About six (6) weeks ago I began battling the garage monster (organizing the garage). I inherited the garage from my recently passed father-in-law, Joe. He was a do-it-yourselfer and had a collection of tools and fixtures from 30+ years of working on our home. I began with the idea that the garage just needed to be organized. Fast forward a month and a half and I am in the process of turning it into a functional wood working shop.
Why Woodworking?
Part of my 30 Day Whole Life Cleanse involved visualizing activities or items that bring me joy and contentment. Early on, I got the vision of a large dinner table filled with party food and surrounded by a lively group of loved ones enjoying themselves. I felt compelled to build the table. As you can see from the before picture, it would’ve been nearly impossible to do so with the current state of things. So I embarked on turning Joe’s do-it-yourselfer garage into a wood working shop. Many items have been thrown out, sold, or swapped for others. Many more have been reorganized and stored in bins. In addition, a lot of work has been needed on the garage itself. There was some water damage on the lower portions of the sheetrock, an old window frame was uncovered, and part of the garage will now need to be insulated. I have also updated the lighting, had an electrician fix some precarious wiring jobs, and will be applying an epoxy floor.
Here is the state of it currently:
Once it stops raining here in the northeast I can epoxy the floor, install the new rock wool insulation, and hang the plywood wall covering and french cleats. In addition, I will be building most of the storage and work stations for the workshop. These will include french cleat walls, a modular workbench, storage shelves, and a few rolling workstations for various pieces of equipment.
Facebook Marketplace
In addition to the renovations, I was noticing that many of the tools I will need were either older, in disrepair, or missing. To that end, I turned to Facebook marketplace to find some items at discounts to the retail prices. So far I have added a number of power tools and finish nailers. I have also been able to source the main pieces of equipment necessary to mill the wood I’ll be using. These include a table saw, planer, and jointer. Most of these I have been able to procure for 20-70% discounts from brand new retail items.
So Close, Yet So Far
I am probably about 2-3 days of hard work away from finished with the main part of the renovation. Then it’ll be a couple weeks of hanging shelves, building cabinets, and outfitting the workshop as needed. I can’t wait to get the first draft of our new kitchen table completed. I will certainly continue to document that processes as it unfolds.
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