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!

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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)

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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:

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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.

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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!

0 Responses

  1. Laura (PA Pict)

    I use that same dividing system for my acrylic paints but in a large plastic storage tub (since I stow my art supplies in cupboards around the house). It’s really handy.

  2. aimeslee

    Thanks so much for sharing this. Very clear instructions. My Raskog holds my stamping blocks and tools, but I had planned to buy another one for paints when I could figure out how to make dividers. Problem now solved! Thanks again, xoxo

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