Gaming Area Re-org

One of the things that has gotten a lot of my attention over the past couple of months is a complete reorganization of my gaming area in the basement. I have the luxury of plenty of space down there, but it had gotten to be such a disorganized and cluttered mess that it was almost paralyzing in the sense of being able to get any miniatures projects done. There was inefficiently used storage space, unnecessary things lying around taking up space, and just a general mess. Any time I went down there, I would shuffle some things around, become overwhelmed by the clutter and leave.

Amp wisely pointed out that the only way to really tackle the problem was to do what I had been avoiding; dismantle the entire area and start from scratch. So that is what we have done.

Step one was a revamping of the unfinished part of the basement which has shelves and cabinets for storage. An old desk that I never really used other than to stack stuff on was removed, as was a 72 bottle wine rack that only had about a dozen bottles in it. I'll find someplace (other than lying on the floor under the gaming table...) to store those bottles soon. Shelving units were rearranged to make better use of wall space, and a new one was added. Next was a reorganization of my figure storage itself. I made new boxes, re-did others and just generally made things more efficient. A multitude of work-in-progress projects were put in temporary boxes and labeled. This allowed all the clutter that had been stacked all over the finished area of the basement to go into the storage area where it belonged.

With that out of the way, the finished area could be tackled. About a hundred or so fiction hardbacks were culled from the shelves on one side of the room (leaving about 600), along with some boxed wargames to be sold off. Bookcases were rearranged, and a pair of new half-height ones were added along the back wall next to one we already had. This additional shelf space permitted some history books that had been sitting on the floor in boxes to be unpacked and put on shelves, as well as all sorts of other odds and ends (tape measures etc) that could be stored in some attractive storage bins we picked up a Target. The table itself was pulled away from the wall and spun 90 degrees. There isn't a lot of clearance along the left side, but it is adequate, and being able to walk completely around the table is a great improvement. Large storage bins for terrain pieces, buildings and other miniatures paraphernalia are either under the table or neatly stacked in the alcove in the back. Some of this will be sold off, and I still need to figure out something better for that space long term, but at least it is neat in the meantime. With all this new and orderly storage, an old table that had sat next to the main table has been dismantled and thrown away. All the clutter removal now allows for easy access to my guitars as well. The whole area is nice, bright and open (and functional!) now.

The picture shows the end result, complete with a grand opening sign by my daughter Grace. Leo and I christened the new space with a WW2 game of Fireball Forward tonight, and had a terrific time, but that is a story for the next post...

There is still some work to be done with getting things exactly how I want them, but I would say it is 95% done, and has re-energized me. I no longer come down here, look at the mess and shudder. In the few weeks since this has been fundamentally completed, I have made a lot of progress on various projects, some of which I will be detailing here soon. I am thrilled with how this turned out and was well worth all the effort.