Primary Colours: Let Lego Help You Find Your Inner Child
Are you enough of a big kid to love the idea of Legoland at home? Or are you more grown up than that? Read on to find out!
If you were a child any time after 1958, when the Lego brick was standardised, then you have probably owned and/or stood on one of the billions of Lego pieces produced since then (much repeated fact: there are 86 Lego bricks for every person on the planet).
In the world today, there are grown-ups who are master Lego makers, and there are artists who specialise in the medium, building towers and miniature towns (and one actual house, built in 2009 by Britain’s James May in his Toy Stories television show).
There are also ordinary, everyday people who incorporate Lego into their homes for sheer love of the product and a strong sense of fun. So which camp do you fall into? Are you still, proudly, a little kid at heart, or would you prefer to eat at the grown-ups table now? Take our test and find out for yourself.
In the world today, there are grown-ups who are master Lego makers, and there are artists who specialise in the medium, building towers and miniature towns (and one actual house, built in 2009 by Britain’s James May in his Toy Stories television show).
There are also ordinary, everyday people who incorporate Lego into their homes for sheer love of the product and a strong sense of fun. So which camp do you fall into? Are you still, proudly, a little kid at heart, or would you prefer to eat at the grown-ups table now? Take our test and find out for yourself.
Grown-up
Equally beautifully crafted, albeit in a subdued palette of timber and steel, these Christchurch townhouses by Young Architects have the same archetypal ‘house’ appeal of a pitched roof over a simple cube. Building 101.
Equally beautifully crafted, albeit in a subdued palette of timber and steel, these Christchurch townhouses by Young Architects have the same archetypal ‘house’ appeal of a pitched roof over a simple cube. Building 101.
Staircase: Big kid
A self-confessed child at heart would just want to play all day on this staircase designed by I-Beam Design, located in a New York apartment. While the rest of the pad is sophisticated white with a jolt of colour, the staircase is a brick-nerd’s dream. Imagine moving the minifigures around those cubbies: endless hours of fun at a party.
Memories and lollies inspire a fun-filled apartment
A self-confessed child at heart would just want to play all day on this staircase designed by I-Beam Design, located in a New York apartment. While the rest of the pad is sophisticated white with a jolt of colour, the staircase is a brick-nerd’s dream. Imagine moving the minifigures around those cubbies: endless hours of fun at a party.
Memories and lollies inspire a fun-filled apartment
Grown-up
Sinuous, sensible, refined. This staircase is a piece of art, but nobody’s going to stop and play a while on it.
Sinuous, sensible, refined. This staircase is a piece of art, but nobody’s going to stop and play a while on it.
Statement dining table: Big kid
The Irish architects abgc designed and built this dining table for Dublin advertising startup Boys and Girls. Check out the stop-motion video of the guys assembling the 1.2 x 2.7 metre table from 22,742 Lego pieces (a central grommet and stainless steel structure holds it together, with 10 millimetre toughened glass on top).
The Irish architects abgc designed and built this dining table for Dublin advertising startup Boys and Girls. Check out the stop-motion video of the guys assembling the 1.2 x 2.7 metre table from 22,742 Lego pieces (a central grommet and stainless steel structure holds it together, with 10 millimetre toughened glass on top).
Grown-up
It’s a statement, it’s organic and handcrafted. Is it you?
It’s a statement, it’s organic and handcrafted. Is it you?
Collector: Big kid
This would be the sort of flat you’d stay in until you retire. A pair of flatmates converted most of the basement of their rental in Seattle, Washington into a Lego room. As you do.
See more fun and fabulous toy collections
This would be the sort of flat you’d stay in until you retire. A pair of flatmates converted most of the basement of their rental in Seattle, Washington into a Lego room. As you do.
See more fun and fabulous toy collections
Since they were created in 1978, some 5 billion Lego minifigures have populated the world (making them the world’s largest community. No wait, they’re not actually people, so that doesn’t really count. Right?). You may not know, but we suspect these owners did, that a minifigure is exactly four bricks high without a hat. And their heads are hollow to lessen the choking risk for small children.
Grown-up
And then there’s the tasteful version of safety in numbers: same careful collecting process, same clean framing by shelves to make it all hang together. Same sense of excitement that stops visitors in their tracks? Maybe not.
And then there’s the tasteful version of safety in numbers: same careful collecting process, same clean framing by shelves to make it all hang together. Same sense of excitement that stops visitors in their tracks? Maybe not.
Bulletin board: Big kid
A Lego board that winds its way around the whole room – what could be better to save those agonising bricks-in-feet stumbles? By the way, you will break sooner than a Lego brick will: scientists have proven that a brick could withstand over 37,000 snaps and can take up to 430 kilograms of force without breaking.
A Lego board that winds its way around the whole room – what could be better to save those agonising bricks-in-feet stumbles? By the way, you will break sooner than a Lego brick will: scientists have proven that a brick could withstand over 37,000 snaps and can take up to 430 kilograms of force without breaking.
If your day feels like a treadmill, and you’re just not making any headway, turn to this Lego staircase and take comfort that at least your minifigures are making progress.
Grown-up
Yip, you won’t forget anything, your life is in order. But still it’s lacking something…
Yip, you won’t forget anything, your life is in order. But still it’s lacking something…
Bunk beds: Big kid
Turkish designer Neslihan Pekcan of Pebbledesign has created an entire bedroom – wait, make that several bedrooms – for kids who are ecstatic about Lego.
Turkish designer Neslihan Pekcan of Pebbledesign has created an entire bedroom – wait, make that several bedrooms – for kids who are ecstatic about Lego.
Grown-up
At the other end of the scale, a bunkroom of soothing white, a soft blue, vintage-style cabinets. A better night’s sleep for the big people, to be sure.
At the other end of the scale, a bunkroom of soothing white, a soft blue, vintage-style cabinets. A better night’s sleep for the big people, to be sure.
Homework station: Big kid
Lashings of white calm the scheme down, but the vibe is unmistakably playtime Lego (complete with a big brick light fixture, seen top right).
Lashings of white calm the scheme down, but the vibe is unmistakably playtime Lego (complete with a big brick light fixture, seen top right).
And older kids can gather their more sophisticated structures and pick up the mid-century colour scheme that makes their toys look more like smart sculptures.
Grown-up
The adults might prefer the calm uncluttered look: discreet botanical prints, a soothing icy blue wall, boxes to hide the clutter. And nothing to distract you from your studies. Sigh.
The adults might prefer the calm uncluttered look: discreet botanical prints, a soothing icy blue wall, boxes to hide the clutter. And nothing to distract you from your studies. Sigh.
Coffee table: Big kid
Bouncy Lego coffee tables/ottomans liven up this apartment. They’re even storage boxes that tuck under the daybed, terrific when space is at a premium.
How to use toys to your advantage
Bouncy Lego coffee tables/ottomans liven up this apartment. They’re even storage boxes that tuck under the daybed, terrific when space is at a premium.
How to use toys to your advantage
Grown-up
Same colour scheme, different vibe. Here you see a sophisticated coffee-table arrangement, with collections placed artfully on the shelves. Playfulness is found in a cool faux-zebra rug. Which one are you game for?
Same colour scheme, different vibe. Here you see a sophisticated coffee-table arrangement, with collections placed artfully on the shelves. Playfulness is found in a cool faux-zebra rug. Which one are you game for?
It’s the little things that count
Kitchen fun with a Lego utensil jar (it may need rebuilding every time you wash it though, and be careful not to place it near the oven or any other source of heat!).
Kitchen fun with a Lego utensil jar (it may need rebuilding every time you wash it though, and be careful not to place it near the oven or any other source of heat!).
Or is this sensible, down to earth and grown up option much more you?
TELL US
Are you a Lego kid at heart, or an avowed adult in your style? Share your results in the Comments below.
MORE
Browse more fun and beautiful playrooms
TELL US
Are you a Lego kid at heart, or an avowed adult in your style? Share your results in the Comments below.
MORE
Browse more fun and beautiful playrooms
Town house: Big kid
It’s not strictly Lego, but delightfully Lego-like in its cluster of village houses (each one is a private bedroom) around courtyards and plazas. This rooftop extension of a family house in Rotterdam, Netherlands, designed by MVRDV creates a toy-land wonder for the lucky family that lives within.