Chipping away at the garage

In the interest of actually being able to use some small portion of the garage for a project every now and then, I've decided to make a stab at claiming a bit of the little garage.  Some stuff is in the trash, some is in the jeep awaiting a Goodwill stop and the rest ended up on the new shelf.. Yes, a NEW SHELF!  (You're probably not as excited about that as I am.)  We went to Menards with the intention of buying lumber and brackets to match the shelf that all the outdoor toys are on, but came home with something entirely different.

This metal shelf system only cost a little more than the original plan and literally snapped together in about half an hour.  It holds a lot more weight than we're ever going to stack on it (see that generator on the top right shelf?) and should pretty much last forever.  No clean up, done the same day - about as painless as garage cleaning can get!

On the opposite wall, we installed the pegboard that used to be in the sewing room.  The stated intention is that it will be a good place to store woodworking tools.  The secret intention is that I might be able to find a hammer, screwdriver, pliers, and tape measure.  Seriously, we own a dozen tape measures, but I can never find one in the other garage!  [end rant]  The table is a great workbench and there is storage space on the side for a router, sanders, etc.

Office remake

I wish I'd taken a before picture; unfortunately, the office was so dark and gloomy it may have sucked all the light out of the photo.

With gloomy, gloomy winter coming up, I knew I had to do something to make it into a place I could work.  Fortunately, the building maintenance guy is merciful and made time to paint the room a nice, sunny yellow.

3/8 inch plywood, cheap batting, cotton fabric, staple gun

Adorable boys on the desktop background

From there, I added a wall of flowery message boards, got rid of two huge, window-blocking file cabinets, scrounged the building for a more user friendly storage system, and added a cute rug.

Rugs USA - highly recommended!
This is a small rug, but 100% wool and free shipping for $17.
Amazing prices and the two I've bought there are both great quality.

The primary goal is to not hate every minute I spend in that room (guessing that would affect productivity), and for people to actually come in, sit down and chat. (Thanks for the great example, Trudy!)  I still need to get some stuff on the walls, but it's pretty terrific so far!