Office Update & How to Get Spray Paint Off Your Skin

As I continue working on my "new" office space, I have been looking for some No Cost storage solutions. 

Yesterday, I sat looking at the area where I'm keeping my cameras and my eBay packing materials.  The pile of tissue paper looked disorderly and it was wasting space that might be better used in another way.  So I sat and thought, went and put other things away, and then sat and thought some more, considering various possible solutions.  There had to be a better way to use the shelves in this small space.  (By the way, the beautiful Gilbert clock is sitting on my little Victorian sewing table [now my packing table] only temporarily; it's listed for sale on eBay.)

I had a eureka moment when I remembered a basket that I abandoned in my workshop years ago.  It seemed like it should be just the right size, if only I could find it and if only it had survived the squirrels that maintain permanent residence in the workshop.

Well, it turned out to be two baskets rather than one--that was a happy find.  The baskets had survived the squirrels but it looked like they had sat under a roof leak--a little messy but dry and salvageable.  Spray paint to the rescue!

I love spray paint.  As my mother used to say, "it covers a multitude of sins."  I found a few partial cans that would do.  Cherry pink and lime green--those colors would just add to the generally cheerful atmosphere in the little yellow office room.

Now the problem with spray paint is that it gets all over my hands.  (Yes, I have a couple of old spray paint triggers but, alas, those really are lost somewhere in the workshop.)  But the good thing is that I know how to slay that paint-spattered-hand dragon, and I'll tell you how you can do so, too:

Pour about a teaspoon each of table salt and olive oil into your palm.  Work it all over the painted areas on your hands.  The oil will dissolve the adhesives in the paint, and the salt will help scrub away all the little bits and spots of paint.  When the paint has come away, wash your hands with Dawn (or some other grease-dissolving dish detergent).  All clean!

Now my shelves are looking lots more tidy with my new/old baskets, and my little storage space has increased considerably.

Life is good.
I love finding buried treasure in the workshop just as much as I love spray paint.