As anyone who collects toys knows, your collection will go through a lot of changes over the years. Maybe you change focus, maybe you decide to downsize, or maybe you have to pack it all up and move it.
I really liked my old setup in my old house. It was quiet, isolated, and had lots of shelving. I re-did that basement by hand, and it was full of love.
But when you have four kids like i do your small 3 bedroom house no longer can accommodate the rapidly growing family. A change of venue was in order, and in October we bought a new house. of course, while I was house hunting, one of my requirements was that the new house have a place for the office/collection.
We found a new place about 15 minutes from our old house. It didn't have an office, but it had a downstairs kitchen that would convert nicely
First we gutted the room - sold the appliances and re-did all the drywall.
Around Christmas time, drywall was done, walls were primed
Shelves were installed - all from Ikea
Finally, the first few toys were added
Now, a month later, things are starting to take shape.
The shelves above the desk are starting to fill in, but placement on things is not final. Half the collection is still packed up, so many more things are to be added.
I think I have my themes set out though:
Top shelf will be Voltron / Dairugger. Next shelf will be Abegas and Golion, and maybe others... depends on how much space Abegas and Golion take up.
Top shelf here will be all things Mazinger. May include Grendizer, not sure yet. Second shelf will be Getter Robo, and maybe Gaiking. I doubt Gaiking will fit though, I have a lot of that. Bottom shelf is Real Robots, specifically Patlabor and Dougram.
Both these shelves will be nothing but Raideen
The shelves on the right, from the top down will be various robots, Orguss/Votoms, Action Figures then Sofubi.
Festival masks over the door
The right column will have in order from the top down Macross/Mospeada, 80s robots, Transformers and Machine Robo, TBD, TBD
The bookcase houses a bunch of random mini figures as well as reference books and other crap.
Of course, toys aren't limited to my office. My large glass display case that will house most of the vintage stuff will be in the game room:
Godzilla Sofubi watch over the DVD's
The collection will even greet you when you come in the door.
So yeah, things are in a state of transition. I just thought it would be cool for you to see things as they are now, maybe to compare them when i finally have everything set up. Thats why most of these images are on Flickr - I don't want them to be part of the permanent record of my collection. Consider it a snapshot of a work in progress.
Thanks for indulging me!
~Josh
Comments
10 comments postedIt was great to get a glimpse of your collection on YouTube, but you must have a lot more by now. I'm psyched to see how the new space shapes up.
"Dinobots, destroy Devestator!"-Optimus Prime TFTM
I can't imagine the effort it would take to maintain a collection as a father of four, especially a collection as enviable as your own.
BTW, are those the SOC Tetsujin and Black OX on the top shelf of the tenth picture? If so, they are much bulkier than I imagined. I think I know what I might be getting next...
Those are Medicom Miracle Action figures - a bit bigger than the SOC's but all plastic.
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CollectionDX Admin
Reideen is my favourite robot, but you must have a lot of him then , to fill those 2 shelves !
Looking forward to seeing it all installed.
Nice collection Josh! The new toy shelves, as well as the new surroundings, are looking great! Looks like a nice place for CDX haven.
Those masks are dang cool too. :-D
Sweet collection. I kept thinking that "this guy should have a glass case to exhibit his stuff" and lo and behold there it was towards the end.
After seeing this, I decided to log in to your site. I have a 1 year old son, and anticipate giving him my collection when he is older. Do your kids play with your toys? Do they have collections? And what do their friends think of it? What does your wife think of it?
Nice set up!
Hmmm a lot of good questions there. My boys are 3 and 5 and yes, I let them play with CERTAIN toys - they can play with the star wars stuff, sofubi, kaiju, Power Rangers and Transformers. I keep the expensive/fragile/dangerous stuff up high. My girls are 12 and 10, and while they dont play with the toys, they think its fine. I'm sure their friends think I am a big weirdo.
My wife is pretty tolerant of it all. She's not into it at all, doesn't have a favorite robot or anything. But she understands my passion for it and respects it. She is a saint for putting up with me ;-)
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CollectionDX Admin
----My wife is pretty tolerant of it all. She's not into it at all, doesn't have a favorite robot or anything. But she understands my passion for it and respects it. She is a saint for putting up with me ;-)
You are very lucky with your wife josh..wish my wife is also the same..she always hits my collection if we are in a fight..so i have no choice but to put all my collection in a safe box...
You have a Very nice collection..
Woaaa, Great! Congrats for the new house... It's kind a reminds me when I'm moving to my new house after I got married. The difference is my house is smaller and I had to sold lot of my toys and figures.
Once again, great toys you had there!
Let me point out, and i think Josh mentioned them briefly; Ikea are the place to go to get cheap, affordable but excellent shelves and glass cabinets to show off your collections. Honestly, when i get my place sorted, it will look like Ikea heaven lol!