How do you store your paints?

[slah]

I have finally gotten a dedicated - permanent - workspace, and now I have to figure out what to do with all my paints.

I´m getting really tired of having them shuffle aroeund in a box, and I can see myself growing equally tired of painting the lids and then just putting them all close to each other on the table.

What I´m looking for is an ingenious way of storing them that is easily accesible and with a good overview so it´s easy to find the exact colour you want.

I´m thinking maybe something along the lines of the paintier lazy susan thingie (which would cost way too much to import to Denmark). Something homemade would most likely also be doable (I just renovated a house and acquired a completely new skillset.

Any ideas, recommendations, suggestions, pictures or references would be appreciated!!

[Ritual]

I have way too many paints to store in any commercially available contraption. I usually put the paints in a box on a shelf and the ones I use the most are left in my workspace. Whenever I need a less common paint I have to search for it for a while, but it's not too bad...

[supervike]

I actually have one of the fancy 'lazy susan' thingies....and I ended up dismantling it and putting it away. I just have my paints in a big plastic container now. Absolutley no organization, and I can never find anything I'm looking for....

[RuneBrush]

Big slide out shelf in a cupboard. All of my GW paints have stickers on the top with the appropriate colour on. The paints I'm currently using sit in my painting laptray box that I use.

[Sukigod]

Here's my makeshift versions - it's in a computer cabinet, you could make something similar that attached to the wall in front of you.

[mud duck]

Sheeh! There's Suki showing off again.

[Shawn R. L.]

In a pile...........BUT, my paints (acrylic in tubes( have color on the outside and I also put a swatch on the cap's along with a symbol on some. I also have a little shelf above the pile where I keep 8 to 10 of the paints I'm using the most of at the moment. Not perfect but it get's the job done.

[Hinton]

In the work area that I have, all of my paints sit on a few shelves to my right. They're in a certain order that makes sense to me, so I always know where a color is if I'm looking for it.

Here's a shot of it:

[PegaZus]

I've got the little dropper bottle paints, and found a two drawer organizer at Lowe's. Even comes with a little covered tray on top that the brushes and tools fit in.

[generulpoleaxe]

I just have a basic rack for the majority of my paints

[In Chigh P.I.]

Im afraid i cant offer you any advice on this matter, all i can do is show you how NOT to do it! (including my bad habit of spraying things on top of the pots, thus obscuring the labels)

This is actually quite embarrassing:

[evil tendencies]

I just have a basic rack for the majority of my paints

Did you make this yourself? I like it.

[Dragonsreach]

I have finally gotten a dedicated - permanent - workspace, and now I have to figure out what to do with all my paints.

Mine are stored in a cabinet (within easy arms reach), A pedastal unit on the otherside, Box on the floor, the painting table and oh yes the carry bag I use for painting demos.
I'M untidy what can I say.

[slah]

hmm - it seems most have the same problems as me :P

Anyways - looking at Sukigods pictures have given me an idea of something that might be doable - maybe.

I was thinkin to take something like the "paint doors" you´ve made, and then make them smaller (but at the same time making them wider so that you can stack paints on both sides), and them mounting them on a rack over my workspace in a way so that you can browse through them - sort of like when browsing through posters in a poster store.

Of course this is gonna be some fiddly work because I don´t want them to be so big that they cover my workspace, BUT I don´t want them to be too small either, because then they won´t be able to hold enough pots...

Anybody who can see some clear design flaws (even though I haven´t made a "blueprint" yet :P), which I´ve failed to spot?


What are the dimensions of those "paint doors" in your workspace Suki?

[War Griffon]

I keep my paints in the pots they come in otherwise they make one hell of a mess of the table or the floor

OK, OK I'm leaving

[generulpoleaxe]

Did you make this yourself? I like it.

My dad made it for me, it's the ONLY advantage of having to live with my parents.

[lahatiel]

I use one of "lazy Susan"-style Paintier 80 racks; it can be a bit fiddly at times but it's always in arm's reach and meets my wife's requirement of being neat, clean, and out of the way. Some of the stretches around it are two bottles deep, though, since I went passed 80 bottles in my collection a long time ago. I also have what I believe was supposed to be a wooden silverware drawer organizer from Ikea -- stood up vertically, it makes a nice and compact wooden mini-shelf unit, about 2 foot high by 8 inches wide I think, that holds my metallics and GW washes which wouldn't fit on the Paintier, even with things doubling up.

[Trevor]

I use a computerdesk, the paints are kept on the pull-out tray where the keyboard is supposed to go. I alson have arack for my vallejo's.

[devoncodain]

I built a stair step type rack that the rise is as tall as a GW paint pot it has 3 shelves and is 18 inches wide. It holds all my paints where I can see the color in the pots and find any color I want in about a second.