Hobby rooms, part four

My first hobby room was my parents' unfinished basement.

My second hobby room was a walk-in closet in my last college apartment.

After I graduated, I packed up everything I owned and moved to Tennessee.

All my earthly possessions in Dave and Judy's attic

I spent the next five years living out of a suitcase. It was a couple years and a couple moves before my horses really got unpacked.

Bedroom shelves in the Carriage Lane apartment

Between 1991 and 2003, I lived in two houses, three apartments and two duplexes. I didn't have a horse room in any of them.

Instead, my models lived where ever I could fit them. Some were on display in public areas, but most were tucked away in bedrooms and closets. 

Carriage Lane apartment in Cordova, TN. My roommate, Debbie, was a good decorator.

Others didn't see the light of day. Space was so tight in our Memphis duplex, several boxes of horses got stored in the attic. That house wasn't air conditioned, and the attic was hot. It should have been a recipe for disaster, but somehow, they all came through unscathed. 

Abbie climbing the ladder to the Barwood duplex attic

A lot of people aren't lucky enough to have a dedicated hobby space. 

Lindsay Diamond's kitchen herd

Instead, the models go where ever they fit.

photo by Amber Powell

And I do mean where ever.

photo by Christina Harrington

Behind the fish food!

photo by Lizzy Busch

On top of the gaming table!

photo by Lizzy Busch

Next to the egg incubators!

photo by Bobbie Allen

Lauren Hoeffer writes: I mean... walk into any room in my house, and I'm pretty sure there's a model hanging out in a strange place. Like... my medicine cabinet? If you look closely, you can see Misty legs on the shelf with the toothbrush too.

Here's the junk drawer in that same bathroom. *Don't BLEACH your models!* that poor Stormy has been slowly disintegrating for years.

Laura Rock-Smith also has a disintegrating model in her collection, but he lives outside on the porch.

Kitchens are a surprisingly popular home for models.

Karen Gerhardt's Arizona kitchen

Christine Lewis has an old donkey hiding above her kitchen cabinets.

Sha Scholtens has cows above the sink.

Sara Swift keeps five years of Vintage Club models, almost all the wood grains and her favorite Halloween horses in the kitchen. Elements, Spirit and a Dream reside in the bedroom and the Old Timers live on top of the hundred plus year old Hoosier cabinet and in the China cabinet.

Sharon Clark's horses live in her guest room.

Sommer Prosser's guest bathroom is decorated with a candelabra Carnivale and another small friend. The feathers are from a beloved pet turkey.

Of course, the lack of a designated hobby space often means that large parts of the collection live in boxes.

photo by Tamara Malley-Nusland

Karin Hullatti's collection is currently residing in someone else's basement.

Victoria Love's ponies are still packed after a moved in September. Eventually, this will be a combined home office and horse room.

Christie Richardson says this room is half the reason she bought her current house.

Despite that, she still has a lot of packed up basement horses.

Thank you, Lindsay, Amber, Christina, Lizzy, Bobbie, Lauren, Laura, Karen, Christine, Sha, Sara, Sharon, Sommer, Tamara, Karin, Victoria and Christie for sharing your unconventional model spaces with me. This has been a popular series, and I still have lots of hobby room/not room photos to share!