Last month we challenged our readers: label every storage location in your shop – every bin, drawer, shelf, hook, and cabinet – and send us photos. We expected a few dozen responses. We got over 200. The systems ranged from a single label maker applied to twenty bins to hand-lettered wooden signs burned with a branding iron across an entire workshop. Every one of them made us rethink what we meant by “organized.”
The most extreme submission came from a retired librarian in Vermont who applied the Dewey Decimal System to her shop storage. Hand tools are in the 600s. Finishing supplies are in the 700s. Hardware gets subcategories. “I spent forty years organizing information by classification system,” she said. “I wasn’t going to do it any other way in my shop.” The system is detailed enough that she can tell a visitor exactly which shelf to look on without leaving her workbench.
The most practical submission was a simple two-label system: red labels for things that stay (always in this location), blue labels for things that migrate (used in multiple locations, return here after use). The distinction sounds minor until you’re trying to figure out why the square that lives on the bench is in the measuring zone – it migrates. It should have a blue label. Everything should. Once you start labeling, you realize how many tools have ambiguous homes.
The most beautiful submission was from a sign maker in Oregon who built custom engraved walnut label holders for every drawer in his shop. The drawer fronts look like a fine furniture piece. The contents are organized down to the last brass screw. He estimates he spent 40 hours making the labels and admits that was more time than the organizational benefit justified. “But it’s the nicest thing in my shop,” he says, without any remorse. Take the label challenge – share your results below.