More Storage

Storage is always an issue for me. Between the multitude of projects, tools, paints, pigments and what not I just never seem to have enough room. We were at American Furniture Warehouse when I spotted a set of drawers made of wood instead of plastic on casters. At $30 it was cheaper than most of the plastic options out there so I decided to give it a try.

Of course it sat in the basement for months before I finally got around to actually putting it together. Construction was not complex but it was a bit more difficult than I anticipated. While there were spots where you would start the wood screws there lacked any pilot holes on the corresponding piece of wood so I was constantly struggling to make sure everything was straight. While the carcass itself was pretty simple the drawers gave me the most difficulty especially getting the back piece of the drawer in nice and straight. 

In the end I am happy with the result and I have a sturdy piece of furniture to store some stuff in. Mostly this will be holding tools, extra paints pigments and maybe some of the smaller in progress projects. The drawers are tall enough to handle all of the drop bottle paints without a problem, but my Liquitex inks are to tall.

Here are some pictures of the finished product:

Trying to free up space in these three locations into the smaller rolling storage drawers.

Plastic storage bins hold unpainted miniatures, paints, inks, bases and basing materials. I'm hoping to free up one or two of these for more miniatures.

The mess at the desk. The little paint rack on the right needs to go as does the huge paint rack in the center. The center rack is just to deep to be truly usable. Maybe just a stand up rack against the back would be the best bet.

Six drawers on casters.

All my pigments and pigment tools in one spot

My enamels fit quite nicely 

Spare paint in dropper bottles, typically extras (how does that happen?) and colors that are used in frequently

For the moment my HO Freight cars in the bottom drawer. Still looking for the rest of the parts for these.

The workroom (part 1)

Tonight I managed to use the last of my Christmas money to pick up the shelves and brackets to finish off my workroom in the basement. This used to be my darkroom so the arrangement of power is a bit funky and the light switch is higher than normal so that I wouldn't accidentally turn it on while processing film. It then became a mini library but that didn't work out very well either. I have cleared out the bookcases (just pine ones I knocked together) and put them out in the main basement. The space will be small but not terribly cramped and I should be able to keep all my reference material close at hand and still have storage space for kits, paints and tools. I need to put up the lights before I can really show it off, but getting it finished will be the key to having a productive year for both painting miniatures and working on the railroad.