Paint organization

I know that many, many artist’s have Ikea’s Raskog cart as part of their studio essentials.  I use mine to store my paint so that I can wheel it to wherever I am working.  This week, during a much needed cleaning spree, I decided to get my paints more organized.  Specifically, I was using the top shelf of the cart for my fluid acrylics, and the second shelf for my tubes of heavy body acrylics, which were a jumble that I had to sort through every time I needed some paint.  That is a waste of valuable painting time!

I decided to make myself a divider so that there would be eight sections to sort my paint into by color.  It only took a few minutes, making me wonder why I hadn’t done this sooner!

All you need is some heavy cardboard, a ruler and scissors or a mat knife.

1. Cut one piece of cardboard 3 x 16 inches.  This will go down the middle of the cart long ways.
2. Cut three pieces of cardboard 3 x 11 3/4 inches.  These will be the side to side dividers.
3. In the first piece, cut two inch notches every 4 inches.
4. In the other three pieces, cut one two inch notch in the middle (about 5 5/8 inch)

5. With the notches facing up on the middle piece, and down on the side to side pieces, slide your cardboard strips together to look like this:

6.  I had to do a little trimming, but make sure that the pieces fit snugly in the tray,

7.  Fill with paint!  I sorted them into:

• blacks
• whites
• reds
• oranges and pinks

one one side, and on the other:

• blues
• greens
• yellows
• browns

I love it!  I still haven’t decided if I need to add labels on the outside of the cart for quick reference, but that will be easy to add later if I decide to.

So beautiful and inviting!  And there is so much more room! Ahhhh, sometimes it is the little things that make life so much nicer!

Happy organizing!