Need ideas for multi-purpose studio furniture

[Susan Kuban]

We'll be moving in another year or so. We will move into a 3 bedroom condo for a year or so while we're building a new house. I'll have one of the bedrooms for my studio/office/sewing room/hideaway. I need to pare down my studio equipment anyway, and am now looking for furniture to "multi-task" for me. I need a large table top for many reasons, art being only one of them. I need file cabinets, paint/supplies storage, computer and office supplies furniture, taboret and space to hold a monitor (from which I paint), moderate painting storage. I think we'll be renting a storage unit for some of the furniture we just can't fit into the condo, so the art equipment I just can't let go will be stored.

I've looked through this forum and have seen some of the custom made equipment. I am hoping, though, to be able to buy items that can be used as is or with minimal adapting. Does anyone know of any online "stores" that handle furniture of this type? Or maybe mail-order catalogs?

Thanks, Susan

[Molly Sherrick Phifer]

I just got a new table/storage piece that I absolutely love. Montgomery Ward has them available to order online in quite a variety of colors and two sizes. Look here to see these wonderful workhorses. They are meant as kitchen island/carts, but I saw a deluxe taboret with locking wheels that I could customize online.

Best of luck to you!

[Lacey Lewis]

My small suggestion is not as nice as Molly's, but it works for me. I have a livingroom/office/studio and have to put everything away each evening. I have a desk which holds the computer in an "L" in the corner, and I have plastic rolling carts (from Target, WalMart, etc) underneath that hold my supplies. I do not paint in the corner; I roll out the carts when I paint, the tops of which hold my pallet and brushes, and roll them back away when I am done. This saves me a huge amount of space, and when I get a real studio one day I can still use the carts in myriad places throughout the house... laundry room, kid's room, storage. Then my brushes and pallet are put on the top of a bookcase up high and the wet paintings are hung on the wall. Actually, Monet had a nice system for this that I'd love to copy: molding to lean the bottom of the canvas on so that it leans forward facing down.

[Julie Deane]

It's always fun trying to problem solve, so here's some ideas to add to the great ones already given:

You could alway use a door as a table, placed over 2 small file cabinets as supports.

Ikea has neat looking office and storage stuff, such as files on wheels.

I've used old file cabinets as storage for all sorts of things. Currently, though, my paints are being held in an old bureau.

Here's another idea - it's a loft:
http://www.ikea.com/webapp/wcs/store...umber=70019954
Instead of a bed, the top area could store boxes, and a work table could be installed below.

[Susan Kuban]

Thanks, Molly, Lacey and Julie, for your suggestions, all good ones. I plan to think carefully about the kitchen cart idea. It's attractive and functional. The top of it is not large enough for my multi-purpose table, though. I guess I could put a door or some other wider, longer surface on top of the cart, but then, I'd have to take it off each time I wanted to use the cart as a taboret. Julie's bed frame idea is a good alternative, except that it is a little too short. I checked its dimensions and found that I'd bump my head on the mattress frame every time I bend over the table top below. If I could make the whole piece a few inches higher, it might be workable. Then I could use Lacey's idea of the rolling carts under the table surface. Both Wards' and Ikea seem to have quite a few items that might be adaptable. Thank you all for your ideas. I plan to work on this some more and if I come up with something "wonderful", I'll post it in this forum. I imagine there are plenty of other artists who are trying to maximize a small space.

Susan