How to Store and Organise Your Paints and Brushes

Quick answer

Store acrylic paints upright, sealed, and away from direct sun and freezing temperatures, then organise them by colour family or triad so you can find any pot in seconds. Keep brushes horizontal or tip-down in a covered tray and never let them stand bristle-down in water. A simple drawer-and-tray setup beats a fancy display shelf every time.

Paint storage for miniatures is less about having a beautiful shelf and more about keeping pigments smooth, droppers unclogged, and brushes straight. Most hobby paint problems, from separated medium to splayed bristles, start with how the pot and brush were left after the last session.

This guide walks through a repeatable setup you can build in an afternoon, whether you paint at a kitchen table or a dedicated desk. It covers paint pot storage, brush storage ideas, and hobby desk organisation, plus the products that make the routine easier.

Step 1: Choose a storage spot with stable temperature and no direct sun

Acrylic paint dislikes two things: heat and freezing. A garage that swings from 35°F to 100°F will separate pigment and binder faster than a closet that stays near room temperature. Pick an interior shelf, drawer, or cabinet away from radiators, windows, and space heaters.

Light matters too. UV fades colour over months, and clear dropper bottles are not immune. A closed drawer or opaque box solves both temperature swings and light exposure at once.

• Checkpoint: if the spot feels hot to the touch in summer or cold enough to chill water in winter, it is the wrong place.
• Keep paints off the floor, where dust and accidental kicks are common.

Step 2: Sort paints by colour family or triad before you buy storage

Sorting first prevents buying the wrong size box. Group by colour family (reds, blues, greens, metallics) or by the triad system many ranges use, where a base, midtone, and highlight sit together. That way you grab three pots instead of hunting through forty.

If you paint multiple armies or genres, consider a second tier: historical, fantasy, and sci-fi. The Army Painter's Warpaints Air range is built on a Colour Triad System, which makes triad-based sorting natural if you already paint that way.

• Checkpoint: if you cannot name the colour family of a pot without opening it, your labels or grouping need work.
• Write the colour name on the lid with a paint pen for fast identification.

Step 3: Store dropper bottles upright and tighten caps after every session

Dropper bottles should stand upright so pigment does not settle into the tip and clog it. If you lay them down, paint can creep into the threads and dry, making the cap hard to remove later. Tighten each cap until it just stops, not gorilla-tight.

Mixing balls pre-loaded in a bottle help you reincorporate separated medium with a quick shake, but they only work if the cap is sealed and the bottle is stored upright. A shallow drawer insert with dividers keeps bottles vertical without a custom rack.

• Checkpoint: shake each bottle for five seconds before use; if it still looks separated, the bottle may have been stored badly.
• Wipe the tip with a paper towel before closing to stop paint drying in the nozzle.

Step 4: Give brushes a dedicated tray, not a jar

Standing brushes bristle-down in a water jar is the fastest way to ruin them. Water wicks into the ferrule, swells the glue, and warps the shape. Instead, lay brushes flat in a shallow tray or store them tip-up in a covered case with a foam or elastic insert.

If you use a brush holder, make sure the bristles never touch the bottom. For travel, a roll-up case with individual slots protects tips better than a loose pouch.

• Checkpoint: after cleaning, reshape the tip with your fingers and let the brush dry horizontally or tip-up.
• Never store a wet brush in a closed case; trapped moisture grows mould and softens the handle.

Step 5: Build a two-zone desk: active project and backstock

Hobby desk organisation works best when you split it into an active zone and a backstock zone. The active zone holds only the paints, brushes, and water pot for the current project. Everything else lives in drawers or boxes behind you.

This keeps your work surface clear and stops you from opening ten pots when you need three. A small tray for the current triad plus one brush per task is enough for most sessions.

• Checkpoint: if you have to move something to start painting, your active zone is too crowded.
• Reset the active zone at the end of each session so the next one starts clean.

Step 6: Label, date, and rotate your stock

Acrylic paint does not last forever, especially once opened. Label each pot with the date you opened it and rotate older pots to the front. If a pot has been untouched for over a year, test it on a spare base before committing it to a model.

A simple index card or spreadsheet listing colour, brand, and open date takes five minutes and saves you from buying duplicates.

• Checkpoint: if you own two pots of the same colour and neither is labelled, you are wasting money.
• Store rarely used metallics separately; they settle faster and need more shaking.

Your 20-minute storage reset

1. Clear the desk: Remove everything from your painting surface and wipe it down. Put unrelated items in a box to sort later. A clear surface is the checkpoint; if anything remains, you have not finished this step.
2. Group by colour family: Pull all paints out and sort into reds, blues, greens, browns, metallics, and so on. Use triads if your range is built that way. If a pot has no obvious family, put it in a misc bin and label it later.
3. Check every cap and tip: Wipe dried paint from threads and nozzles, then tighten caps. Set aside any pot with a cracked cap for replacement. A pot that will not seal will dry out; do not put it back in storage.
4. Load the drawer upright: Place dropper bottles standing up in dividers or a shallow tray. Keep the most-used triads at the front. Shake one bottle as a test; if it rattles, the mixing ball is free and the bottle is stored correctly.
5. Set up the brush tray: Lay brushes flat in a tray or stand them tip-up in a covered case. Remove any brush left in water. If a bristle tip is bent, reshape it now and let it dry horizontally.
6. Label and date: Write the open date on each pot you have used and note duplicates on an index card. If you find two identical unopened pots, return one to backstock and stop buying that colour.

Products that make storage and organisation easier

• Warpaints Air: Potion Green: Airbrush-ready paints right from the bottle, no thinning required, with pre-loaded mixing balls and developed in a Colour Triad System. Because they need no thinning, you can store them upright and use them straight from the bottle, and the triad system gives you a ready-made sorting rule for your paint pot storage.
• Warpaints Air: Leather Brown: Airbrush-ready paint with pre-loaded mixing balls and part of a Colour Triad System. A second triad colour makes it easy to group your browns together on the desk, so you grab the right pot without digging through a drawer.
• Speedpaint: Beowulf Blue: One-coat painting solution with consistent flow, intense shading and highlighting effect, supplied in 18ml spill-free dropper bottles with mixing balls pre-loaded. Spill-free droppers and pre-loaded mixing balls reduce mess and clogging, which means less cleanup and more reliable storage between sessions.
• Historical: Rust: Warpaints Historical is a historian-approved range designed for historical gaming and collecting, and this colour matches Fresh Rust from the Warpaints Fanatic Range. If you paint historical subjects, keeping this range in its own labelled section prevents mixing it with fantasy colours and speeds up your organise hobby paints routine.

Good paint and brush storage is a habit, not a purchase. Store acrylics upright and sealed, keep brushes out of standing water, and reset your desk after each session. Do that and your paints will stay smooth and your brushes will keep a point far longer.