"How do you store your paints" Topic

How do you store your paints? I currently have 12 small plastic boxes which I've divided my paints up by color, ie. a box for blue and purple, one for browns and so on. But this takes up a lot of room in my cabinet. So I'm looking for ideas on how I can store these more efficiently. I primarily have Vallejo paints but I also have tubes of oils and acrylics and bottles of Craft Paints. Also there a few pots of Foundry paints as well.
Any suggestions?

I keep them on my desk.

Most used ones are on my painting desk (since I never put them back). Many are on the shelves above the desk and the rest are in a staples cardboard storage box along with other odds and ends (glue sticks, basing tiles, glue)

A sharp bit of pipe and a sheet of foamcore and you can build a nice little paint storage shelf for the Vallejo pots.

I throw them in an old shoe box.

I keep them in boxes on my table

I bought a rack for holding fingernail polish bottles off of Amazon. It holds about 75 bottles, and cost $22.30 USD. You need to pay attention to the description and make sure it holds the size of bottles you are using. This one is fine for everything I have.

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I have some baskets intended for house cleaning from the dollar store. Try to keep them sorted by colour group.

Basically a three drawer plsstic cabinet. They all get tossed in there bottles on top, Vallejo style in the middle, and ceramcoat on the bottom.

I store them on the shelf above my workbench. Not elegant or really efficient but it works. I separate the brands and separate the colors.

Terry

I just got myself some of these from Warbases for my Vallejos.

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I use mostly craft paint size bottles so I was able to pick up a nice spinning rack at Michael's that holds 120 or 140 bottles that I keep on my painting table.

I'm like Doctor X. I have 4 of those craft paint racks full. Plus I use those stackable round plastic things with dividers in them to old screws, bolts etc. Mine is 5 tall which I use for Vallejo size bottles.

I had the spinning rack but found it to take too much room on my table. I went to painting racks like this one.

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I just ordered some more. At roughly $15 USD each, you can hold a lot of bottles and it is one of the least expensive racks on the market. Also look how little foot print it takes up. It can even be hung on a wall.

Matthew

Thanks for the suggestions. Floor space is a premium at the moment so the rolling cart wont work, although I do like the idea.

45thdiv- I like the ability to hang the paint rack on the wall. That's an option I will have to look into more.

My work table faces my TV so I can't put anything above it like a shelf as there is nothing to hang the shelf on.

Cheap plastic, expandable, three-tiered spice racks for
Wal-Mart.

John – turning a stack of five of those must give you forearms of steel!

I'm the same as Doctor X and John Leahy, I have a spinning rack with craft paints. Smaller bottles of Vallejo and Liquitex I store in a shoe box.

Hey Doc. If it were 5 of the large craft paint racks you'd be right.

I just counted the round plastic spinners. I have 7 stacked. They are called Stack-On from Home Depot.Each divider holds a dozen Vallejo paints per divider. There are 6 sections per spinner tray. I also store my GW, Partha, Armory, Musket Minaitures and Model master paints too. they run a couple bucks, IIRC from Home Depot.

Thanks,

John

I'm with Bill. Perspex nail varnish racks. I bought two…I need about 8.

I have 6 Vallejo paint cases and the whole ranges of both Model Color and Game Color. I have written the number of the paint also on the white lid.
And I also have put labels on the cases, something like number xxx – yyy.
(They also hold my spare Vallejo, Andrea paints etc…)

The paint that I am using for current projects is just hanging around on my desk or in an perspex paint rack which is also on my desk.

My other acrylics, oils and enamels are all scattered in some boxes.

I went for the premium Back 2 Base-ix acrylic racks. I know a fool and his money… love how they look and friends are jealous. Just received 2 more today.

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See my blog for how I made them.

Nice system you have built there.

So I have gone with these.
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Spray paint I keep in a banker's box,* along with goggles, dust mask, disposable gloves, and some pieces of cardboard that I use for moving things to be painted.

Brush paint I store upside-down in a plastic storage bin. The bin is about 12" x 5" x 3". It doesn't have a lid, although it did at one time. The bin goes on the bottom of a catalogue case**, under other bins that have glue, magnifying glasses, metal files, yogurt caps used as mixing palettes, and other thing used in painting.

I guess I don't have that many bottles of paint. I spray paint just about everything, then use a brush for details like camouflage, weapons, visors, etc.

*A banker's box is a cardboard box used for storage of documents. It can accommodate letter-sized manila folders in one direction or legal-sized folders in the other direction.

**A catalogue case is a type of large briefcase. I always called it a "litigation bag" until I had to go buy one for myself, and the nice person at the office supply store told me the correct name.