Things I Should Have Done Years Ago: Workshop Edition

Okay, so I’ve recently established that I haven’t been just sitting around doing nothing over the last couple of years, but there are a couple of things– now that I’ve finally gotten around to them– that I really wish I would have done, um, earlier. The mini-makeover on the downstairs bath is one of them, and this is the other…

Actually, let’s take a step back so you can get a full picture of what’s going on here. This is my workshop…

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Alternatively known as the “ankle breaking room”, “hoarders: the lumber edition”, and “holy shit”, depending on the time of day and amount of alcohol I’ve consumed before walking in here.

 There are actual tools in this room, I swear. You just can’t… ah…

Well, they might be… uh… somewhere over…

Yeah, screw it. I don’t know where any of the tools are anymore. If someone spots my five-hundred pound table-saw, please let me know.

Now, let’s just call a spade a spade here: most of this disaster can be attributed to the fact that I’m pretty much incapable of putting things back where I got them. I’ve also been hesitant to fully organize the shop because all of the exterior wall paneling needs to come down, be re-insulated, and re-drywalled. (And in order for that to happen, I need to finish re-siding the exterior. You can see how these things snowball…)

It seemed like a waste of time to hang pegboard and wood racks on walls that will ulimately need to be torn down, but it also seems like a waste of time to spend six weeks in a cast if I break my leg tripping over the obstacle course of lumber between the door and the miter saw.

So, I finally took a stand and put together one of the two racks I bought myself as a Christmas present back in December. Assembly and installation were super easy.

Maybe twenty minutes of my Sunday afternoon. Tops.

And all of the sudden life is so much easier. Twenty minutes.

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Oh look. There’s a floor.

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And I found some tools. Amazing.

Turning this this space into my dream-workshop is a little ways off, but there’s still some basic organization that needs to be done and will come in handy in the short term. Up next: storage containers, portable pegboard, table saw cabinet, and another wood rack or two.

Oh workshop… we’re going to have so much fun together this summer.

13 Responses

  1. Oh my god, when we were there on the Reno road trip I wanted so badly to organize the shit out of it. Yay organizing! Now I need to obviously find another company that will finance Reno road trip part 2 and Chris can help finish that hallway ceiling too 🙂

  2. Where did you get the wood racks? I have two different garages that they would be SO handy in!

  3. First time commentor but Ive been reading your blog for a while now. Let me say your writing style is FANTASTIC but you may want to consider throwing some boards under that wood or at least getting another set of shelves otherwise when you go to grab that “perfect” piece of wood its going to be a hokey stick.

  4. Sweet! It IS so much nicer to work in when things are straightened up. My guy has all of this (and probably more) in our BASEMENT. He made a wood rack once the wood started piling up.

    We have about 6 of the exact same storage shelves you showed in your pic. (Freebies from his job.) Things get very dusty, but at least you can SEE what’s where. That’s helpful for me because lately he’s the builder and so I don’t know where anything is down there. Very occasionally the demo-b!tch needs to wander downstairs for a drill or some electrical tools…

    I’d send my guy the link to this post, but I fear you’d find him sleeping and working in your workshop one day. Workshop-envy is a powerful thing!

  5. nice! I am trying to work through some of this myself… and like the new look on the site btw, guess I haven’t been over for awhile, but please rock on (like you wouldn’t. ha!) ~jb

  6. Workshops tend to be the hardest to organize, there’s always so much going on and so many things you want to keep for later projects. You did a great job, thanks for sharing!

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