Sunday, July 17, 2016

My Journey As A Creative Designer - Woodworking and Beyond #1745: The Scroll Saw Room - My "Little Shop"

Today’s post won’t be too long, but I wanted to show the progress that I made yesterday. As I mentioned, getting things how we like will be a ‘work in progress’.  For people like Keith and myself, we have little understanding of that concept. We like to have everything done quickly, efficiently and pretty close to immediately. We are just like that. 



But in life, things can’t always happen instantly. I think that the older we get, the more we realize it. No matter how well-planned things are and how much we do to head off delays, things still come up and take more time than anticipated. It is part of the process. 



Yesterday’s post showed some of the new storage pieces that I would be using in my scrolling room. I like to refer to this as the 'little shop’ and it will be the place where I will be spending most of my woodworking time. Keith is building his own shop in the basement for his 'down time’ hobby – RC cars – and he gets full control over that. While I will be sharing the 'little shop’ with him, for the most part it is my 'she-cave’. I have never had a full shop to call my own and this is the closest I will be to that. I am sure that I will be tweaking things as I begin to work there and continue to set things up, but the main pieces are in place and ready to enjoy. I hope you like seeing it as well. 



Keith put together the six foot work table yesterday. It takes up most of the back wall. I plan to put at least one of the scroll saws on it (probably the DeWalt, which is shown on the floor in the other photos) and work from there. I plan to have storage underneath it which will hold the pre-cut pieces for my kits as I get them done. I don’t stay too far ahead, but I like to cut extras of the most popular kits. For now they are in the aqua bins on the left. I could use something like that to keep them in and just have a nice labeling system. I think that would work nice. 



I assembled the two cabinets between the windows. Since I have the tool box, I may use those for storing the cut pieces. Initially I was thinking of putting them under the larger table (which is height-adjustable) but since they have such nice wood tops, I figure I can use the extra tables for working and hated to waste them. I like them clean like that with nothing on them at all so I have a clean workspace for whatever I am doing at the time. I think I will leave it like that. 



The spongy floor pieces are great and really make the room comfy and will help keep the pine floors clean and safe. I am going to add more pieces within the next week or so and extend it further to the front and back of the shop. It feels really GOOD to walk on it and cleans up beautifully with the shop vac. I am sure it also keeps the noise to a minimum, as it no longer 'echos’ in that room.



On the opposite side of the room is my tool box as well as the sideboard that I had used in the apartment to stand the Excalibur and drill press on. For now we are keeping it, but we have some other cabinets that I may swap out that are similar in size. In any case, I think the cabinet is a perfect candidate for a DecoArt makeover using some of their beautiful paints. I would like to paint it black to match the rest of the pieces. (Yes – even in the shop I want things to match!)  Everything is that “Husky” brand from Home Depot that I mentioned yesterday. I think for the money, the quality is really good. We have had the tool box for about four years now without any issues. It still is like new and is sturdy and the drawers roll beautifully. The table holds up to 3000 lbs and the cabinets are heavy-duty as well, with double steel doors. All quality wood tops as well that shouldn’t warp or twist.



The corner there will do for now to get me up and running, but as I said, I will find a better way to organize the pieces that I have already cut. Maybe it is the 'artist’ in me, but I want it to be nice. After all – organization means the best efficiency and that is my goal – to be my most efficient. The time spent organizing now will come back several times over in being able to produce things in a timely manner later. I am sure of that. 



The opposite side of the room opens up to a closet on the left and the powder room on the right. It will be a luxury to have the washroom right there when I am working and not have to run downstairs. I can easily keep the door closed when I am working on something messy and keep the dust out.  The closet has a low, angled ceiling, but will do great for storing our pre-dressed pieces of wood. We need to add some type of shelving in there so that we can get to everything quickly and keep our wood from warping. These were mostly the pieces that were in the trays under our bed and dressers previously in our old place. It is good to keep them at hand. 



The large cabinet holds my books and magazines, and printed patterns. (Yes – I have that many!)  Everything is in alphabetical/date order and I can pinpoint what I want in seconds. No more hunting in this closet or on top of that shelf and having to move 20 things to get to them! It may be a small thing, but I can’t tell you how happy this makes me! :D 



And what would a shop be without a “shop manager”?  That’s Pancakes inspecting the new workshop! :) 



It is the little things that make us happy. While it may not be the biggest shop, it is a huge step up for me. I already have had some time to work in it and even though it isn’t fine tuned, it is great to have a place to work and just take off my apron and close the door to do things like make dinner, answer the phone or fill an order. While I did the best I could in my kitchen previously, as our little business grows, I was getting tired of the amount of time that needed to be spent clearing things out and cleaning  up after cutting to make it fit for its main purpose – as a kitchen. Also, it was open to our living area so that meant that not only was there noise there for those who weren’t working, but all the dust as well. This is wonderful in so many respects. 



Well, that is about all for today. It feels good to be writing again and helps give me some goals to reach each day. I think Keith’s mom is coming over today and that will be nice. I have some cutting to do as well, so I know I will be busy. It is already sunny and beautiful out so I expect it will be a stellar day. 



I wish you all a wonderful Wednesday!  Have fun and do something to make your heart smile! 



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