So, picture this:

But with some benches around it that were falling apart because carpenter bees have eaten all the structural support. So I removed them, sanded the deck and replaced boards that were too worn to be usable.

The steps were each made of three boards that had warped and rotted, so I replaced them 2 x 12′s. Here you can see the building inspector checking my work:

It took three days to get to this stage:

But only one to get it to this:

I was a little worried about the dark spots I left behind. At the time, I thought I should go deeper and sand more to get a more uniform look. But in the end, I liked the dark spots and the way they came out.

I wasn’t done yes.

After a stern warning from the government of California:

I set about to make a pair of planters to replace the red plastic ones we were using.

I didn’t take any pictures of the process, but it wasn’t too exciting. I just cut construction lumber until it was what I needed.

But since there will be morning glories in the planters, I built an arbor:

The arbors were built to go around the planters and everything was stained with Behr outdoor deck stain. With any luck, it will last for a while. At least until we replace the whole deck.

Finally, I got home and coerced Margo into helping to make the shop workable. The garage was a storage area for the moving process. So we boxed and sorted and moved to the attic stuff for long term storage. We consolidated chemicals, got clear storage bins from Ikea to put in existing shelving units. And that led to the shop being workable.

It still has latticework were I want there to be walls, no climate control, lights or electricity… but it is moving slowly.

Part of the process of getting there is getting stands and carts for my tools so I’m not lifting them on and off of the Workmate as I need them.

So the first thing I built was a stand for my Jointer/Planer.

When you make furniture, you want the wood to be square, flat and to the proper thickness. That is what the Jointer and planer are for. In a small shop like mine, it is easier and cheaper to buy a multifunction tool that does both. The top part joints the board and makes one side flat. After that, I send it through the bottom of the machine that makes the opposite side coplanar.

I want to put shelves in the unit. I just haven’t gotten that far yet.

After that, I found some plans on the internet and made a stand for my scroll saw.

The scroll saw is for cutting intricate curves. It is sturdy and the carpet should cut down on the vibrations. It is made from 2×4 and 4×4 material.

Which brings me to my first project in the completed shop.

We used to use a cardboard box to hold kitchen supplies like Ziplocs:

Which looked bad, never worked right and mostly was a pain. So Margo got out a lengthometer and drew up a quick plan for me.

I got some 1/4″ and 1/2″ birch plywood from Lowes and some edge veneer to hide the plywood edges. And finished my day with this:

It is a 2/1.5 brick ranch built around the 1950′s. The previous owner was either eccentric or old, so it has all these interesting features like wonderfully tacky light fixtures and pink tiles. We need to change those out and make a few upgrades to it to make it fit us.

The city requires us to change out all the water fixtures to save water. After looking at the cost and effort, we decided to spend a few extra dollars and remodel one of the bathrooms. Which will be a neat project for us to do.

After that we need to put a garage door up so I can have my workshop and supply it with electricity.

It looks like I am returning to Mexico in the morning and may miss the closing. But I’ll keep this space updated.

I think it came out pretty nice.