if you have wee ones in your house who love LEGO, and you're looking for an easy & good-looking way to organize and display the many minifigures that occupy your space, this is the project for you!

to gather:

a display shelf of choice
{i am always on the lookout for unique, one-of-a-kind items for our home... a few years ago, i happened upon yards and yards of old schoolhouse chalkboard rails at an architectural salvage in seattle.
i didn't know what i would do with them at the time --- perhaps paint them and use them to display children's books --- but now have found them to be the perfect size for displaying minifigures}
{target sells sets of shelving which work perfectly for this project!}
lego baseplates
{in this case, a series of 6x6 plates were the exact width to fit in the channel of my chalkboard rail --- after measuring the length/width of your piece, base plates in varying colors and sizes are readily available and pretty inexpensive on ebay}
hot glue gun & glue sticks

sidenote:
in my case, i had a raw piece of wood that i began the project with...
i decided to paint it before applying the base plates...

i began by painting the raw chalkboard rail with a chalky-finish paint, but didn't like the way it turned out...
so, second time around, i went with benjamin moore latex, black chalkboard paint.
i applied two coats, using a sponge brush.
benjamin moore paints are thicker than other paints, and give a nice coating to whatever piece you may be updating.

while i do not intend to write on the piece with chalk, i absolutely love the end result!

to do:

warm up your glue gun
{once ready to go, you will need to work somewhat quickly...}
beginning at one end of your ledge, apply hot glue.
only apply the amount needed to cover the size of the individual plate you are using...
continue laying lego plates in consecutive order
{be sure to align the edges immediately, so the glue doesn't dry leaving gaps between plates}
{the hot glue will dry quick!}

voila!
{this project is quick and easy --- if using a pre-painted ledge/shelf, this project takes about thirty minutes from start to finish!}