My Hobby Area

In today's post, I thought I'd take the time to show you around where the action happens: my hobby area.

The Table
First up, the painting table.

Some time ago, a friend of mine was getting rid of some old furniture, so I tagged along to see if there was anything I could salvage. I managed to get hold of this old slide-out dining table and chairs which fits my needs perfectly. Its old and crappy enough that I don't have to worry about protecting it, and its nice and big (about 3 feet square) so two or three people can happily sit around it to paint or model. Also, the chairs are cushioned so we can paint in comfort without fear of damaging our delicate posteriors.

One of the great things about this table is that it extends out about an extra foot each side, giving an area of about 3 feet by 5 feet - perfect to balance the two halves of my gaming board on. For gaming we just clear off the table, move it to the middle of the room and extend it out to receive the board sections. I cannot stress how nice it is to play on raised board - much easier to get a model's eye view, and saves the aches and pains of sitting around on a hard floor.

You can probably find a similar table for very few of your pennies in a second-hand furniture shop (or even the dump!). I think its totally worth getting hold of something like this as having a single, dual-purpose table saves a lot of space, while still being comfortable to use for painting or gaming.

Storage

I picked up some cheap little bookcases from Argos to store all my hobby stuff - boxes of models and plastic frames, books, gaming aids, materials and all the other myriad hobby supplies you end up accumulating. There's also a nook at the end to store my gaming boards up against the wall.

 

The bookcases cost around £17 each and are 30cm deep with wide spaces between shelves - essential as some stuff can be quite large. They took me less than an afternoon to put together on my own. The scenery goes into a couple of large, strong cardboard boxes used to display fruit at supermarkets. I got them from my local Sainsbury's, which sometimes has a stack of them you can carry your shopping away in (they're free). These these usually live under my bed when not in use.

As we all know, this hobby can take over huge spaces with all the related stuff that goes into it, so making efficient use of the space you have is important. Cheap shelving like this is a quick and easy answer.

Figure Cabinet
Somewhere to show off all the hard work... This was an Ikea job I picked up for around £75. It usually contains a selection of my favourite models - especially display pieces - because, hey, we all like to show off a little, right? It keeps the figures protected from dust and knocks, and also keeps grubby hands off of them. There's a hole in the top to take a spotlight, which I haven't gotten around to installing yet.

There are models in here that date back some 15 years to the first miniatures I ever owned, including examples from every army I've completed (or attempted to complete!) to date. Its very satisfying to look through and see how far I've come over all that time. So many memories of Necromunda campaigns in secondary school and and late night painting sessions, glorious victories and painful defeats...

We all have models we are especially proud of, so it makes sense that you want to display them to the world. A cabinet like this keeps them safe and clean, and in my opinion it's well worth the investment.