In the Garage: Building Spaces Where We Belong
“In the garage, I feel safe. No one cares about my ways. In the garage where I belong, no one hears me sing this song. In the garage.” – In the Garage, by Weezer
“Every builder needs a garage” by Hejin_Quilones
If anyone has been wondering where I have been lately, I guess you could say I’ve been “in the garage.” By strict definition, a garage is the structural part of a house where you park a motor vehicle (assuming you aren’t using it for storage space instead) or a place where vehicles are maintained and repaired.
However, as captured by the song by Weezer, “the garage” can also be a place to find refuge from the day-to-day outside world; a place to be ourselves, to listen to our music, to read our comics, to roll our 12-sided die, and not having to care about what others think. Most of you reading this likely find this kind of sanctuary in your “LEGO Room” but way back before most of us had one of those, the place we went when we just wanted to be ourselves was in the garage.
The “garage” that I have been in over the past six months has been a metaphorical one. Between job burnout and an amassing pile of personal obligations, I just needed some “me time.” Being “in the garage” has been a state of mind, finding time and the mental space to enjoy what I like without worrying about appearances or judgment.
It is in this spirit that I give you a MOC round-up of some of my favorite LEGO garage interiors. Many of these builds and builders you will have likely seen blogged before (like on TBB or The LEGO Car Blog). Be sure to search those blog entries out if you are looking for garage descriptions with “NPU” sightings and witty banter. However, if you are like me and are just looking for a welcoming place to hang out in, then grab a lawn chair and a cooler of cold beverages, and let’s go visit a few LEGO-building friends and their wonderfully built garages.
Dan Church – Grownup’s Toy Box
mike m. – “Saturday Mornings”
Faber Mandragore – Chopper
Pixeljunkie – Vintage Garage Diorama
Pixeljunkie – Vintage Garage (scene 3)
Pixeljunkie – 1972 Mustang Mach 1 hot rod in the workshop
Magnus – Melvis Garage
claudine6677 - Motorcycle Chop-shop
Hans Dendauw – Tony Stark’s garage
Eric Teo – Expanded Garage
Norton74 - Art Déco Gas Station
-derjoe- Old Timer in the Garage
Brickbink – le garage
Insomnia Builds – Speeder Bike Garage
Jonas Kramm – The Garage
KONAJRA - Oltimer Restoration
Jean-Philippe Leroux - The garage
Hejin_Quilones – Speeder Repairs
Are M. Heiseldal – Hoonicorn 7 (tribute article)
KosBrick - Gorilla A.I Mech - Der Silberrȕcken 8
AdNorrel – Sweet dream in the old garage
I could go on and on about all of these builds, talking about great NPU, masterful lighting and more, but instead I will simple say they have all inspired me to go “in the garage where I belong” — which is one of the highest compliments I can give.
Do you have a favorite place to go where “you can be you”? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
Do you want to help BrickNerd continue publishing articles like this one? Become a top patron like Charlie Stephens, Marc & Liz Puleo, Paige Mueller, Rob Klingberg from Brickstuff, John & Joshua Hanlon from Beyond the Brick, Megan Lum, Andy Price, Lukas Kurth from StoneWars, Wayne Tyler, Monica Innis, Dan Church, and Roxanne Baxter to show your support, get early access, exclusive swag and more
