Happy as a clam

(which is a very weird expression when you think about it. How do you know a clam is happy?)

Anyway, over a year ago, my wife commented that a) the mutual Hobbyroom looked a bit like Beirut and b) the girls are growing fast and they might need a bigger room soon. We laughed, we discussed, we yelled, but eventually agreed that the new (smaller) hobbyroom would be all mine and she would be happy as a clam with a Netflix subscription. I made plans, drawings, measured everything....and then nothing happend. 2 kids, the house and work is a tad much combined to swap around 2 rooms in any hurry unless you want top drag it outfor a long time.

So, after my accident, when my boss told me my contract would not be renewed (bastard), we decided to make the best of it and get as much done as possible in the first few months before I find a job again (more IF I find a job again, tbh).  1 Month ago to this day, I hit the ground limping and have not stopped since. I completely cleared out my storage locker (4 x 7 metres of it), gave away loads of stuff to charity, also dumped tons of gaming stuff in the garbage containers and boxed up everything else that I thought had any value or I wanted to keep in the first 2 weeks alone. In the next week, I completely cleared out our hobby room and put all of it, with the stuff from the storage locker, in the attic. The attic now has more lead shielding then a Soviet sub. One week ago, our kids went on a week long vacation to my parents and we went full steam ahead to completely redo the old hobby room (painting, wallpapering, sprucing up the 2nd hand furniture we got for them) and at the same time, start the hobbyroom in the newer small room.

In the plans I had drawn up a year ago, the new hobbyroom was 12m2 which meant I would lose one Ikea Billy cabinet from the 4.5 I owned and would only have room for a 4x4 non permanent gaming table. I had planned to build a mobile storage unit/gaming table. I had budgetted the entire move at 500 euros including all the new stuff I had to purchase.

Well, things went a bit different :)

My budget shrank to 300 after a unexpected medical bill. The cabinets I had chosen are no longer produced by Ikea. in retrospect, this was a good thing. My focus had been on miniature storage in drawers. Lot's fof drawers. While clearning them all out for the move I found out only 1/3rd actually contained painted or WIP miniatures, the rest was filled with kits, plasticcard and scenery. When cleared, I found I had enough drawer space left to keep me going for another 10 years at my current rate. With that in mind, I switched over to space for scenery. I like a well stocked table. No 40K pool tables for me. In the first 2 days I placed all of the Billy's, drawers and work stations.

Then we filled up the rest of the room with stuff from the kids....we could not get into bed otherwise. 2 Days later the kids room was fully painted and wallpapered and ready for furnishing, so we cleared the hobby room of kiddie stuff and went to Ikea to pick up what we had not been able to buy second hand. I picked up the 2 cheapest kitchen cabinets that they had, and after a trip to the DIY picked up all the wood needed for the mobile storage/gaming table and a 4x4 table. The wheels might be freebies from my previous employer, but they were brandnew and rated at 100 kilos for the 4. I bolted them to the base with extra metal plates to prevent any sliding around the MDF boards and nailed the Ikea kitchen cabinets to the base. A 80x80 MDF top on that, also nailed down, and Bob was my uncle (odd expression might I add)

 And with that, it was sunday, the kids came back home and they ran right into their old room, puzzled looks on their faces at what had happend (somehow, neither of us had told them we would be changing the rooms, we had both assumed the other had told them....oops). After some nudging they went to their new room and they loved every inch of it (Thank God!). That evening, I rolled the storage unit to the middle of the room (takes hardly any effort even if it does weigh over 70 kilos) and put the two 2x4 boards on top.

Just need to add trim to the edges and 2 clasps where the halves meet to clamp them together. A job well done....or so I thought! Then my buddy Chris says, why don't you fit in a 6x4 while you are at it? Well, because it does not fit, the room is too small....or is it? What I had failed to realise is that I had planned to make the mobile storage unit around 90-100 cm's so as not to aggrivate my back problems. Normal 75cm tables make my back hurt, unless I sit down in a chair in front of it. Like the old man that I am, or something. I had missed that it would be able to pass over my desk with ease, freeing up another 50 cm's of room. Some quick math and a ruler showed it would be possible to place a 6x4 table after all. Cue a late sunday evening, doing the math on the amount of free space, if the unit can handle the additional weight, how to support the 3 boards, where to store the supports and most importantly, to stay within budget. And redo the math 2 times over to see if I have not missed anything. Endconclusion; it is possible.

So, after dropping the kids off at daycare, I went back to the DIY for more wood (we are on first name basis now) and built two laddersupports, 150x40 cm's (which granted, will make a carpenter cringe the way I finished them, but they work and are built earthquake proof), put them on the moveable storage unit and put the boards on top of that.

 Best thing is that even with my average Western European man figure (obese) I can fit between the boards, the cabinets and the door and have space left over. And to squeeze every inch out of my storage space, this is why I kept the supports in 2 pieces.

 Now they store on top of the cabinets, in the 5cm niche between the top of the cabinet and the ceiling.

So, after 6 days of hard work I have, besides a fresh start:
2 workstations
4 3/4 of cabinet space
A 4x4 or a 4x6 gaming table

All in 12m2

Enough miniature space for the rest of my life.

Billy Cabinet space for paints, tools and scenery

2 workspaces - 1 with PC and 1 without, so I can spend more time on the hobby instead of aimlessly surfing fora for like every evening till 1 in the morning.....

My main whiteboard - free, cause someone had dropped it on a corner a long time ago....I don't mind. I want to get a 60x80 one to go on the door, to make notes while we are gaming.

More Billy's, for rules, unpainted miniatures and kits

The mobile cabinet/gaming table holder. More space for scenery, it holds 10 Pappis boxes (slightly larger then A4 sized paperboxes) that I have started using for scenery builds (my scenery may not exceed in size the dimensions of such a box, for easy storage)

There is a free wall left of my hobby desk, and above the gaming table. Eventually, either some art or my helmet collection can go there, but for now, I've spent 280 euros of my budget for this build, and I have to buy a new lock for the door tomorrow (the wife insists I keep the door locked lest the little ones start rummaging in here) so that will be maxed out. After that I can start sorting out all of the boxes we put in the attic and start bringing them down for sorting into keep, sell, or trash/give away for free. Something that will keep me busy for some time to come.

I am Gunbird, and I'm as happy as a clam for the forseeable future. Hobby wise, anyway.