Pen Display Drawers

[A Smug Dill]

It is it's own piece of furniture so maybe just maybe I'd admit to the husbot that it's a bit on the big side, but I LOVE IT.

Oh, that just looks fabulous. I'm envious, especially since each channel in the pen trays can hold two pens! You have a whole lot of space on those trays to fill now, and that's a glorious thing. The pens on your second tray from the top look good. That pocket pen on the far left on the top tray, is that a Pilot Elite? Looks a bit like one, but I'd expect the barrel to be maroon in colour and not black.

 

Are those bottles of souten and shigure I see? That means you only have another 14 bottles in the range to collect, before they disappear from the market altogether.

 

Husbot? Hahaha.

[shawnee]

Thanks for your kind words shawnee. I often find inspiration from the posts on FPN - People from all around the world with one common obsession and a million different experiences. Sorry for my late response to your post but I was on holiday in February and missed it. You've certainly prompted a lot of discussion since. I've also looked for spool chests here in the UK, but they've all been too expensive. I suppose that's why we keep looking for hard to find vintage stuff in the hope one turns up eventually at the right price? I hope you'll post pictures of your cabinets when you're ready?

No thanks, necessary. Your cabinet got me moving in the right direction and like you said, I’m always amazed by the breadth of knowledge here and love to see how people put their own touch on tackling things. If you transform another cabinet, let me know. I now have a spare that I might post photos of.

 

Xo

Shawnee

[shawnee]

Oh, that just looks fabulous. I'm envious, especially since each channel in the pen trays can hold two pens! You have a whole lot of space on those trays to fill now, and that's a glorious thing. The pens on your second tray from the top look good. That pocket pen on the far left on the top tray, is that a Pilot Elite? Looks a bit like one, but I'd expect the barrel to be maroon in colour and not black.

 

Are those bottles of souten and shigure I see? That means you only have another 14 bottles in the range to collect, before they disappear from the market altogether.

 

Husbot? Hahaha.

 

That pocket pen is actually a Sailor although I do have a Pilot Elite as a pocket pen. Just for your viewing pleasure, here are my pens (there are two Sheaffer snorkels missing from the line up). One tray is full of working pens, the other is all for restoration. They all have nibs, but they need sacs and god knows what else. I'm weak, I need help. LOL.

 

Don't even start in on inks You are the devil.

 

xo

[A Smug Dill]

Just for your viewing pleasure, here are my pens

Very impressive line-up!

 

Don't even start in on inks You are the devil.

Yes, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't, but if I was the devil I'd be lying.

[judo]

Hello all. I'm back. What did I miss?

 

Also, as promised, here's my pen cabinet that the husbot feels is large enough that it should have its own zip code. I call it Gertrude or Suki depending on my mood. I like the fact that I can add pen trays as I need to and it locks with a key. It is it's own piece of furniture so maybe just maybe I'd admit to the husbot that it's a bit on the big side, but I LOVE IT. LOL.

 

 

 

Looks perfect for all your pens, paper and ink. Looks as though it was made to fit the pen trays. Plenty of room to grow your collection. I've seen lots of these cabinets for sheet music at auction sales here in the UK but didn't realise they'd be so good for pens & ink collections. It shows that you can find ideal storage for your collection without spending hundreds - great job.

[thx1138]

I bought a new genuine Parker pen case recently. I'm guessing it holds 400-500 pens.

[judo]

I bought a new genuine Parker pen case recently. I'm guessing it holds 400-500 pens.

Sounds fantastic. Any pictures?

[thx1138]

Here it is before delivery.

[thx1138]

One with a few pens in.

[shawnee]

Here it is before delivery.

Holy (bleep). You need a dedicated pen room just for that cabinet!

[shawnee]

Looks perfect for all your pens, paper and ink. Looks as though it was made to fit the pen trays. Plenty of room to grow your collection. I've seen lots of these cabinets for sheet music at auction sales here in the UK but didn't realise they'd be so good for pens & ink collections. It shows that you can find ideal storage for your collection without spending hundreds - great job.

Thank you for solving the Scooby Doo mystery. I could not for the life of me figure out what it was built for. I thought some sort of drafting drawers, but your sheet music cabinet makes more sense. The only problem is that I feel compelled to fill it!

 

I would love to see other people’s innovative storage ideas. I’m still waiting to see a converted spool cabinet.

[judo]

Here it is before delivery.

Wow - that's Fabulous! The ultimate pen cabinet. I think I saw similar ones for sale when they refurbished the Pen Museum in Birmingham (UK) but they needed their own room, as someone else has commented, so I had to pass. Your cabinet shows great commitment to your hobby (obsession?).

[inkstainedruth]

I went trailing around a bunch of antiques stores up around the Cook Forest area yesterday, after what I saw an estate sale turned out to be part of an end table or night stand with the drawers upright on one side and then a flat surface at the bottom of the drawers on the other side (and a small toy chest of drawers or what might have been a furniture salesman's sample (the first was too big to go anywhere in my house, and the second would have maybe fit a couple dozen pens -- at most.... At one place around Cooksburg I saw a spool cabinet -- for $675 US (!). Now kicking myself for passing up on that silverware cabinet on legs at an estate sale a month or so back for (IIRC, under $250). Sigh.

In the meantime, I went to IKEA Friday and ended up buying a small Malm two-drawer cabinet: I think will fit up to eight 24-pen cases once it's put together (so room to grow, since at the moment I only have six ). It's small enough to fit under my antique Arts and Crafts writing desk, even if we decide to put casters on it to make it easier to move (the Office section of the store had a similar Malm cabinet that DID have casters -- but the upper drawer was really too shallow, and the bottom one was clearly designed for hanging file folders).

Now, I just have to wait for my husband to get home from visiting his mom to help me assemble it (the diagram directions that IKEA helpfully provides shows a cartoon of a person holding a pencil, who is crossed out, and the next cartoon shows the same person with another person to assist; I'm not sure it should have to take two people to assemble a cabinet that's less than 22" high x ~16" wide x under 19" deep, but there you go...). I saw a 2 drawer Hemnes nightstand that was a little better looking, but if I have to put casters on it -- neither unit calls for them, only the Malm office one did -- it won't fit. I figure the brown-black finish will look okay with the desk (which is a sort of golden brown color) and the flanking Pier One fold-down shelves (black sides and sort of a reddish brown shelves) which no longer seem to be on their website), and the unit is small enough to still have a place to sit (I have a stool that came with a Bombay & Co. desk I bought on Craig's List that was a little too small to be useful once I got it home, but which is now in my husband's home office).

The Malm cabinet isn't overly stylish, but is eminently functional, and clears space off one of the bookcases (the bookcases have a bunch of really nice rattan covered folding cloth boxes -- that IKEA sadly no longer carries -- which have ink bottles and back up journals in them, along with things like spare clipboards). But the shelves are filling up and also have stuff like medications and hand lotion and my alarm clock on one (it doubles as a nightstand) and also stuff like my pen repair tool box (a small art supply tool box) and a jewelry box (one of those Lane chests that girls graduating from high school used get for free with a coupon if you went to to the local furniture store that carried Lane cedar chests). The back of the desk itself is cluttered with random silly tchotchkes, like a battery powered mini Lucky Cat (one of those cats with a waving arm that you see in Chinese groceries), my two small Pelikan pen stands. some Wade Whimsey figurines, some other small boxes, my mini Gumby and Poky, a Kleiban cat hanging ornament, and a blue Rat Fink with whiskers I bought on eBay awhile back....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[sansenri]

Hello all. I'm back. What did I miss?

 

Also, as promised, here's my pen cabinet that the husbot feels is large enough that it should have its own zip code. I call it Gertrude or Suki depending on my mood. I like the fact that I can add pen trays as I need to and it locks with a key. It is it's own piece of furniture so maybe just maybe I'd admit to the husbot that it's a bit on the big side, but I LOVE IT. LOL.

 

 

 

I somehow have a feeling you're going to fill up those empty drawers rather fast...