What to call your haven?

[Utilifix]

I had a good friend say to me. "Wow, you are setting up a great Maker space."

I personally dislike that term. They started using it at work for the wood shop and machine shop. I have to now contend with untrained people thinking they can use the shops.

I'm curious how you describe your space.

I don't care for that term either. It rings too much of the tech world and making things with a 3d printer for me.

 

[Glemon]

I had never heard the term before reading this topic

 

[Michael W]

Somebody's looking for a nice shiny new "douche bag" T-shirt.

Thanks for the epiphany.

Maker Space = Safe Space + Try It Badge

So woke.

 

[Badgerstate]

I call it my, "shop". To me, a garage is where you park a car but a shop is where you actually do work/projects.

 

[65ranchero]

"Garage" is where I park the cars. The "shop" is next to the garage that has the lift and tools.
And I "will be in the shop"

 

[speed bump]

I call it a shop since the primary purpose is repair and fabrication.

Garages are for parking vehicles

Maker spaces are a collective shop to me, I like the concept but it's not an individual space.

Man caves are something that old guys who want to go do non wife approved activities in peace create.

 

[LeonardY]

Garage for the poll.


Official name is "the Nutt House" as it saves my sanity.

I have to admit I didn't read your post carefully.

I just looked at you avatar and assumed you wrote "pole."

 

[bwringer]

Surprised no one else calls their place with all the motorcycles and tools their "Laboratory".

If I were somewhat better funded, I suppose I'd buy or build a place with a "garage" used for the intended purpose of vehicle storage, with a separate shop with all the tools and motorcycles and such. And I'd probably still call it the "Laboratory".

Yeah, the term "maker" is a little cringey, but if it helps more people of all ages and descriptions feel more welcome or hip whatever, more power to them. If it helps pull eyeballs out of iPads and gets hands busy doing anything but swiping and tapping, I am alllllllllllll for it. Call it Pink Pony Playland for all I care.

I suppose there is a useful distinction; I fix, maintain, and upgrade out there, but I don't "make" much, so maybe I wouldn't be called a "maker". There's damn little danger of anyone calling me a "cleaner" either.

 

[tarmy]

My 56x32 palace has a sign on it that says Tom’s garage and boat yard. There are up to 5 boats in it at times. Pic doesn’t show it well...

 

[rmmiller]

I think Adam Savage has referred to himself as a maker, not sure if he calls his shop a maker's space or not. One thing for certain, that guy can make **** from nothing! If he wants to call his shop that I will respect that term in that instance.

 

[FJ80 fan]

I refer to mine as the fortress of solitude.

 

[Brent T]

Garage for me, although it gets used to both park cars and perform work. Our next place will hopefully have a garage and a shop, but for now my garage is pulling double duty. I have enough space to park 3 cars and a motorcycle and still be able to work on small projects. When I have a bigger project a car or two gets parked outside for a few days. One thing our garage has not turned into is a place to store our junk. That was Rule #1 when we built the house.

I had never heard the term Maker Space until this thread. As for "Man Cave", to me that's maybe an extra room in the house where the man watches TV and has his guy stuff hanging in there. The garage or shop definitely shouldn't be the Man Cave, IMO.

 

[zmotorsports]

Mine is my SHOP. The GARAGE is attached to the house and used for parking daily drivers and OPE. The SHOP is where **** gets done, fixed, built, etc.

My son used to call our old shop the "speed shop" but that's when we were racing, duning and sledding. It's kind of an oxymoron to call a shop where we build Jeeps a speed shop, those two terms don't belong in the same sentence.

 

[nateo]

There's a lot of undie-wadding going on over the term maker space. As I understand it, a maker space is a location with tools that allows members to use them to do their projects. For people who live in the heart of a city it's likely the only option for getting access to space and tools to do neat stuff. If that gets you all bunched up you may want to do some introspection as to why.

Personally when I was single and lived in a two bedroom apartment the second bedroom was the shop. That's where my work benches, lathe, drill press, etc lived. When I got married and my wife moved in we still called it the shop even though it was mostly storage.

Then we bought a house with a small attached garage and small detached garage. The attached is still called a garage and would hold a car if it wasn't so darn full of bikes and strollers. The detached is the shop, and you couldn't fit a car in there without a month of Sundays to haul my **** out.

And no beer fridges or comfy chairs in the shop. First off the rule is no alcohol until I'm done playing with tools, secondly I don't have room for a comfy chair, and thirdly that would make it a man-cave and may invite visitors. Even in a pandemic I go to the shop for quality alone time!

 

[MadMechMaster]

I guess I use too many syllables, workshop instead of shop. The front garage is for parking, the workshop is for doing.

 

[Don1357]

As a blissfully divorced man my happy space goes from one end of the property line to the other.

 

[Steveodle]

Nateo, my first shop has, "no easy chairs"!
That one has my experimental twin engine aircraft.
Second shop has my lathe,xclo vertical mill, 12" Sheldon shaper, cast iron plate, all my welders and equipment AND, 1set of Woodard steel outdoor furniture,(very comfy with pads)!
A place to have close friends visit and work.
TV, Alexa, blue tooth, computer, once in a while Howard Roark and John Galt stop by for consulting work.

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[Innovate1]

There's a lot of undie-wadding going on over the term maker space. As I understand it, a maker space is a location with tools that allows members to use them to do their projects. For people who live in the heart of a city it's likely the only option for getting access to space and tools to do neat stuff. If that gets you all bunched up you may want to do some introspection as to why.

Personally when I was single and lived in a two bedroom apartment the second bedroom was the shop. That's where my work benches, lathe, drill press, etc lived. When I got married and my wife moved in we still called it the shop even though it was mostly storage.

Then we bought a house with a small attached garage and small detached garage. The attached is still called a garage and would hold a car if it wasn't so darn full of bikes and strollers. The detached is the shop, and you couldn't fit a car in there without a month of Sundays to haul my **** out.

And no beer fridges or comfy chairs in the shop. First off the rule is no alcohol until I'm done playing with tools, secondly I don't have room for a comfy chair, and thirdly that would make it a man-cave and may invite visitors. Even in a pandemic I go to the shop for quality alone time!

I think you have described maker spaces pretty well from several I have seen and worked in. They are often a pretty eclectic group with varied interests. One here even casts aluminum from time to time and have a large laser cutter someone built. Bridgeport mill, metal lathe, some wood working equipment, etc. Some tools for loan. Pretty cool stuff. But the term does get stretched to crazy lengths sometimes with people calling them selves makers for doing pretty much everyday things that anyone could do.

 

[slodat]

I personally hate the term man cave, always looked at is what a person that can't fix **** does to a garage/shop. Anyone that refers to my garage as that is quickly corrected! I call it just that too, a garage. It's attached so in my eyes does not quailfy as a shop.

The whole man cave thing where it looks like a dive bar in various degrees of completeness is not for me. I quickly correct people who apply that term to my shop.

Like a lot of others here, I call the place I park cars at home a garage, I call my shop a shop. My shop doesn't have a bunch of clutter in it. It's clean, organized, well lit, and made for working and creating. I put the clutter and storage stuff in my storage building.

 

[bwringer]

There are some frankly astonishing "maker spaces" run by local libraries; poke around locally and you might be surprised by what's available. Maybe you don't need to buy your own 3D printer or lathe for occasional projects.

 

[Renegade1LI]

My haven is where ever my wife & I are together, garage, shop, craft room, camper, truck, on the road, kids house playing with the grandkids. We get plenty of time apart so our time together, wherever that my be is our haven! My garage is my shop, next house will have a garage with cars & a shop with tools & I love to be in both, but I wouldn't call either one my haven, being with the ones you love creates a haven, alone without those people it's just another space.

 

[rburke65]

I’m fortunate to have an attached 2 car garage, and a 32’x 40’ pole barn for my yard equipment and my ‘junk’ as my wife calls it...lumber, etc. My new....9 years old, SHOP is where I weld, paint, repair stuff. My lift is there, hardware, saws, etc

 

[INSP380]

Lumped mine all together.....Speed Shop. Bay number 3 for the Musclecar, Bay number 2 for the tow rig, front of Bay 2&3 for all the tool chests, and machinery, Bay 1 for Mrs.380’s ride. The basement has a shop, soda bar, vintage audio section and a vintage parts dept. All of this is surrounded by various other collections of mine such as gas pumps signs and vintage speed parts. Then theres the room loaded with diecasts and vintage prints & memerobilia .... Speed Shop....Covers it all....Easy Peasy!

Steve

 

[pmiranda]

To me, a "maker space" is for electronics or art projects. I can do stuff like that on my coffee table at home. Or back porch for painting things. My shop is for doing big projects that don't fit in my home garage, and also for storing big stuff that we won't have room for when we downsize our house.

 

[shopnut]

My city garage is the "garage" and I tinker in it quite a bit too, but I say I'm heading to the "big shop" when I'm visiting the Asylum.

 

[MatBirch]

Maker Space to me rings too much of "hipster steampunk douchebag"... "let's see just how many corners we can cut, and still post it on pinterest".
Hate Man Cave as well. I for one have a wife I love to spend time with, so I don't need a place to "get away". I need a place to go take care of **** without ruining something else nearby, such as cars and motorcycles. I have a shop, and I do my best to keep from burning it down having to combine the welding shop and wood shop and auto and bike shop all in the same small space.

 

[Jeff May]

My shop and my basement

 

[onewheat]

I never heard 'Maker Space' before either - I hate it. It sounds like it would be used by someone who has 'Play Dates' for their kid. That is another pretentious, douche-bag term.

I also hate 'Man Cave' - my image of that is a ****** basement corner near the laundry machine with a crappy tv, a recliner, a beer sign, and a poster that some Karen wife "lets" her hen-pecked husband use in his own house.

My last house was the garage and the shop - both attached, but 1 was a lot bigger. This house I call them both the garage - one attached, one not - both are big. Dunno why?

 

[metalmagpie]

Garage Mahal.

 

[deberly12]

Yup can't stand "maker space". Or for that matter calling yourself a "maker". If you a respectable human you should be making something. You might be making wood projects, metal projects, money, a bussiness, sales, family, dinner... we were created for a purpose and if you aren't creating something you will not have joy.

I go to the garage to work in my wood shop. Or to the barn to work the the shop.

Yes I my mind if you just say shop you are talking about a place where metal working and equipment maintenance is done. But if you put wood in front it is something different.

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[clutchee]

Shop is what I call it.

 

[redrunner]

Sanity shed, I go out there to keep my sanity, the wife sends me out there to keep her's!

 

[AirCooledTiger]

He-man Woman Hater’s Club

 

[Daniel Dudley]

He-man Woman Hater’s Club

There is an old barn near me in an old out of the way hamlet. It has old fashioned tin roofing for siding, and a sign that say ''He Man Woman Hater's Club'' over the door. The sign was old 25 years ago when I moved here. I don't know who put it there, But I always got a kick out of it.

I built my garage like a barn, so it could be all things to all people. I refer to it as a shop when working there for my clients. It's a barn when you drive by and look at the old farm house. A staging area for my business, a garage for my cars to be parked in and worked on. It is a place for big projects and for puttering around, it represents my livelihood and also where I go for refuge from work.

I have had women ask me if I built it so my wife could park her car there, and I have heard it referred to as my man cave, but it is neither. Years ago, my MIL gave me a door mat that says, ''My Garage, My Tools, My Universe''. Close enough.

There is no sign over the door, but it is my space. You can call it whatever you like.
To the Bat Cave, Alfred. We must use these powers for Good.

 

[pmiranda]

When I was first walking the land I saw a roadrunner so I've been calling it the "Road Runner Garage"... I think it'd be cool to get a neon roadrunner sign to hang above the door.

 

[Jazz1]

Garagemahal. Not my choice,,,hot tub in garage got it that moniker. I call it the shop.

 

[Highland]

Trophy Barn.
(About half the wall space is taxidermy.)

 

[BlakeTheCarGuy]

Never heard the term maker space. I call mine Blake’s Driveway Garage because I have too work on stuff in my driveway because I don’t have a garage at home unfortunately. I do have a basement full of tools and shop equipment too like work benches and a press and a grinder and jacks and Jack stands. I do take stuff inside frequently off the cars to work on or do whatever I need to do to it.


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[XxToolAholicxX]

The good ol El Garageo..

 

[MushCreek]

I need to change my answer slightly. My place is called the 'shop', but the whole building is called the 'barn', for obvious reasons. I built a separate room that is insulated and finished (in a rustic way) for entertaining. We still haven't figured out a name for that room. My wife calls it a great room, but that seems pretentious. It's 16 X 28', with a 22' ceiling. massive wood beams, pine paneling, decorated with old tools and barn stuff. What to call it? Lodge? Hall? Great room?