Hey P&Sians, sorry to rehash an old thread but I needed some inspiration. I've just purchased my first home (yay  ) and am converting the garage in to a workshop. I recall seeing a pic on here at some point of someone who had custom fitted benches with shelving stemming from them to the roof - such an awesome use of space! I'd love to see them again and draw some inspiration so if by chance you remember it, could you please point me towards it? Thanks!

On a side note, I realised how addicted I have become to puppet building. I have been packed for 9 weeks whilst solicitors have negotiated and basically sucked me dry  . I am literally bursting with new ideas and creative urges and a desire to use my hands and an impatience that has grown by the day. So damned excited to be finally able to get my puppet on!

I wanted to ask some advice about a storage problem I'm having. I have about 50 very large sheets of plastic for my shadow puppets. They're about a few yards in length, and about 1/2 yard in width, and very thin. They are also very flimsy. This means they are currently taking up the entire top of one of my desks. The plastic is also easily damaged when it comes to scratches.

I'd like to put the plastic up against a wall or something, but because they're so flexible they don't stand up by themselves. I currently have no way of storing them except keeping them horizontally. But it takes up too much space.

Anyone have any suggestions? -- Note I can't cut up the pieces into smaller parts as that stops me from using them later.

I use binder clips and a thumb tack to hang things up that I don't want to get bent or be in the way.  Do you have wall space or even the back of a closet behind the clothes?

I use my sons old art portfolio which is like a book of corregated cardboard with one hinged side and the other side has tie strings to hold it together thightly.I use to store thin poster board standing up and keep it clean and straight.  I get the largest pieces of boxes for free from a company that makes air conditioning vents, they use large flat boxes.I have to call them and ask when they expect a shipment and get there quick before they recycle the box they saved for me. I take a box cutter so I can cut it to fit my vehicle. Then I store the portfolio behind a dresser against the wall.  Or how about under a bed? Lining it with Flannel would keep your plastic scratch free and help hold it in place.

I use binder clips and a thumb tack to hang things up that I don't want to get bent or be in the way.  Do you have wall space or even the back of a closet behind the clothes?

Whilst each individual sheet is quite light, taken together (some 50+ of them) they're very heavy and impossible to hang up on a wall without using some heavy-duty method.

I don't currently have wall space (trying to clear out stuff at the moment, so may have some soon) and the sole closet I do have is already packed to the brim with past puppets/stuff I can't get rid of.

I use my sons old art portfolio which is like a book of corregated cardboard with one hinged side and the other side has tie strings to hold it together thightly.I use to store thin poster board standing up and keep it clean and straight.  I get the largest pieces of boxes for free from a company that makes air conditioning vents, they use large flat boxes.I have to call them and ask when they expect a shipment and get there quick before they recycle the box they saved for me. I take a box cutter so I can cut it to fit my vehicle. Then I store the portfolio behind a dresser against the wall.  Or how about under a bed? Lining it with Flannel would keep your plastic scratch free and help hold it in place.

I did think of just placing the sheets between a thick piece of cardboard, but it presents the same problem; nowhere to stick it except to attempt to find somewhere to lean it up against. The bed is a no go either, because it's on a wooden frame (futon) where there's no space between the floor and the frame.

I quite literally have no space for much of anything at the moment... so maybe my problem is not storage so much as clearing storage space out.

I understand the space dilemma Na.  It's really hard to figure these things out w/out seeing the space.  It's so hard to get rid of things you "might need one day" isn't it?  If you made a portfolio like Snail suggested can it slide between the bed and the wall?  I don't know, there's got to be SOME place to shove it since it's flat.

I confess, when I'm stressed I like to organize and throw everything away! I just hauled 2 loads of stuff to the dumpster from my workshop!  I had so much cardboard!!!!

I understand the space dilemma Na.  It's really hard to figure these things out w/out seeing the space.  It's so hard to get rid of things you "might need one day" isn't it?  If you made a portfolio like Snail suggested can it slide between the bed and the wall?  I don't know, there's got to be SOME place to shove it since it's flat.

I confess, when I'm stressed I like to organize and throw everything away! I just hauled 2 loads of stuff to the dumpster from my workshop!  I had so much cardboard!!!!

The bed is low to the ground, so that won't work; the sheets are taller in any direction than the bed. Put it this way: this room can't fit a double, king or queen sized bed without also having literally no other furniture in it (I have a single... so that just shows that there's even less room than that). The closet is built in, and one corner of the room has a heating duct so you can't put anything there. A huge window is on one wall. The only way to store these upright against a wall is to make space for it, which I can't currently do... To say I can walk around in here is incorrect: I can hop around items

At any rate, I'm currently getting rid of stuff I haven't even looked at in five years, so with any luck I should clear out some space soon.

Maybe I should just consider halving the sheets so they're smaller.

Hmmm... Ok this may be a bit off the wall but do you have a mattress and a box spring on your bed?  Could you maybe store them between them?  Like I said that is kind of out of the box thinking but I have a feeling that is what it is going to take for this. My other thought was a piece of wood that was the same size as the desk top you are storing then on now that you could lay on top of them on the desk thus giving you a desk top of sorts again.

Wow Shawn you are really outside the box, great ideas!

Hmmm... Ok this may be a bit off the wall but do you have a mattress and a box spring on your bed?  Could you maybe store them between them?  Like I said that is kind of out of the box thinking but I have a feeling that is what it is going to take for this. My other thought was a piece of wood that was the same size as the desk top you are storing then on now that you could lay on top of them on the desk thus giving you a desk top of sorts again.

Nope, like I said the mattress is on a futon base. The base is not flat and is wooden with struts in the middle, and the sheets are bigger than the base anyway and would get considerably ruined by getting bent everywhere.

I have '3' desk spaces. Two actual desks, and one made up using 2 stacks of plastic tubs with an MDF lid on it. The plastic sheets have been on one of the desks up until now.

I have found that even if I put light items on top of the plastic sheets, they get indentations, hence not wanting to store them horizontally any more. I have had them stored in such a way for the past 6 months and recently got fed up with doing so because I kept having to keep them on the desk *and* clear of any other stuff I might have.

There is absolutely no way to store them and use them as a 'desk top'. In addition, the MDF 'lid' is from a puppetry table-top and has blocks of wood underside to prevent it from slipping off the frame. The lid is smaller than the sheets and would inflict injury from indentation.

-- Feel free to give up guys, I've got them temporarily stored anyway and for the moment, until I clear more junk out, there's not much to be done.