SPA Modeler

Perhaps redo is too strong a term. Rearrangement probably fits better. My study is a room of roughly 180 sq. feet. It had become very crowded, and somewhat "stifling" to me after 26 years of accumulating stuff. As part of my "get my mojo back" project I decided that I had to do something to make the room more inviting and pleasant in order to get more model work done. I had long been eying a nice 5' workbench at Harbor Freight and in late autumn, I bought one and after assembling it, replacing a wood and canvas "tete-a-tete" (originally designed for outdoor use) with the HF bench, which had a smaller footprint so floor-space was gained there. I removed quite a bit of ammunition from the room and stored it elsewhere. In general, it was a quite cathartic experience and I felt better immediately! Hey, I was regaining a space in which I enjoyed to work. Today, I find the room much more comfortable, and yes, I am spending more time in there these days! Here are some pics of the place:


model work area


home-made tool stand


paints


Foredom motor tool


airbrushes and CO2 bottle


partial stash

Part two

reference


view toward windows (east)


doorway into study

Part three

NE corner table


corner table view 2


Harbor Freight workbench


HF bench again

Part 4

North wall


NW corner


Southeast corner


South wall


display cabinets


cabinets longer view


1947 Lionel O gauge locomotive


some hunting rifles


pistol magazine pouches


a few knives


NE corner again


side of gun vault


Bf-109 painting by my father-in-law


and yours truly, circa mid-1980s


Well, that's the tour! Of course, it's still a crowded room, but so much better that it was before. The ammunition stored in there represents maybe 1/5 of my entire "hoard" of ammunition. I've moved all the sealed in "spam can" stuff out into a toolroom in our carport. It should store just fine in there. As you can see, there is no room in that study for another display cabinet. I don't know how I'll handle that issue until I get those full. And, I do need another BIG gun vault very badly, but again, where to put a 5 foot- wide safe? The metal locker seen on the North wall is full of model kits as well, and I've run out of shelf space for more of those. So you see, my eternal struggle of space versus junk has no end in sight! Thanks for taking a look at my study; I hope it doesn't trigger any attention deficit disorders out there!
Gary Brantley

Nice makeover! The first part looks alot like mine does currently; however, the before pictures are still more organized than what I've got right now. I need to find some shelves to display my builds. I took over an old decorative bakers rack that my wife had, but its only got a couple of shelves that I can display anything on, and that is now full. My stash is just that, stashed anywhere I can find an open space. My better-half has given me the go-ahead to redo my workspace, I just havent got to that point yet. Looking for a new desk/worktop and get rid of a couple old sofas.

Thanks for replying! I was really impressed with that Harbor Freight workbench. It was easy to assemble and really does look nice. Too nice to work on really!?!? It's been useful for storage for me and handy for organizing parts and sequences of builds. It allows me a place to keep parts away from the actual work area, and safe from harm. It's a sturdy bench, weighing 200+ pounds. I bought mine at $130. I've seen it for less actually (like a week after I bought mine...go figure, eh?) but full price would not be too much for a very nice piece of furniture.

http://www.harborfreight.com/catalogsea ... =workbench

I, too, had eyed that table from HB at one point until I found a table at my work place they were going to toss out. I grabbed that instead. You can see it in my post BlackSheep Work Space thread. I grabbed more than just a table too. LOL!

I really like the display of models and weapons! Ah to have my own hobby room again...

BlackSheep214 wrote:I, too, had eyed that table from HB at one point until I found a table at my work place they were going to toss out. I grabbed that instead. You can see it in my post BlackSheep Work Space thread. I grabbed more than just a table too. LOL!

Hey, it looks like you made out like a Chinese bandit! Great score Blacksheep.

Stikpusher wrote: I really like the display of models and weapons! Ah to have my own hobby room again...

Thanks Carlos! I appreciate that; it is mytee nice having my "own" room. A fact that my wife is keen on pointing out whenever she thinks my uh, "collectibles" begin to spill over into the rest of the crib. "You've got a room for all that sh...stuff". I have a rather large quantity of surplus ammo stored in wooden and metal crates in our back hallway (the entry from the carport and just outside the study door). She's told me that "it looks like a 'expletive' damned Army Surplus store in there." Like that's a bad thing?!?! My daughter has also mentioned that "mess" on a few of her visits. "Just being prepared my dear, you should be proud of ol' dad!"