Lego's, Lego's and more Lego's

About a year ago, I noticed that Peanutty's Lego collection was getting extensive.  When he'd get a new set, he would have a great time following the instructions to build it and then completely lose interest.  Once he'd build it, he was done.  We had all his Lego's in his room, mainly because Sweet Pickle was still in the "put EVERYTHING in her mouth" phase when he got into Lego's but to also keep them localized to one area.  Because let's face it, we've all stepped on a Lego and thought that you had died a thousand deaths from the pain.  Those suckers are vicious...yet sturdy.  We had placed an old coffee table in his room for him to tap into his creative side and build whatever his little mind came up with.  I also had a plastic Sterilite drawer unit that we had been shoving the Lego's into (literally shoving).  But, here's what I ended up seeing:

 

Yikes, right?  No wonder the poor kid didn't want to play with his Lego's.  It was an absolute mess in there!!!  Absolutely zero organization to the Lego's not to mention just looking at this makes me over stimulated and I can't focus on ANYTHING (much like how I feel when I go to Michael's, Hobby Lobby or TJ Max - EEK!).  So, I set to work on organizing the Lego's within the drawer unit:

Much better right!?!?!  I used old shoe boxes of Sweet Pickles (they were small enough for the drawer unit and perfect size to fit multiple categories of Lego's in), I used some Gladware that already had individual compartments (perfect for smaller Lego's), some gray dollar bin plastic containers and I also used a box from a printer and I made different compartments with some painters tape and cut out cardboard.  I organized most of the Lego's by size/shape.  I thought this would be easier for Peanutty to find what he was looking for.  The Lego's that were already built, just stayed on the table or were placed in the second drawer.  I didn't see a reason to pull those apart.  Now, the Lego's that were half built, I tore those apart and put them away.  This all worked for a while, up until Peanutty wanted us to re-build something from an instruction manual.  It was pretty close to impossible to find what we needed...in a reasonable amount of time.  Sure, if we wanted to spend about 6 hours trying to build the fuel truck he wanted, no prob.  But it was becoming apparent that this wasn't working anymore.  So...it was time to do something new.  With the help of IKEA (and my two wonderful Aunts, thanks again AJ and AT - we don't have an IKEA close to my home so they kindly picked up a few items from my "wish list") and some time, here's what the final product came out to be:

Introducing the Pinterest-lifted Lego table!!!  I did NOT come up with this idea, I just executed it.  Man, how awesome would it have been to come up with this idea!?!?!  I purchased a Lack table from IKEA (http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/40198396/#/00198402) for $29.99 (and put it together myself...thank you), I had purchased the handled containers from The Container Store (http://www.containerstore.com/shop?productId=10022155&N=&Ntt=baskets+with+handles) online for $4.99 each, and then I purchased 8 Sterilite containers with lids for $2.99 each at Walmart. 

It took me 2 hours total to complete this project.  I separated the Lego's by color rather than size/shape, put the instruction manuals in a container, and an entire container is dedicated to Lego people and their many outfits and accessories.  The baskets with handles home the Lego sets that are already built, just not being played with at the moment.  The top of the table has his police station (took Santa 3 hours to build that sucker...at least that's what he told me) and a large base for his imagination to go nuts. I did use some ticky-tack, tacky-tape, sticky-tack (no idea what you call it, but I'm sure you know what I'm talking about) under both the bases on the top to keep them from sliding all over the place.

Peanutty now spends a lot more time in his room building away.  We have also found it much easier to find pieces when rebuilding a set by the instruction manual.  All around, this was a great investment.  I wanted something a little smaller (Peanutty's room isn't huge) and to serve a dual purpose.  The table is square and smaller than the coffee table we were previously using, and the containers fit perfectly under it so it's nice and contained in a smaller area.  I also like that he has freedom to move all around the table since it's in the middle of his room.

Random Things:

• Hy-Vee and Fareway have boneless-skinless chicken breast on sale for $1.88/lb. this week...so you bet your sweet booty I'll be "that" woman with a cart full of chicken tomorrow.
• Remember my freezer basket full of cheese?  Well, this week at Hy-Vee they have it on sale 2 for $5.  I purchased ours for $1/bag.  That's a whole $1.50/bag of savings.  Keep your eyes peeled people, those ads will save you money!!!
• As a Valentine's Day gift, hubby and the littles bought me Washi tape, including yellow!  I had to upgrade to a larger container...which looks half empty...which means, I'll be hitting up www.cutetape.com.  Yikes!  I may need to get a second job for this addiction.
• I just realized that I didn't label the Lego instruction manual container OR the Lego people container...I will be fixing that right after I publish this!