I Finally Got Some Shop Space!

[LLWork]

A little while ago, I "temporarily" moved into a friends house. I was only supposed to be there for about 8-10 weeks while my cousin figured out a divorce, and wanted a little help paying the mortgage after everything was finalized. His kids are grown and moved out, so he had plenty of space to offer. I figured it would be best to wait it out in the basement of my friends house.

So I packed my ENTIRE life into a room hardly bigger than my bed. I stacked cinder blocks four high and placed my bed on top of it. Sure, I needed a step ladder to get into bed, but you wouldn't believe how much I was able to store under it. What I couldn't fit under my bed was stacked in the closet, ceiling high. Then I had to fit my workbench into the room as well. Luckily I had a little corner in the room left, so that's where it went. The only problem was the door to my bedroom opened right into it, but there are worse problems in life, right?

Here's what it ended up looking like. You can tell my bed is substantially higher than my workbench, and you can even make out my nighstand stuck well underneath. After getting the surface stocked up with my tools, I had a whopping 11"x18" work surface to create everything on.

"It's only a few weeks. I can handle this!" I thought to myself.

Turns out there are a ridiculous amount of hoops to jump through after a divorce, especially when trying to refinance a house. Things kept getting pushed back. "I should be getting word on the house in the next few days," were words I ended up hearing a lot. Eight weeks came and went quickly. Before I knew it, ten months had passed. I stopped working altogether. I'd spend eight hours to do four hours of work, and sliced right through my beds comforter as it was the only viable cutting surface in my room. When it came time to go to bed, everything from the bed had to be moved to the floor to clear up space.

Depressing times. Not good for the head.

FINALLY, I get the word that everything is done. It's go time. I get everything packed up and ready to go to get it moved the very first moment it is possible to do so.

Here is everything that I had in my room, with the exception of my bed, work desk, and computer chair. I was pretty impressed with myself after seeing this pile.

And another angle.

And now, what has made everything worth it. I put the finishing touches on my new shop today. Managed to even get a start on some new products, and I couldn't be happier about it. So happy in fact, I just had to share with all of you.

May I present to you, my new shop!!! :D

Great lighting! North facing window!(no UV damage to the leather!) A tooling bench! A cutting table! Storage! Shelves! Ahhh I'm so excited!

Edited June 18, 2015 by LLWork

[Reegesc]

Clap ~ Clap ~ Clap

I remember your post months back in a thread of "show us your work space" and remember thinking "there's a trooper." That's great things have worked out for you finally.

And the shop looks terrific.

Edited June 18, 2015 by cseeger

[Harrycho]

Congratulations! Nice set up. I must say that your first picture is a better workspace than mine.

[Sceaden]

Looks great!