Help laying out my new shop.

[stsears]

I have built a new shop, "She/Shed ." It is 12' x 28'. I need help laying out the best shop I can have in this small space that is available. I put a Garage door at 1 end and a walk up door in the side. I have a Cobra Class 4 and a Cobra Class 26 sewing machine that will need to go in the shop plus I am wanting to build a 4' x 8' cutting table so I have plenty of space for "sides" to lay out and cut. Storage will be overhead and under workbenches, I guess. Any help and input is appreciated. My big Clicker Press will NOT  be going in my shop. It will be staying in the Garage which is close.

Edited September 1, 2021 by stsears
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[PastorBob]

My area is not nearly that big.  You will definitely be able to store your rolled leather under your cutting table.  I placed a work bench (2x6') against a wall and use it as my work space.  On the back edge, against the wall, I have my wood blocks holding my stamps and other round metal handled tools.  On the wall, directly above my blocks, I have some 1x4x6' pine mounted with leather loops to hold my edge bevelers, round end punches, etc.  Above that are 3 shelves 1x15x4' I store my threads, and larger bottles of dyes, glue can, etc.

Beside the work bench I have some of those plastic stackable drawers for hardware, misc tools.  I also have some under one end of my workbench for work in process and small pieces of exotic leathers. On the other wall is a 3x6' folding table my wife uses for her sewing machines.

[JayEhl]

I recently filled an office floor with furniture.  For the brainstorming for space utilization, we used grid paper to define the space (walls, doors, etc)   Then we got the dimensions of the office desk, cabinets, etc and cut them out to same scaled dimensions and then were able to easily move things around.  You could do the same here.  Just a thought.

 

[Samalan]

Insulation, heat, air conditioning, lighting, and, ventilation, finishing area with a small spray  booth and  or  table for finishing, with vent to outside. Maybe a shower curtain surround to keep the finish in the finish area. Not sure where your location is but these things can be crucial as I'm sure you know. Other than that it looks great some great things can come out of a shop that size. Best of luck with it.

[Hasbeencowboy]

As a retired builder, I can guarantee you one thing.  No matter what you do after you use it for a while, you will say, " I wish I had made this bigger or done this differently!".  Have a great time getting everything ironed out and don't lower your standard of living, extend you credit.............LOL

[bland]

My cutting table is on wheels so I can push it up against the wall when I'm cutting smaller stuff.  Put shelfs or cabinets everywhere.  Never enough storage.

[Danne]

Google Sketchup is very easy to use for planning things like this.

Just open it and choose feet or inches.

Choose Camera/Standard views/top.

Use the line tool and draw a line and type the dimension for the line. 

And if you draw the dimensions for your work table, to make it easy to move around just make a selection around it and right click and make group, and you can use the move tool to move it around. 

[LatigoAmigo]

15 hours ago, stsears said:

I am wanting to build a 4' x 8' cutting table so I have plenty of space for "sides" to lay out and cut.

When I built my shop I too wanted to have that option, but had limited space, so I built a wrap-around bench that uses drop-in leaves when more space is needed.

[Klara]

11 hours ago, Hasbeencowboy said:

As a retired builder, I can guarantee you one thing.  No matter what you do after you use it for a while, you will say, " I wish I had made this bigger or done this differently!".  Have a great time getting everything ironed out and don't lower your standard of living, extend you credit.............LOL

As somebody who has been perfectly happy with her kitchen for the past 20 years I have a solution to that problem: Find a way to provisionally furnish the space in the way you think will work best and work there for some time.

Also, get good quality furniture - the best you can afford. I didn't for my wood workshop and I get annoyed every time I open one of the shitty drawers. Which isn't all that often, fortunately. But still, if I had spent more I would have forgotten the cost by now but I would still have decent furniture...

@LatigoAmigo Great solution! I'll try to keep it in mind for when I need something like it!

 

[kgg]

I only suggestion I can offer is too try and layout your shop so the work flow of your projects follows your process with the necessary tools close at hand. I think right handed dominate people like the flow to be clockwise while left handed dominate like it to flow counter clockwise. Cutting table on left wall, tooling bench back wall, sewing machine / stitching area on right wall vs cutting table on right, wall tooling bench back wall, sewing machine / stitching area on left wall.

kgg

[stsears]

I so much appreciate everyones input and advice. I have been in the Leather "World" since 1999 but never had a true shop outside a bedroom or 2. I will take all input to heart and let everyone see and know how things turn out. Thank you all again.

Steve Sears/ Rock'n S Leather Works