Make a Custom Spray Booth to Finish Projects Indoors

Spray paint and spray finishes can be a DIYers best friend, but if you don’t have an outdoor space or the weather’s not cooperating, it can be tough to get the solid, thick coats you’re going for indoors.    

Toy inventor Bob Knetzger, who tends to work with small parts, came up with this clever solution – stash it underneath a stairwell.  

Even if you don’t have such a space available, the basic design here would work well for any space: a hooded area created from 2x4s and composite materials with an included 2-stage filtration system. Bob says,

I measured the space and assembled a frame using 2x4s and wood screws. Its slanted top fits the stairwell space snugly so everything else is mounted inboard. The panels are 1/8″ tempered hardboard screwed to the frame. The back panel is 3/4″ plywood with a hole cut out to accept a bathroom ceiling fan. I vented the fan to an outside wall with a flexible clothes dryer hose and vent. There are two stages of filtration: I staple an inexpensive paper furnace filter over a sheet of fine filter paper (and just tear them both off and replace when they’re loaded with paint). Clamp-on spots provide plenty of light and a little bit of heat for drying paint. The lights and fan plug into a switchable power strip for instant on/off action.

This rig has worked out great for painting, adding filler putty, spray mounting, or any other stinky project. It’s tucked out of the way and offers plenty of storage on the shelf and underneath, too. What’s under your stairway?

See the full project at Makezine: Toy Inventor’s Notebook: Stairwell Spray Booth