I’m reorganising my hobby space and I could really use some inspiration for cool and effective ways to do this. I have a rectangular room of about 15sqrm (6m x 2.5m) for this, I also have a treadmill in there so I don’t have tons of space.
I have 2. One is a real shop with a metal lathe, vertical mill, drill press, hydraulic press, and welders and other stuff. That’s all in a separate building.
My 2 printers, a Mk3s and an A1 min and AMS sit nicely on a pine log table that’s 21"x49". It has a large drawer that I gridfinitied and holds everything I need to completely disassemble a 3D printer, repair it, and reassemble. I also 3D printed a system with 2 small drawer that hold things like screws, magnets, and heat set inserts. A cheap rolling 5 shelf unit sits tucked into a corner and holds some extra 3D stuff and also some basic hand tools for home repairs so I don’t need to go out the real shop at midnight when it might be -30F out there for doing a quick fix.
I have 2 plastic totes to store my filaments in under the table. This helps manage my filament inventory by limiting the amount I can store. Though there is room for excess as needed for bigger projects.
My work surface is my desk with my computer, papers, and other miscellaneous stuff in the 3 drawers it has.
My hobby space is largely in my basement. I have a 27" US General (Harbor Freight) roller cab + topper that stores a lot of my tools with the exception of tools I use for automotive work. Those live in my garage in a second topper. You’ll never be able to beat the density of a toolbox and the drawers really help with organization (the hammer drawer, the measuring drawer, the pliers and what not drawer, the cordless tools drawer, etc).
I have a partial wood shop in my basement that includes a DIY work bench. It has a number of large (24" x 30") pull out shelves in the middle for hand tools. Pull out shelves are amazing.
My printer lives on top of two stacked IKEA LACK tables. From a concept perspective, it’s nice. It gives a space under the first table and a shelf for printer things like filament, a dehydrator, etc. In reality, the stacked LACKs are super wobbly and more tightly spaced shelves would be more practical. I want to add pull out shelves to it, which should help give it more rigidity, but I might just build a printer stand from scratch.
So basically… pull out storage that stacks is great.
Mine is a single garage that is a mixture of workshop and gym. Squat rack at one end, cabinets down one wall and bench down the other. There is also a bike work stand too, but the bikes are all stored elsewhere.
In the middle is a massive pile of empty boxes, because it is a garage and my wife keeps dumping them there.
Not the best to give advice, but I follow the “jet mechanic” philosophy. I make bags and boxes of tools of a give common task (i.e. all the things I use to build computers in a bag, all my quick wood worker stuff in a bag, etc). Then try to keep supplies near the best workspace for a give place (normally based on space, messiness of the hobby, power and vent considerations).
Again it works somewhat for me, the bags replace ADHD piles and are more useful, but I’m a mess lol
Something I love too is have an away spot for supplies and a in use spot. So my wood scraps are away on shelves on the wall, and my PC parts are in filing cabinets. I keep an active parts place and basket on my desk, that I try to clean up when I’m done working (either project done or just over it for a while).
Away spots are the good places to put things really out of the reach, but try to keep it visibly accessable.
It’s a hell hole.
My knee-jerk reaction is to answer “Like shit”. Mostly stemming from the fact that I don’t have a proper workshop. However, what I do have:
- A “printer room” in the basement. When we were remodeling the bathroom upstairs, this ancient dungeonesque bathroom in the basement was used temporarily. It had a bathtub, a washing machine, and misc other things you’d associate with a bathroom. (Note: Not toilet. That’s a different room). When the upstairs bathroom was completed, the basement one was no longer needed. The bathtub ended up cut in half as I needed to test my new angle grinder, and other than that it was mostly left as is until I figured I could temporarily keep my printer there. Temporary became permanent, and the old unused washing machine is now a “printer pedestal”. One of the first things I printed was a cover for the drain, and then I put in a huge dehumidifier so that the room is nice and dry, despite its original function.
- A halway with a large storage furniture. Its height happened to be the perfect height for standing up kind of work, so I’ve annexed the top, which now holds a PSU, a soldering iron, a bunch of things I’m working on, and a 5x5 gridfinity storage shelf with drawers. A substantial amount of Digikeys overseas revenue is in that hallway.
currently reorganizing my own. it’s about 4m x 4m x 2m
I’ll have a combo station for electrical and miniature hand painting. A combo station for post print cleanup and sanding/air brushing. Enclosed insulated and ventilated cabinets for my FDM and MSLA printers. print medium storage. chemical storage. tool storage.
I’m also making a space for a small laser cutter/engraver that’s also part of the ventilated cabinet.
I’m also installing a small chem lab that will help me recondition IPA solvents and test/manufacture my own resin recipes.
I’ve also got a drill press and tiny craft tablesaw I need to find a home for.
I’m hopeful to finish it and potentially start streaming some of the crazy ass shit I do.
I bought a couple 30" deep 6’ long butcher block counter tops. I coated them with polyurethane sealer and mounted them to the wall with 24" deep brackets mounted to the wall studs. So I have a huge amount of desk space without any clutter of legs underneath. By making it myself, I made the height the exact size for my body. The thick butcher block and stud mounting makes the desk more rigid than any typical store desk/table.
On the wall is multi board that has 3d printer tools and Gunplamark’s ultimate cereal dryboxes.

