OK now let’s talk flooring options – obviously you don’t want to invite the carpet monster in, so continuing the padded cell theme how about soft black rubber matting? That way parts can’t bounce very far and should show up against black.
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Wade,
Wow what a nice addition! I was wondering what happened to you. VBG what I would give to have a setup like you are building!
I am very happy for you and your wife.
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Wade my wife saw me looking at your new hobby room and she liked it. We look forward to the finished product!
Enjoy the new additions.
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Randy, thank you!
Busy first halfof 2026 etc, will return to the workbench and forum regularly soon!
Tim, the floor are wide open except as you mentioned NO Carpet. I like the black mat idea, excellent point about less bounce. My wife wants an actual floor covering of some sort in case it isn’t a hobby room some day. So the black mat sounds great 
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The only problem with soft rubber matting, is the wheels of roller chairs sink in, and eventually make groves, unless you have a fixed stool.
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He could do black or otherwise dark linoleum - not as hard as concrete but better for chairs.
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Preferably a single colour OR a structured and repetitive pattern.
Refugee parts will show up against a monchrome surface or break the pattern
on a patterned surface. Some linoleum patterns are “chaotic” and finding lost
parts on them is frustrating.
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Agreed; I think a solid color is the best bet - and not the same color as most plastic parts. The (worn out) carpet in my workshop is a light blue and that works pretty good most of the time.
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In New Orleans I had a contoured, multi-colored, thick shag carpet. Breeding ground for carpet monsters!
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I’d call that La Brea Carpets!
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It looks like that monstrosity could hide a small stash …
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In my flat, I have floor tiles, light gray, easy to handle and to clean, on the bench area all is protected with IKea Floor matts, translucent. So the speed of contact, parts falling down is a little lower and I can spill colors and glue and resin, without damaging the tiles… Not that I usually spill things, but things happens
For me it works
Ra bit
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Thank you, all for the flooring suggestions. The roller chair will be a factor.
Siding arrived today, I picked up the whole house attic fan & vents and they started on the drainage system so the hobby room won’t get wet.
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Great carpet. You could spill and no one could tell. You would never waste any time looking for dropped small parts.
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So, having opened up the floor to carpeting (
) let’s talk furnishing. Here’s how to dodge trammelling chair castors while still impressing visiting cronies, no matter where they were cowering in the room…
OK you’d need to make a horseshoe workbench around it. But hey, at the end of the day you could relax in…
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Tim, that’s a cool chair 
As for furnishings, a lot of whats here is junk from yard sales etc. There’s some opportunity for upgrades.
I like the horsesshoe idea. Has a lot of merit to swivel from work bench to airbrush etc.
Robin, that’s the wife’s domain and the key 
to the whole set up. She wanted a pool and I wanted a hobbyroom etc.
Hopefully, one day a 1/350 scale ship will sail the sea between the deck and hobbyroom.
But I’ll probably have to get the grandson interested in ships to pull that one off!
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Yeah seriously if I had a clean sheet I’d certainly consider a big horseshoe bench, with a castored chair rolling on a hard plastic mat underneath. You could have 2 or even 3 projects going at once. What’s the plan re paint booth?
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You could always epoxy coat the whole garage floor to preserve? It’s not like you will be standing up modelling and get fatigued. Any spills of chemicals are easy to clean up without the hazard of damaging whatever flooring compounds are used.
It’s looking great!
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Truly, sealed concrete would be a great option for the floor. If you wanted a fancy floor at some point, it is going over the concrete you will pore any way. Just seal it. Easy on the castors, easy to sweep, easier to find dropped items, durable, if you spill you are still OK.
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