When architect and furniture maker Nina redesigned her shop organization three years ago, she brought the same thinking to it that she brings to building design: a color-coding system that makes organizational logic visible without requiring any reading. Every zone in her shop has a color. Every tool has a colored dot that matches its home zone. The system sounds complicated until you see it in action, and then it seems obvious.
The zones and their colors: blue for measuring and layout, red for cutting (all power saws and their accessories), yellow for hand tools, green for finishing supplies, orange for hardware and fasteners, white for safety (first aid, fire extinguisher, dust masks). Every shelf, bin, drawer, and wall section in each zone has a color-coded strip of tape along its edge. Every tool has a colored adhesive dot on the handle or body. Returning a tool to its home zone is as simple as matching the color.
“The color system is for when my brain is tired,” Nina explains. “At the end of a long shop day, I don’t want to read labels. I want to see blue and put things where the blue is.” The system also works for guests and helpers – her two teenage sons can help clean up the shop without knowing anything about the organizational structure because the colors make it self-explanatory.
Implementation took one Saturday: zone planning on paper, tape application, dot application to every tool. Total cost: $12 for the tape and $4 for the adhesive dots. “Twelve years of woodworking, twelve dollars of tape,” Nina says. “That’s the ratio of thinking to materials for good organization.” What organizational system have you developed that you’d recommend to others? Share it below.