tiles as door handles do not work very well actually: they can be attached only one one side of the door when it is closed :/

Anyway, as announced, here is the office room:

(missing 2x4 tan tiles on the tall cabinet, these will come in a future Bricklink or B&P order)

The real one:

Edited December 13, 2017 by antp

[antp]

Lower floor finished, ending with the Lego room:

and the real one, maybe already seen on my other thread, here are newer photos:

[Jvvv]

Nice work! Especially I like the latest part, your Lego room.

 

Your project shows that it really isn't easy to replicate apartments same time trying to fit everything in compact space. But - you've managed! 

[antp]

Thanks. Indeed, it is not easy, and choice have to be made on what to include or not, as well as compromise when scaling down objects :)

About compact space, when dropping parts accidentally it is not always easy to get them back... and while making the Lego room I dropped the drawer of blue tiles while picking three 1x1 in it:

Not all were in there, also many on the floor (and I was still finding some in the next days)

[antp]

For the end of the year, a few photos of the progress (building this MOC is spanned on a much shorter period of time than the previous one - reusing some of the furniture helps also)

Next step was making the upper floor:

Which comes at the top of the previous part (but for display they'll be put side-by-side of course):

Building the hallway and bedroom:

In the end, it looks like this:

Matching this:

As a bonus, building the closet of the bedroom:

(recycling old parts for the non-visible side)

Earlier in the week I bought a carpet for the office room...

(I hadn't yet replaced the cat tree, the car was already testing the carpet)

So I had to adapt the MOC:

 

[G59]

No minifigure for the cat in your bathroom ? :)

Edited January 2, 2018 by G59

[antp]

It is in the living room, but indeed just for the photo I could have put it at the same place as on the photo of the real bathroom :)

[antp]

Shortly after the previous photos I continued with the next room, but I still hadn't made photos of it, so it is time for it. After that, the building paused; less free time, building the Downtown Diner set... and also in a way I don't want to reach the end of this MOC, as it is pleasant to do: once done, it is done

So here are the photos of the next room, a room used as attic/closet . I had an extra room, but on the other hand the office room and closed under the stairs are smaller than in my previous apartment, so there was some overflow that ended there... as well as some empty boxes that I should sort one day but that are kept "just in case". So, it is a room that I should empty rather than fill with stuff...

In reality:

The ironing board is depicted using a surf board :D I still have to find it in dark red instead of the white one (in that size it does not exist in magenta, unfortunately, and the bigger one is way too big)

Then I just have one room to do, the shower / laundry room.

And some details, replacing things with the next Bricklink orders.

I also plan to replace red roof slopes with dark orange, I think it will be better (to be tested, maybe also dark red). I hesitate building the whole width of the sloped roof rather than the cutaway area with slopes only along the wall, and then include Velux windows it it, but it would hide a little the inside then... I'll test that when I'll get more inverted 2x2 white slopes.

Edited January 14, 2018 by antp

[LegoModularFan]

It’s a very nice idea and I love the way you choose the bricks that one wouldn’t expect to make small and realistic details! I’m following this topic now, I really want to see how this is going to be in the end  I had the same idea some time ago much before seeing this topic but I thought it would be waste of time not to wait to move (in some months) so I decided to make a project like that later! 

[VBBN]

This is definitely a really cool and inspiring project. I like that you show picture of the actual versus the Lego version, really showcases all of the details that you are packing into here. 

I'm actually quite tempted now to take on a similar project!

[beverly888]

Very nicely done.  Sorry for the intrusive question, but your curved office desk looks familiar.  Is it from Ikea?

Cheers!

 Beverly

[antp]

Thanks for the comments :)

 

19 hours ago, beverly888 said:

 your curved office desk looks familiar.  Is it from Ikea?

Yes, it is from Ikea ; I got it from the previous owner of the apartment. I don't think they still have it in their collection, it is not so recent.

[beverly888]

35 minutes ago, antp said:

Thanks for the comments :)

 

Yes, it is from Ikea ; I got it from the previous owner of the apartment. I don't think they still have it in their collection, it is not so recent.

We have Ikea furniture from that era, too, the desk in particular.  The veneer is thicker and the pieces are sturdier.  Again, great build!

Cheers!

 Beverly

[antp]

Still busy with the last room, but here is already a photo of the boiler:

which looks like this:

[antp]

And here is the last big step, ending the upper floor, the shower & laundry room:

The real one:

I replaced red slopes by dark orange. I'm still hesitating for doing the slope on the whole width instead of having a cutout like here; I'll someday order parts for testing that.

Mirrors (above the sink and for the small cabinet laying on the ground in the back) are cut from the sticker sheet of https://brickset.com/sets/41004-1/Rehearsal-Stage - stickers for 2x2 and 2x4 tiles exist in other sets, but I didn't want to get these at any cost.

For the drying rack I have to find the "Bar Holder with Clip" in white instead of dark bluish gray, as well as a white bar-grille, that part was used in white only in one Mixel set whereas the older variant existed in two sets (one of which I have) but can't be used in this case :/ Or I'll have to find another way to represent that rack, as anyway I'm not really satisfied with it.

There are still a few other details in the other rooms to finish with the next Bricklink orders, and then updates when I do changes in the real apartment (for example when I'll paint the entrance door in the next weeks, or the WC in the next months... when I'll decide on a color)

[antp]

And here are the "final" pictures:

https://antp.be/lego/moc/apt2.php

Only a few changes were done since the photos posted previously here.

Of course this MOC will continue to evolve, there are some things to improve, and I'll have to continue to follow the changes made "in real life" in the apartment.

Edited September 4, 2020 by antp
replaced dead mocpage url

[beverly888]

Very well done, down to the detail  

Cheers!

 Beverly

[antp]

Some news, as the last update was long time ago : in August 2019 I updated the MOC but still had to publish the pictures. On weekends my girlfriend was with my in my apartment (and her son too half the time), so I had to add minifigs:

Before that, in June, we converted the unused extra room into a second bedroom:

I also created a page on my site to summary all pictures and descriptions, as MOCpages disappeared:
https://antp.be/lego/moc/apt2.php

This is the last update. Indeed, we bought a house, in which we live... that will be a good opportunity for a new MOC