Studio Organization Reveal

STUDIO ORGANIZATION REVEAL

Yesterday I was Miss Build It, and I assembled the organizational furniture for the art room.  Just me, a wooden hammer, and a couple of wrenches was all it took.  I felt pretty fortunate to find both of these, which think will fulfill my needs and was able to do it for under $100.   Both are quite lightweight.  No particle board or formaldehyde either. 

I have been searching on and off now for a couple of years to find something to help me keep better organized.   But it really has been a pity to see how flimsy the plastic storage is and how much they want for it.  Seems there was nothing between plastic and heavier furniture.  I have art tuff, I just never can find it, even in my crates I forget what I got.  I have limited horizontal space where I paint and really want to use it when I am painting.   So had to find a place to stash the junk that was preventing that.  Also time to throw out all these practice paintings as my archival box is stuffed as are the ones under my bed.  Dug out my portfolios and am putting paintings I want to keep in them too.  No way I can possibly use them all for collage.

I didn't want to install shelves or put holes into these closet walls.   But I really wanted something that was light weight and could hold plastic shoe boxes, pencil/pastel tins/boxes and get my cookies sheets out to put my pan pastels out where I can see them.   At my age I can't handle all the really heavy stuff any more but I have a right brain and I tend to pile - I need to be able to see things.  I had looked at Ikea and was about to spend a pretty penny for some of their shelving cubes.  Thankfully I checked Amazon first and found this 14" cube system that even has doors, mine has 12 cubes in all and cost $60 .  The doors can be adjusted to open from either side, top or bottom.   Cubes can be configured multiple ways.  It even came complete with easy to understand instructions and wow!! all the parts.    It is made of vinyl and thick wire, so it isn't indestructible, but each shelf can hold 33 pounds.   I put the heavy stuff on the bottom so it won't want to tip, but it does sit flat on the floor, no wheels.  I already had my shoe holder where I put my paints in when they aren't out. It holds watercolor, acrylic and oils.   So closet pretty much complete.   I still have room on either side of the cubes to store frames and canvas.

I wanted some drawers to sit beside my computer.   I use an old wooden top to give me some flat desk space and do have a 3 drawer cabinet that is ancient and full of small desk-type stuff and files.   But I always have lots of stuff on the top so I never really get to utilizing the horizontal space.    Again Ikea has some drawer cabinets, but very pricey for the quality, plus heavy and particle board/formaldehyde too.  I found this wire rolling cart that has slide out drawer  baskets.  Think it was $25.  I isn't super big, but does have locking wheels and once you get everything tighten up it is pretty stable.   As you can see I haven't put stuff in there yet, but I know I will probably end up cramming it full.

Thanks for stopping by and taking a look.