tjdux
Well-known member
That's my favorite place in the world. My shop. I didn't really know where to start with this but here goes. I have got so much great advice and inspiration from garage journal for years and I hope to give back. Hopefully something I post here can help other like many things have helped me.
I want this topic to show how I have redisigned my garage into my workspace and a few things I do in the space over time and how I improve and maintain it. I hope it fits in here. Some posts maybe things I've done in the past and some will be current builds. There is always something being worked on. I think I will start with some history.
My shop is 22x32ft. 2 9ft car doors in back and the man door up front. White tin siding and shingle roof. 3 windows. Slippery smooth concrete floor.
My grandpa built it in the early 90s when he moved off the farm into town. I grew up on the farm and my dad is still there. I spent many childhood days (trying) to help maintain and build things with dad and grandpa. I learned more there than school many days. It grew into a life long need to work and create. Being a farm kid is the best.
I went to college and then moved back home and bought this place from my grandma. When I first moved here the shop was a giant mess. My grandpa never really designed it to be much of a workspace. He really wanted a simple workbench and lots of shelf storage and a place to park their cars out of thr weather. After he died and grandma got up in years the shop became a kind of family storage and still parking space for grandma. She actually still lived here for several years after I moved in.
I never had a clean blank slate. I don't think I have photos from 5 or 6 years ago to show the mess I came into but beleive me, mess it was. After grandpa died his good tools got picked through by family but many decent odds and ends were left. My grandpa was the type to go to a farm auction and buy a box of stuff for 25 cents and want 1 thing but keep the rest too. I still have jars of nails lol.
My folks stored some things here too just because less rodents and mess in this shop than the farm. Dad's hot rod leftovers, mom's things from the restaurant that weren't needed but too expensive to just throw away. So on and so on.
Then I have my own problems. I have read before about horizontal storage disorders here before and I have a serious condition myself. Add to that girlfriend and 4 kids worth of storage into a 950 square foot 4 bedroom house, thankfully with full basement, and often my workspace becomes storage space.
All that adds up to a never clean work area. No matter how hard I try always some mess. It's a reason for starting this post to have a community to hold myself accoutable to.
Here is the a photo of the mess from last week.
Different angle
Now it's out there I'm gonna start cleaning. Cold nebraska doesn't help any but it needs it. In that fist pic is our old bread oven from subway were trying to sell... restaurant store kills me sometimes.
