Easter Weekend Project

Last year we had our house done, well the loft converted, new kitchen, the bathroom made over and the bedrooms remodelled. I say this only to set the scene, I don't intend to go waffling on about it as Mrs Simpkins did enough of that as it was happening on that well known social networking site (which you can Like this post with if you feel inclined to do so). No, my reason for mentioning it is to explain the state of the 'War Room' and my 'office' (as it is known - makes it sound like I am working when I am escaping game shows in it).

All the stuff that needed moving out of the way got shoved in these two rooms and they filled up with boxes, bags and general bric-a-brac. The result of this was a major halting in painting. Now, for work I use a MacBook Pro and an ASUS EP121 Tablet for 99% of things, these are portable and obviously mean I can work practically anywhere. Pondering this ability lead me to look into getting a portable painting device that met a few important requirements:

• firstly it had to be compact yet allow enough space to hold all of the necessary bits of kit for the project being undertaken;
• secondly, portable enough so it can be set up if i am sitting on the settee (or sofa if you are posh) or at the table, etc.;
• and finally, the most important requirement, something that can be easily removed from view and reset up again so Mrs Simpkins cannot complain about it [my painting] 'taking over' the house (as if!).

I found the ideal solution in the Citadel Paint Station, with the water containers and cutting mat it cost about £30 (summer 2011). It's been a boon, the most important result of this handy little bit of kit has been the fact that The Boss seems to be quite happy for me to paint in the Living-room without comment, I've added a portable daylight with magnifying lens to the default set up and this seems to have gone unchallenged as I can clear the whole lot away in a couple of minutes. The other advantage of this is that I cannot be accused of 'not spending any time in her presence - always a good thing.

While the portable painting solution has been great, I do need to sort out the 'office' - currently just my drum kit is the only thing properly set up in there - as I have started to, as I have mentioned - stepped up the painting as I need to get a few armies painted up and I need more room as I am prepping, priming, painting, dipping, drying etc loads of miniatures in rotation. Plus, I will need to get 'The War Room' back up to speed as I will need somewhere to actually set up a table to play! An ideal project for the Easter Bank Holiday methinks