Garage revealed

Plan your progress carefully; hour-by hour, day-by-day, month-by-month. Organized activity and maintained enthusiasm are the wellsprings of your power.

                                                                                                             Paul Meyer


This, I'm discovering, is the key to getting something finished. I am excellent at the inspiration and planning stages of a new project, but I lack in the follow-through-till-its-done department.

I spend more time looking at ideas on Pinterest and other people's blogs than getting down to the business itself.

What I need is to plan, then act, and most important of all, not stop until it is done.

With this new self-awareness and a renewed commitment to live in a tidy organised home where I can find a pair of scissors without losing my sanity, I have completed one area of the garage revamp.

When I say 'I', that should be a 'We', I could not have done this without The Bloke.

The whole project took quite a long time, because despite my best intentions, I was side-tracked by a wardrobe revamp half-way through! You'll see the wardrobe in a later post. I am beyond excited about having that completed!

But back to the garage.





   Drum roll please....




the finished area

 and a little reminder of the horrific beginning.   


words fail me...truly

How we got there...

First step was to THROW AWAY THE JUNK! This step cannot be over emphasised.

I bought the plastic 60L storage bins from The Warehouse, after seeing a design I liked on Pinterest. Once I had the bins, The Bloke and I were able to design a made-to-measure storage unit that would store all our bits and pieces in an orderly (and findable) way. I took the opportunity to add in a craft area which moves this activity away from the dining table.


Next we bought the pre-cut boards from Bunning's hardware store, the number of boards being determined by our plan. Just make sure you both count and agree on the number, as somehow we came back with one too few. Seriously annoying.

Then Miss B went to work pre-painting the boards. I highly recommend this step, even though waiting to start putting them together is really hard. For a few of the boards we skipped this step and it made painting at the end much more time consuming as each rectangle had to be painted instead of one flat plank.

Miss B pre-painting the Hardi-planks (plain pre-cut boards from Bunnings)

The Bloke cut the shelves, and using a router,  made a cut out for each shelf. He slid the shelves into place and used screws to reinforce them. He made four units like this, then attached two units together to make two complete double units. I wanted the craft area to sit between the two units for symmetry and to give the craft area a sense of containment.


the first unit put together

 To give the unit that lovely solid look, The Bloke attached 20mm x 10mm facia to the front of the unit with nails. This is a tip I gleaned from The view along the way blog  and it makes a huge difference to the finished look without a big cost.

I then went around with the hammer and punch to knock the nails in for plastering. If you haven't done this before, it is super simple. Line the punch up with the nail, then bang it with the hammer until the nail sits just below the surface of the wood. Fill the indentation with plaster, wait for it to dry, and sand off for a nice smooth painting surface.

facia nailed in place

                  

 hammer and punch

                                      

plastered and ready for sanding.

With the first of the twin units completed and attached to the wall, I painted a top coat of creamy white paint with a small roller. This was the most tedious part, and again I was very glad to have undercoated (most of) the boards before the unit was assembled!

the finished unit

 Along the way I found a few additional items for use as hanging storage. I painted the lot the same shade of white as the shelving unit, (and the wall too) this helps tie the whole area together creating a cohesive feel.

cheap (read ugly) wooden shelf from the charity shop for $2



        a single draw from an old set of draws too damaged for use, I levered off the front
facia and handle then sanded and painted it.

Both units were attached to the wall, and a store bought wooden counter top situated between them for my craft area. I wanted a counter top wide enough to lay out fabric etc. This countertop is the same type we used in the kitchen unit, so I was able to account for the size in the design.

The counter top is 600mm deep, and 2200mm long. I sat at a chair to check the height would be right for me to sit and sew here. I reused some cheap shelving we already had, and another old chest of draws that was surplus to requirements in the main house for additional storage.

I would like to paint the draws and units white to match, but that will have to wait.

the craft area with a place-holder top

 Then it was a matter of mounting the shelves, putting away all the craft supplies into the draws, and attaching the counter top once all the painting was complete.

\

    the single draw with some tin pails from the charity
shop $1 each, a ceramic egg holder (free from a neighbour) for beads and a glass jar for paint brushes.

Painted wooden shelf

huge glass jar (charity shop again!) for wool

A small fault in the design...where's the power socket???

Yes, don't forget to plan a source of power for sewing machine, hot glue gun, etc. I'll have to run a long lead over the top of the unit and down the wall instead.

the craft area

everything in its place.

I am so happy with how this area turned out. Most of all it gave us the confidence and skills to
tackle other areas of our home.

February is garage month

Where did January go? I swear it was here one minute and gone the next. Did I make the most of it? Do I even remember it?

Oh dear, well I'll just move on to February then...

To ensure I'm making the most of this month, it's garage sorting time.

Our garage seems to harbor everything but my car. Each time I fight my way through the piles of random junk that accumulates here to get to the laundry, I feel my blood pressure rise. Something has to be done.

Oh Pinterest, my muse, my inspiration,  my husband's nemesis,  what ideas do you have for me and my garage?

Ahhhhh...perfect.

Here is a wee peek of the garage  before and the work progressing.

Firstly this is the Pinterest inspiration from Sawdust and Paperscraps blog.

This is our garage before shot...horrifying...

Are you feeling my pain? Out went a trailer load to the rubbish tip, another to the charity shop.
The rest was sorted into like catagories, picnic supplies, Christmas decorations, Halloween,
photo albums, craft supplies, children's things I can't part with, etc. Each catagory was placed into a 60L plastic see-through bin (or several bins in the case of Christmas decorations). Now the storage unit is being built to house those bins.

I also really wanted a place for my sewing machine and craft supplies. There is just nowhere for a dedicated space inside the house, so the garage it is. But more on the craft space another time.

Here are a few pics of the workers (The Bloke and Miss B) along with the work-in-progress. Stay tuned for the finished result by the end (hopefully) of Feb.


                                      Miss B hard at work pre-painting the Hardy panels

A blank canvas

A hint of what's to come.

Can't wait to see the end result!

How to live in the midst of chaos

For many people a renovation takes a finite length of time, a finite amount of money, and a finite chunk of their mental wellbeing. They move out for a few weeks and then move back into a completed project. But for the rest of us, we live in the midst of the build, sometimes for years, trying to remember where things have been rehomed to now and remembering that sharing your home all day with the builders requires forethought and tact on both sides.

My renovation seems to have lasted years, well actually it has been years. It would be easy to loose heart when you're surrounded by sawdust, wood chips, bare walls and half finished plumbing, but I've found the best thing is to carry on as if the surrounding chaos doesn't exist.

While our house was without walls, we still threw our children birthday parties at home. While the kitchen sat unattached to the walls with the bench just resting on top of the cabinets and no kickboards, our family entertained for christmas. While the new deck was just framing we threw a BBQ.

The trick is to live life while not becoming complacent.  It's remarkably easy to get used to half done things, like a bathroom with a working shower and loo, but only waterproofing on the floor.

At times we have had to speak sternly to ourselves to get some momentum back. That bathroom is now tiled, but it took a year to get around to it.
The skirting in our family bathroom is the only thing unfinished, it's nailed in place but unfilled and only undercoated, and it's been like that for THREE YEARS!

Part of the reason for this blog is to get some kind of accountability going that will guilt me into getting the house finished...100%...finally.