to return
How It All Began
Walk-in closet for LEGO. Through 2015, my video discs were displayed in the large shelf unit in the Study as backups for all my content that was stored on my media server (also in the Study). And in 2015, as my LEGO collection built up, I kept all my LEGO displayed in the Guest Bedroom walk-in closet with cubicles and shelves. I also temporarily stored my few robots and drones there. Finally, I stored my rideables in the garage.
Study shelves for robots. In 2016, as my Robot collection built up, I moved all my video discs to the Master Bedroom walk-in closet, and I moved all my robots and drones onto the large shelf unit in the Study for display.
Expanding Into a Whole Room
The need for more space. In 2018, my wife needed more space in the Master Bedroom closet -and- the robots had far outgrown the large shelf unit in the Study, so we agreed to turn our Guest Bedroom into a Hobby Room for the robots and drones -and- to move back the video discs into the large shelf unit in the Study (thus, freeing back up space in the Master Bedroom Closet). In addition, the Guest Bedroom had to still house our large Nordic Track treadmill.
The first stage of the Robot Room. So, I ordered 5 industrial shelf units to house the robots and drones, and divide them from the treadmill on the other side of the room. All along, the LEGO remained in the closet for this same Guest Bedroom.
Expanding into a Hobby Room. In 2019, the LEGO collection had grown so much that I wanted to take it out the closet and display it in the room. So, we gifted the treadmill to my sister-in-law, and expanded the robot/drone shelf units to go up fully against two of the walls, leaving a big space in the middle of the room to enjoy the robots, and providing space for the LEGO cubicles and shelves to go against one of the walls.
A dance floor? And when I realized that the walking robots did not do well on the berber carpet, I researched different solutions to put a harder floor in the middle of the room. After hitting brick walls
with solutions like home gym tiles that would not work for me, I had an epiphany that someone must sell portable dance floor tiles - and sure enough they did! So, I installed a dance floor in the middle of the room and the walking robots were thrilled!
The Grand LEGO Train Track Feature
The LEGO train idea. In late 2019, I became enamored with the recently released LEGO Disney Train. At the same time, I just got the Disney+ streaming service, and saw its entry screen with all the cool brands they had / had acquired (i.e., Classic Disney, Modern Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, and Fox). I thought it would be cool to create a train scene focused on the Disney Train with custom cars for each of Disney’s sub-brands.
Tracks along all the walls. And I thought it would be even cooler if it could traverse the walls of my oddly-shaped room (because the walk-in closet has one angled wall and is carved out of the square 12x12 room). I had not seen anybody on YouTube really do it this way. I found a vendor on Etsy that had 3D-printed brackets designed to mount LEGO train tracks, and I ordered them.
A tricky installation. In early 2020, my adult nephew and I spent days installing them due to difficulties with lining them up. We made it around most of the room until we got stumped at the angled corner of the walk-in closet - and then COVID came! So, I thought I was on my own until my awesome wife came to the rescue and helped me figure out how to finish this key fixture of the Hobby Room (a.k.a., Robot Room and LEGO Room)!