Tag Archives: Interior

A countryside cottage to call home

17th Century Europe was a period rife with change, from feudal powers to the birthing stages of parliament. It also brought with it a decline in houses constructed of wood, giving way to stone and brick-built abodes. Benjamin Calvetti has replicated this style with stunning class, and his English Cottage is jam-packed with lovely details. The continuity in stone work, from the bordering fence line to the walls of the cottage, speak more of the local quarry than they do of a random handful of LEGO bricks.

English Cottage (main)

See more pictures of this quaint cottage, including a fully furnished interior!

Holy ballerina music box, Batman!

Builder Kale Frost provides Fairy Batman with the perfect habitat in this clever music box model. The release of the first wave of LEGO Batman Movie Collectible Minifigures brought us an astounding variety of Batmen: Mermaid Batman, Glam Metal Batman and even Catman, just to name a few. My personal favorite of the lot was Fairy Batman with his pink leotard, tutu and requisite magic wand. But, how to display such a character? Thanks to Frost, we finally have the answer!

Bat Music Box

This little wonder is a fully functional music box with opening lid, spinning Fairy Batman and yes, it plays music when the crank is turned! The exterior is beautifully rendered in brown and gold with Batarang accents. The larger bat on the front is particularly well done utilizing, teeth, bat wings and an ice cream cone. The box itself is gorgeous, but it’s the inside that really puts this model over the top.

See the interior of this working music box

This magical workshop holds a secret

Builder Brick Ninja brings us a terrific homage to the classic LEGO Castle set Majisto’s Magical Workshop. In this updated version, a lone wizard protects his cottage from a group of ghostly ninjas. Bright orange fire shoots from his hands, creating a formidable opponent against the glowing katanas.

Majisto's Magical Workshop

The workshop seems to emerge from the landscape, utilizing a large rock formation as its foundation. The color scheme is striking with the combo of black, dark red and brown accented with gold, silver and a pair of earth blue window shutters. While stickers can often be hit or miss, the use of the runes sticker from 9473 The Mines of Moria over the balcony is perfect. The plant-covered roof with its heavy beams is a nice finisher for this sorcerous abode. Of additional note is the wonderful tree, which makes use of upside down spiky vines, giving the whole thing a pleasing shape.

Not only is this MOC impressive on the outside, it conceals a secret as well! As with its predecessor, the whole model opens to reveal a highly detailed interior featuring a library, bedroom, spiral staircase, sitting room and attic storage. I am particularly fond of the multiple fireplaces wending their way up the side of the building. Click to check out the full interior

Why not close the window at night?

If you happen to come across the obscure Flickr photostream of why.not?, you will likely be asking yourself the question “why?” more often than “why not?” The builder seems to specialize in very obviously giving her builds a message, but more often than not, the message is hard to pin down. Her latest creation is a nighttime scene of a room with an open window. This scene captures the ambiance of fresh night air so well that I can almost feel the cool breeze. It is actually so beautifully mundane that I can not help but relax and go to sleep now… Wait, nope, there are some chains on the floor and I have no idea what they are there for. No sleep tonight.

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The build itself seems quite simple, with a cute city skyline in forced perspective as the background, using different shades of yellow as windows with a bit of variation, making for quite a realistic effect. I also really like the moon, built with a round tile and a white rubber band around it that gives a glowing effect. The room has a few interesting details as well, especially the little marbles on the table, which seem to be made of either levers or antennas. The handles on the windows and the door are a great idea too, using pearl gold minifig arms to achieve a very classy look.

Crazy city living

These two beautifully built urban houses appear unassuming at first glance, but don’t be fooled. Builder Koala Yummies has sprinkled them with all manner of imaginative ideas. Let’s take the tour and see what’s hidden behind the façade.

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Around the back there are luscious climbing plants, bee’s nests and a birdhouse attached to the wall. Continue reading →

The perfect LEGO Friends kitchen

I think there’s a little knowing joke going on in Aukbricks digital-LEGO recreation of Monica’s kitchen from classic 90s sitcom Friends. Although it’s a rendered build, the model sticks to available bricks, many of which rely on the colour palette found in the LEGO Friends themed sets. It’s a choice that absolutely works, and captures the idiosyncratic, homely yet prissy look of the room. It also means that if you had the requisite 6,000 pieces needed, you could absolutely build this model yourself. So, if you are a super-fan like Aukbricks, who claims to have watched the shows entire run 15 times, you too could pour over all the familiar details of this wonderfully accurate set in the comfort of your own home.

Friends — Monica’s kitchen

A splash of red

Building realistic-looking home decor is a niche that Heikki M has been a master of for years. The use of scale, colors, lighting and the absence of LEGO minifigures all factor into the illusion that you are looking at a real-world space. This latest model is directly inspired by furniture website photograph. LEGO bricks have never looked so comfortable.

A Splash of Red

The most important room in the house

Here’s one of those LEGO creations which initially looks simple, but on closer inspection reveals a wealth of clever parts use amongst the details. This bathroom by alego alego is a lovely piece of work, all tied together with an attractive cohesive colour scheme. Don’t miss the upside-down R2D2 leg used for the sink, the minifigure hands and arm which make up the shower fittings, and that orange scarf used perfectly as a towel hanging from the rail. The masterstroke has to be the Imperial Scout Trooper helmet turned upside-down as a toilet bowl! Excellent part selection right there.

BPChallenge

Wisdom as your sword, knowledge as your shield

In a world where castle means intense textures and exotic part uses, Henjin Quilones brings a breath of fresh air with an all-LEGO library scene.

The Library of Druidham

While there are a few unique techniques like the huge armchairs and nice angles on the roof’s underside, the real quality of the creation is its atmosphere. The composition and posing of the minifigs really set up a great mood. The best part has to be the lighting, with warm sunlight shining through the windows and a lit fireplace. This is one of those cases when a creation is as much a build as an artistic photograph.

A superior interior with décor to die for

Clever uses of standard LEGO elements are a mark of a great builder. This elegant interior, of what looks to be an Edwardian-era hallway by Heikkei M, is a case in point. For example, the twin uses of the grooved 2 x 1 bricks create both zigzagged and vertical bevels on the staircase. Another simple design solution hides the diagonal joins of the banisters behind its pillars. The Art Nouveau lamps made from islander hair elements are superb too. This combined with the careful colour choice of dark green walls and a rather wonderful geometric patterned carpet, results in an exceptionally stylish build.

Night at the Mansion

Don’t go upstairs after midnight!

In the online LEGO fan community, Mattila Heikki is well known for his realistic miniland-scale interior designs. While his recent creation is technically still an interior design, it is markedly different from his usual style. Mattila has built in classic styles before, but we’ve never seen a creepy haunted house before.

Haunted House

Mattila’s latest scene is all about perspective, achieved by the stairway and its railing–what would often be a small part of a scene, but is frame to take up nearly half the picture here. The lights on the wall give a sense of the hallway continuing on to the left and right for an unsettlingly long time and the colours set a moody and mysterious tone. If you’re staying here and have to use the toilet at night, it might be a better idea to wait until morning.

A bright bathroom with a dark story

At first, second and maybe even the third time one looks at this realistic bathroom scene by Johan Alexanderson, it appears to be a simple interior scene, possibly a little messy with a broken piece of the mirror above the sink. The title “Despair” on the builder’s Flickr photo page might shift your focus a little, though. Was the mirror broken in a moment of emotional torment? Who is the figure seen in the mirror? Did they break the mirror? Johan had initially written a backstory for the build but has decided to remove it and keep the image open to interpretation, without being distracted by the LEGO artist’s own idea.

Despair

While this build is an artistic composition, it is also a great LEGO creation and I always love to look deep into techniques and part usage. The differently coloured wheels at the sink are particularly inspired, as are the uses of the small ball joints as towel hangers. The tiled walls are masterfully done, down to the damaged tiles and the incorporation of a heater. But the best and most realistic details are definetely the toothpaste oozing from its tube and the whole mess in the corner.