Space the final frontier: are you conquered by clutter? daunted by disorganization? A careful redesign of your frame shop's storage solutions may be just the thing to help maximize space and minimize hassle

Art Business News, April, 2004 by Tricia Bisoux

The large table incorporates a 9- by 6.2-foot work surface and stands 36 inches tall, perfect for Lee's 5-foot-3-inch-tall stature. The table's 8- by 6-foot base is equipped with the right number of shelves and slots to accommodate boards of multiple sizes, Lee explained. The table base is divided into three sections. The front section, which measures 40.5 inches deep by 32.5 inches high, stores foam-core board; the back section, also 40.5 inches deep and 32.5 inches high, stores matboards. Beadboard paneling keeps the storage out of the sight of customers.

The middle section, which is 15 inches wide and 6 feet deep, is for long-term storage. The table also includes a 6-foot wide by 15-inch-high shelf along the back work area that stores tools, glass cleaner, pencils, flashlights, and other necessities.

Lee allocates slots of different widths to accommodate different sizes of individual boards, but noted that other framers should plan their storage to suit their own styles. "Some framers like to store their matboard in the original boxes, in which case they would just need to make the openings larger," she said.

Showroom Strategies

The showroom and design area of a frame shop requires extra attention to organization and storage to keep it clean, spacious, and inviting to customers. Even so, many framers devise creative ways to maximize their display space and even sneak backroom storage unobtrusively into the front-room area.

The largest, most prominent fixture in the showroom--the design table--also presents a golden storage opportunity. While aesthetics must be a consideration for up-front storage, the space underneath a design table is not to be wasted.

Frames in San Diego devised the perfect front-room tables that balanced form with function. A 4- by 8-foot design table in Frames' 450-square-foot showroom is carpeted on the front and sides to create an attractive space to display moulding samples and artwork (affixed with hook-and-loop fasteners), while underneath there are horizontal slots for finished framed artwork awaiting customer pickup.

The back of the large unit faces the backroom work area. Therefore, it's equipped with vertical slots for matboard and foam-core board storage that remains easily accessible, while well out of the view of customers.

"Because of the small amount of space that we have, the best thing we did was to build furniture that does double duty," said Hal Simon, who owns Frames with business partner Neal Evans. "Our design tables have 100-percent storage space underneath them."

The premium on space in most retail shops has compelled framers to call on manufacturers to create fixtures that can display more items in a smaller amount of space. For example, J&J Display of Allendale, N.J., has adapted the open-book-style swing panels for poster display to a three-dimensional display for moulding samples and other larger items (see photo at left), said the company's Rob Hemmen. The whole premise, Hemmen noted, is to "show more with less."