"Direct order to organise hobby space" Topic

The wife has thrown down the gauntlet. I *MUST* organize my hobby space, lest she become annoyed. You don't want to see her annoyed.

I need to find a storage solution for my gaming stuff. Books on bookshelves are ok. Figures and half-finished models strewn about are not.

I have a large industrial-strength metal desk that I use as my painting table. Its drawers are already stuffed. Basically, what I'm looking for is an inexpensive, relatively attractive storage locker or cabinet that I can place trays about the size of soda flats (the cardboard thingies under cases of soda) with projects on them.

Any ideas?

Well, since you're already doing industrial-chic, how about the rolling metal cabinets that they use in high school cafeterias to bus trays?

One tray per project/army should get you an easy dozen from the small cabinets. Some of the larger ones are in two "columns" and two "rows" for quadruple the fun.

This is what I was thinking of:

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I use the 5 shelf plastic units from the Home Depot.
They easily hold several "beer case" sized boxes on each shelf for the randomly strewn pieces.

For other boxes, I use the whit shipping boxes from Staples. I have them based in magnetic sheet for storing my painted minis.

I use the plastic cabinets with drawers like the one here link

Rubbermaid plastic boxes look presentable, stack nicely, and come in a decent range of sizes. They're probably not a solution by themselves, but they could help with lots of odds and ends.

JJW-T.C.H.

other ideas

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I use the plastic boxes from Bi-Mart and Walmart as well. Joann's Fabrics carry foam rubber sheets cheaply so a few half inch thick and 1 inch thick sheets in the plastic bins makes a relatively cheap and durable carry/store all.

Yup, I also have dozens of the sterilite boxes.
It's hard to remember, as all of my stuff is still packed from my "recent" (November) move…

Looking at the Sterilite 7-drawer craft cart:
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Anyone know how deep the drawers are? Given its dimensions, I'm guessing 2 1/2" to 2 3/4". Shouldn't be a problem working with 25/28mm and 15mm figures. Unless scale creep sets in, of course.

I have some of the Iris Mini Chests which are very similar to the Sterilite ones but I go them on sale at an office supply store and saved $10 USD on each one so check those out as another option.
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reallyusefulboxes.com

Particularly, they do desk units with sealable A4 sized storage boxes which fit into them and you can buy more boxes the same size -- and hence swap boxes in from (say) the garage. We've got long term storage crates in racking in the garage.

The stuff is VERY tough (I've seen quite a few dealers in the UK using the larger crates to cart their wares around in) and seals pretty air-tight to keep dust off the contents.

I'm buying some of the desks for the lego collection -- they also do little "organiser" inserts for the boxes to put the small things in…

I use the Sterlite 6 quart shoebox containers. Walmart has been running them for 97 cents as of late. You can buy 40-60 of these and not feel too badly about the total. They stack well. I also use both the 4 and 7 drawer carts in varying widths to hold dice, tape measures, mini-prep tools, etc. Get yourself a tall metal filing cabinet at a garage sale or such for your rulebooks and you are set.

I have the six drawer stacking plastic cabinets from Office Depot Staples etc. I use those mostly for finished armies. I also have 20 or so Rubbermaid storage bins that can hold four cake pans (metal) or eight pencil boxes. I can configure these to hold two cake pans and four pencil boxes. or other configurations. I use these to transport to conventions, and for additional storage at home. They stack as well and I can fit four high under my game table.
VR
James Mattes

Shelves will be organized but still look like crap when filled. So I assume you also want a decent appearance? Then…

Have you considered an armoire of some kind? For my table I use an office armoire. The nice feature is it has cupboard doors that close. So unless you open it (or I have stckd on top) it looks quite decent. Well, decent enough for the basement.

For basic but neat how about those garage storage cabinets available from Home Depot? Or how about those units from the "closet organizer" section:

link

Add a few plywood shelves and you're set.

Dare I suggest finishing a project before starting on the next? That way all your projects would fit on just one tray.

[ducks]

I had considered an armoire or wall locker. Trouble would be in putting in enough shelves to be useful, or tooling it to accept slide-out trays.

I like the looks of the rolly drawer carts. They're cheap enough to get started. Plus as my wife is into scrapbooking, I might get one for her to put her myriad of papers and tools into as well.

I use the Iris plastic shelves as well. Office Max/Depot will usually put them on sale for between 33 and 50 percent off on a regular basis, especially close to the beginning of a school year.

Ikea is great. The office section has a metal rolling drawer case that has 5 drawers. They are attractive and come in various colors. I think they run about $80 USD and are much sturdier than the Rubbermaid models. I gave those to my wife for her wool, which weighs much less than my metal.

I use shallow stacking tubs myself, the Sterilite 27qt ones. I can get 1-2 layers of Hirst dungeon in them and still carry it. Or, store miniatures in their blisters, or bagged, even boxed sets. They'll hold upright craft paint bottles. You could put a tray into it, and put a lid on it for protection.

I've looked at the 7-drawer craft cart a few times, and rejected it again and again. The drawers are too shallow to hold my paint (about 2 inches) and the unit is not sturdy enough to hold masses of lead. The drawers buckle easily with any kind of weight in them and get stuck even with nothing in them. If I was a beginner and everything I had fit in it, maybe, but at our house we're well past this.

Another thing that might help appease your wife, if you have a corner area, or a nook you can pile stuff in, is to get a pretty curtain to hang in front of the "mess" to hide all of it. Or maybe a room divider or screen of some kind that can be set up to block you hobby area from view when you're not there using it.

Another alternative is to make a move on another room. Go on the offensive. The focus of attention will be directed to the mess in the new room and you can continue operations as usual in your present work area. I've tried this and have had success from time-to-time.

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