Product Review: Back 2 Bas-ix Paint Racks

Greetings once again InterWebs! It is a busy holiday season here in the Rocky Mountains and we are looking at snow for Christmas Day. I have managed to sneak a little 'hobby-time' in however; my lovely better half recently purchased a paint rack system for me. I have been looking at 'The Rack' system from an Australian Company called Back 2 Bas-ix. I will be the first to admit that my painting area needed some organization and the way I stored my paints was annoying (having to dig through a box to pick out the right color)! Here are a few views of the before:

Not very organized at all! With the help of a straight section and a curved section I set out to bring order to the chaos of the painting desk!

Cost: 
The overall price of 'The Rack' components is not very expensive at all; however the shipping from Australia was NOT cheep. I would be willing to order from them again even knowing the shipping is going to be steep however I would like to find a closer to home alternative.

Packaging:
Both pieces were shipped together in one large padded envelope with some additional 'bubble-wrap' protection. Here is a shot of the packaging:

Here are some shots of the individual packaging of the 2 sections:

Straight Section of 'The Rack':

Curved Section of 'The Rack':

Shipping Issues:
Both items arrived relatively intact, there were 2 problems with the straight section. The first problem was immediately apparent when I open the shipping envelope and several pieces of hardware fell out onto the floor.

It seems that the packaging for the straight section had broken inside the mailing envelope scattering the pieces of assembly hardware. After collecting the scattered pieces I was not sure if I had found everything and therefore was not sure if I had enough hardware to assemble the piece. It turns out that Back 2 Bas-ix had included a few extra pieces so I was safe!

The second problem was discovered next when I went to put the sections together. It seems that in shipping one of the little slot holes had busted. In the end it had little effect on the final assembly and structural integrity of the piece so it was no big deal. This is to be expected when dealing with thin, fiddly bits of MDF I guess.

Assembly: 
It was time to assemble the 2 sections so I looked on the Company's website and was directed to their series of assembly videos on YouTube. I found these to be helpful although assembly of these sections is not hard at all! The only tool that was needed was a simple Philips Head Screwdriver:

While watching some American Football I spent about 10-15 minutes each assembling the 2 sections. Here are some views of the assembled pieces:

Side View showing assembly hardware:

The 2 sections connected together via magnets:

Back 2 Bas-ix was nice enough to include small magnets which are used to 'connect' the sections together. I thought this was a nice touch. Now that the sections were assembled it was time to fill them up with my paints and get started painting again!

Final Thoughts:
I am impressed with these! I wanted to get these sections as a test to see if they would work for me or not. It seems I have found a very good storage/display option and I will have to order another couple of sections to hold the rest of my paints. I might even look into their tool storage options as well!

What I liked:
1) ease of assembly
2) view of the paints
3) magnets to hold them together
4) cost of the sections

What I don't like:
1) cost of shipping

Thanks for stopping by and taking a look! Back to painting and holiday cheer! Take care all!