"Where Do You Paint?" Topic

I just did a quick tidy of the painting desk, and put all my supplies away. I was going to do a "What's on your painting table?" thread but thought, instead, I'd show off where I do all my work. Insofar as 1400 square feet allows for a man cave here is mine:

You can see the painting desk to the left and, behind the music stand and mic, a rolling drawer unit that holds all my supplies: paints, bases, spray cans, etc.

Here is a close up of my painting desk. It is a secretary style, so the table folds up. I have a WIP box I can quickly put everything in if we have company, etc. Then the table folds over and is a non-descript desk in black. The work area is about 30 x 18" and the six drawers hold critical tools – glues, sprue cutters, a few craft paints I use for basing.

Here is a close up of the drawer unit. It's not too bad looking, but it is a real piece of junk. You can read reviews of it on Amazon and they are spot on – the drawers fall out of the glides all the time. Not a big deal for me as I have one drawer with all my military colors in, so I just pull the whole drawer out. It was about the only decent option for a unit with this footprint.

Tucked away under the orange leather sofa are my army boxes. I'm working on German micro armor just now so I have those two boxes handy. The black box next to them is a "BattleBox" a self contained game in a box. Lets me fiddle with games at home. Using CM instead of inches I have a nearly 4x6 playing surface. Not pictures is my WIP box for sweeping bits away for company. It is magnetic as well so also serves as a quick spray area. I don't spray much but when I do it's on the grill on the balcony. The box lets me go back and forth easily.

Living on the 14th floor this room is on the SE corner of the building. I get great natural light (when it's not overcast). If I turn around, here is the view of downtown Chicago and the lake. The view is why we bought the place, forgoing 3 bedrooms and settling for 2.

So, where does the magic happen for you?

Ha! I have a 5' square box crammed with books and paint and rubbish- more a cockpit than a man-cave!Literally no room to swing a cat…

Converted my garage last spring. These pics show how it looked shortly after setting it up. Much messier now but very functional.
The painting area:

Storage on the opposite wall:

Motivational supplies storage, now there is also a TV on top:

The room also doubles as the gaming room, glass painting studio and light wood working area. BTW this was the "before" view:

I have a carpeted, heated, air conditioned, three car garage in which my painting table is set up as well as my Trident Designs business stock. No cars in there. Loads of space and my gaming area is set up in my living room/dinning room area. 15' x 5' permanent gaming table in there plus cabinets with my armies in them. Books and reading area in my library, my office holds my, well, business records, computer, etc. My family room holds my TV as well as my Historical movies. Got a French & Indian War game tonight with my 40mm Trident figures with 14 people playing. Oh the joys of it all! If you live in the area of Yuba City, CA, give me a call and you can come over and game with us!

I have finally a soldier room in the basement that is about 13' X 13'. I have a 6' X 8' soldier table on which I set up battle scenes. My painting is done at my little roll-top desk or upstairs at the kitchen table, depending on how cold the basement is. I wish I had pictures, but I need to work on that, so I can show you. The room is carpeted and heated by he house furnace to some extent. One wall is desk and book shelves. All of my painting supplies are in the desk. I use under-the-table storage of make-do shelves and what-not that I have come across. I could build something or buy something nicer, but there would go soldier money and time.

I paint on the sofa with a small table, that way I can talk to the wife and ignore the TV. I have a tall lamp behind me which gives good light.

It's a compromise that works as long as I'm not concentrating so hard I don't hear the wife, then my toys get put away 😀

As always..

I have a decent size section of the utility room. Sometimes I'll do basing and modeling upstairs or outside. Most deflashing gets done on the couch.

I have a computer cubicle workstation that we inherited that we put in the basement – about 5' by 6' with a bright light and lots of drawers

I have half of the basement

In the spare bedroom; its a right when someone comes to stay, then I have to pack everything away.

I have a cat proof painting box (about 3.5 ft w X 2.3ft d by 2 ft h) with a removable front and top. That holds all the WIP , tools, brushes and the paints being used. Which rests on my painting table in my bedroom. Every thing else is squirreled away on shelves or in drawers. The most important part, is that when closed, my cats cannot rearrange things on the way to a window sill.

I paint and build on the dining room table ,or occasionally a TV tray in the bedroom. When I am done, all supplies etc go back into the closet.

I have a glorious office/bonus room space that the previous owner thoughtfully outfitted with a huge wraparound workbench/desk along two walls, plus shelving and a bit of cabinetry. It's everything I need and nothing I don't…

Kitchen table for most prepping/painting work – undercoat spray in the garden.

The kids are at University so in two or three years I am likely to have a dedicated hobby area in one of their bedrooms….. yay!

I all summerhave been painting in my shop with in front of a afternoon window. But it is unheated and to compensate for the faiding sun have a pull down desk light. Winter I move indoors.

My painting desk is jammed between a great metal shelf full of gaming materials and a bookcase with basic reference materials. All of this semi-controlled chaos is in my basement lair.

The dining room table. Mark, you have a great view.

In warm sunny weather, I paint on my patio on a wooden dining table. At other times, I take over the indoor dining table. In each case, I cover the table with a plastic sheet from the dry cleaner, and newspaper over that.

I do my spray-painting on the lawn. I usually use a banker's box or printer-paper box as a table for the paint subjects.

I've got a 9x6 office that was part of the basement before we bought the house, it sealed the deal for me. All my building stuff goes on in there and I put in an exhaust for my spray booth.

I've got a dedicated bench, cabinet, and paint/brush racks in my studio…but I can't show pictures because the last time I was organized, I was 18 and heading off to college. It look like the after burglary pictures CSI take.

I now have a painting table in our house's small computer room. It's a lot better than using the kitchen table, which I used for years beforehand. Not much of a Man Cave, but it'll do!

I have half a bedroom as an office/painting area and am ~90% done a 17'x11' game room for playing.

I always paint sitting at my recliner. I find that it is easier on my back. Of course the trade off is that I occasionally drip a little paint on me; but I dress accordingly in anticipation of getting a little messy.

I have a permanent set up in the basement, a card table with a huge pile of figs and paints. At least I have a good chair and a 500wt halogen lamp.

In my spare bedroom but it's a work space as well so the hobby stuff frequently has to be tidied away out of sight and out of mind.

I never cease to be amazed at just how much stuff some folks have acquired.

Sho Boki – is all that paint the entire Foundry range in duplicate or triplicate?

Painting table (old desk) set up in the basement in front of a large window. Card table set up next to it for all the paints…. I have too many paints!

YEARS AGO I wrote a humorous article for the Wargamers Newsletter called "The Wargamerz Hawze." It was a purpose built house for a gamer. I had the whole front side of the house made with a cathedral ceiling and floor to ceiling windows to let the light in. I then proceeded to remodel my own house now that way. I have bookcase top (and painting table level) glass to ceiling on three sides of the living room. Here is set up a temporary painting table which has the best light I can get. My house I am building in Maine has the same thing.

I use a temporary table for painting because otherwise it turns into a filthy disorganized mess and makes a major clean up when guests come or a game has to be put on. In Maine I will have a 24 by 32 foot hobby room with only l column so I have maximum table space, but I will still do the painting in the living room where I will have sunlight from dawn to dusk.

I also paint in oils so I only need a small box of paint and don't have to have dozens of tiny little bottle all over the place. I get my paint at flea-markets and garage sales when people sell off the painting kits they bought to try and get them off the computer. $5 USD bucks will give you decades of paint.

Now that the kids are gone, I have an 8' X 8' den that is dedicated to a variety of my interests. About half the space and the entire closet area is devoted to painting and unpainted miniature storage. It is very comfortable for me and pretty well lit. I am also a vinyl record junkie, and my stereo is there, so I can throw tunes on turntable and be entertained. I have a television and dvd player so I can watch and paint. Sometimes Rusty, my Australian shepherd comes in and hangs out too. It's pretty comfortable and productive. I try to paint every night, so that's very important. Messy right now, but every so often I get the urge to clean up and reorganize.

dining room

I had a shop built when I retired from the military:

Lovely print of Udet's Dvii there, Joe. :)

Thanks! Only paid $9.95 USD for that print a few years ago from a mail order catalog.

The framing expense was a different story!