Friday Fun: When In Doubt - Organize!

As you may have noticed, I've really hit the ground running so far this New Year, with a blog post Every Single Day This Week(!) - but that has everything to do with 1) motivation to accomplish SOMEthing, anything, even if it's small, and 2) the Missus allowing me a lot of room on the weekends to do so.

But, if you're like me, those blocks of time can sometimes be wasted just staring at the layout and getting overwhelmed with all there is to do. All too often, that feeling just sends me back upstairs to the comfort of a soft couch and a good book - or, worse, TV.

With my new mantra though (ANY progress is progress), it's amazing what I can find to accomplish. Case in point - adding more shelves. As hobbyists we can NEVER have enough shelf space, so here's how I did a little something on the first day of the New Year (which will hopefully spark additional progress in the coming days and weeks all year long...)

Since I got a new, smaller compressor and got rid of the FrankenPipe, I discovered I could cover this open space with a proper shelf.

In keeping with another of my new mantras - "don't make the perfect the enemy of the good" - I decided all I needed to support the new shelf was a couple of pieces of scrap wood, glued to the studs.

The shelf itself is another piece of scrap plywood, cut to fit.

Walla! Voila! This shelf will not only hold some more things, but will keep things from falling down between the studs.

Heady from my accomplishment, I decided to do the same in between the studs to the left as well. . .

Same process . . .

And there we are - although this shelf acts more as an extension of the bench top.

Finally, I turned my attention to the existing shelf above my spray booth. This was another area where things could scoot off the back of the shelf and fall down between the studs. But this time, since it didn't need to hold much weight (and I'd run out of scrap plywood), I decided to just hot glue a piece of foamboard between the studs - with a craft stick support glued in the middle(!)

Makes for a nice place to hold my painting holders - and no chance of things falling between the studs.

Since I was on such an organizing kick (friends will tell you that I really need to be more organized *ahem*), I found a perfect place for my new pastels - right next to the PanPastel rack.

And, finally, I added my new scenery materials to the Wall of Scenery - all organized for quick finding.

If you're even a little OCD, beware that your hobby doesn't devolve into anything more than collecting and organizing. At some point, you really should DO SOMETHING with all that stuff. But if you're stuck in a bit of a rut and aren't motivated to do anything on the layout, take some time to tidy the layout room & your workshop. You may discover that by the time you're done you're just itching to get back to work - even if it means making another mess.