Help!

[bluesbabypoet]

Hey, we are about half way through our second production of the year. Our closet is a mess! Does anyone have any suggestions of how to get organized? I've tried everything I can think of but it either gets ignored or we have too much stuff to fit. The room is pretty big, but theres so much stuff. Its narrow but long. Most of our old flats are in the back, but you can't even get to them anymore. To get to any of our equiptment we use everyday we have to pull out a chalkboard and a shopping cart. help?

[soundman]

Well if your TD is anything like mine the simple answer is stack it all becasue you never know when you might need it. While there is some truth to that certain things just need to go. I would start by having a cleaning day pull out all the stuff you can and toss or relocate most of it. We are lucky enough to have a props room, a seperate room for set peices and the dressing rooms to stash stuff in. Now that you have all the stuff out and the junk tossed put the stuff you hardly every use back 1st and so on so the drills and extension cords should be right next to the door. If tossing stuff isnt an option what about the wings, hallway or renting a store it yourself shead. I would advise agienst the shead becasue then some one has to drive out there and get it and it might ot be there so a list of what is in it is manditory and forthought to get it before you need it is too.

Best of Luck
Mike

[ship]

Agreed with the cleaning house and tossing what's not really sensible to store. That includes flats that don't conform to certain stock sizes and types. Sorry and it will cost money when you need them again but when you don't have space you have to pay to replace what can't be stored.

Grocery cart? What for? Things like that also. How hard is it really to borrow one from the grocery mart next time you need it?

Another good thing to get rid of is work tables and work spaces, except what's kept to the minimum. When you don't have room to work, such spaces hide clutter far too fast than still are not work spaces. You need a small space to actively work on things given it's in that room, but not a lot of space.

Storage bins/pigeon holes are very useful in storage. Say a 6"x6"x12" bin on the wall with a front to it so you can pack the cubby hole full of stuff and it won't fall out. Hinges in their spot next to door knobs, hanging irons in their own. For the stuff you use on stage, a road box or portable cubby hole. You can buy such things if not build them given a budget. Floor to ceiling with the cubby holes saves a lot of width but make the front parts of it strong enough it will suffice as a ladder becaue it will.

Hang stuff from the ceiling. Hoop back chairs, small tables, window units etc. given a high enough ceiling or at least in storage above the flats.

Construct a rack for scrap plywood and materials to more efficiently store it. Say in a 4' wide area, you have 18" in space for a 4x8 sheet, and a divided shelf 4'-6" high for 4x4 sheets, and above that a shelf for sheets in the 2x4 size. This saves a lot of width especially when sheets are jumbled together. Same idea with the flats and plats plus lumber. Try not to store the lumber in a way other than horizontal nor higher than one can reach without a stool. Such high shelves can be useful for moulding and not as used things, but just as often becomes another place to just throw lumber and have it fall over onto those searching in the rack. Again try to plan for dividing up the lumber into lengths. Perhaps below the 8' rack you store stuff in the 4' range or larger tools and items. Above it materials in the 2 to 4' length etc.

Visit home centers and other theaters to see how they store things for ideas but don't store lumber vertically or it's going to warp.

For other things, large shelving units and cabinets, than in my store room I have a piece of plywood over the door. It has pipe flanges bolted to it with about 40 pipes at 18" coming off the flange. For me this stores tape - a lot of tape and types of it, but similar pipes off the wall are useful for cable if not stored in castered tubs.

Hope it helps. Built in storage and work spaces are good if kept efficient and neat but can also just as fast become a waste of space. Something to balance in thought. Even if not neat sometimes just an empty room really is the neatest most efficient way to do it unless kept up and neat at all times.