A little shed is born

Those who have been following this blog (you are few and far between but are out there!) will know we have been moving.  It has taken a few weeks to settle in to our downsized environment but we are getting there.  My concern has always been space, it is limited.  With such limited space I was wondering whether I could even create a work space for me.  No lathe for twelve months, to scary to contemplate.  Unfortunately the garage was full from the move.

Now I am a packing master.  I have moved several times and fitted my whole life into a car.  Unfortunately with life comes family and lots of stuff.  I can no longer move in a car.  I knew that the garage could be salvaged to some extent but just opening the door was enough to make this grown man think twice.  Where to start? How top stack?  When was the last time i played Tetris?

As with any project a quick mental plan and empty out the space to start again.  The thought of removing every item wasn't pleasant and I had been putting it off.  This weekend I was off work so it was time to tackle the beast (and spiders, many, many spiders).  With my five year old daughter to help we moved, stack and re-arranged.

As there was some furniture being stored it had to be well covered to avoid too much wood dust.  It was surprising how much room was opening up.

It took most of the day, and of course I picked the hottest day for months, but it came together.  I finally had my space in the house.  It may not have been my best packing job but it was up in the top three.  It may not be large, it may not be complete.  I still have to arrange equipment and bolt it all down but my mini-sanctuary has been re-born.

Now I just have to find time to play in there!  Have you ever had to downsize your shed?

Space, the final frontier

Ok, so it's been a while since the last post.  Last weekend was moving weekend.  It was a traumatic weekend of down sizing from our three bedroom house to a two bedroom town house.  I admit this is temporary move whilst the new mansion is built.  However it is amazing how much stuff accumulates.  My work shop (though my wife prefers to think of it as her car garage, such narrow thinking) is a case in point.  I have only been woodworking for 18months, maybe two years but I think it took me two solid days to pack and deconstruct my gear.  The garage looks so sad and empty now.

Since our move was a little complex, stuff going to the new town house, some to storage and some to the in-laws house I decided it was easier to rent a van for a few days rather than hire removelists.  I am stupid.  Four hard days in the van with several in the car as well got the job done.  Now I do have a few friends, not many but a few, but as it was a long weekend most had much better plans than helping me avoid bodily injury or heart failure.  However a few hung around and my dad did a great job in lifting heavy stuff.  My wife was a packing whizz while mum patiently tended the children, and we got the job done.

Now we are in the new house there is still much to be done.  Everything put away, a place to be found for everything that needs to be put away.  Most of all I need to set up a new workshop.

This could take some time.


Hopefully the builders will hurry up and build our new dream!