Flutterby™! : Dan builds a workbench

Folks who've seen my work room know that "disorganized" is an understatement. This has been further compounded by the fact that I like to hang out and do hobby sort of stuff near where Charlene's working so that we can chat while we do stuff. So after much hemming and hawing and discussion we decided to rearrange the house and see if we could find a better format. We've decided that the living room will really be for living, and the spare bedroom will become a parlor sort of space.

Of course this time of year in Northern California means that to do anything outside we have to carry stuff out and work while it's not raining, and be prepared to lug it all back in when the drops start. But in between massive cleaning and organizing in the past few days as we try to figure out what can fit where, we've built 4 sets of shelves, cut down a desk and chair to be Charlene's perfect height, and I've built myself a workbench. A bunch of hardware still needs to be mounted, a few lights, a power supply, a small vice or two, an airbrush compressor, I'm considering putting tool racks on the inside of the outer doors, and there'll be a lot of parts bins on the shelves, but overall I'm not too unhappy with how it came out. Because of dodging raindrops and time constraints there are some rough edges and harsh alignments and some external (covered) screw heads (after the third time the whole thing fell apart 'cause we couldn't leave it in one place for the glue to dry...), but it doesn't look half-bad. As you can see the front of the work surface folds back in (I'll cut a hole further back for the vice to disappear into) and it all closes up to look a little less utilitarian.

I'll probably eventually decide that I want some sort of cover on the lower part, but that might just end up being a curtain (which could double as a parts bib when I'm working with the fine stuff...).

Tomorrow we do large dump run #2. It feels good.