DIY Workshop

Transforming our space on a budget

May 2021

We had plans to move into a warehouse, that never happened. So towards the end of 2020, I choose to continue working from home. With that decision to continue working from home, I decided that our workshop needed a spruce up. 

I decided to go DIY because I thought to myself, I can do this. That typical kiwi ingenuity - 'C'mon mate, do it yourself'. Our renovations weren't hard, and I knew that I’d save a lot of money if I did it myself.

Our workshop (bless it) was cold, had concrete floors and bare jib walls. It was cramped, packed to the rim with our laundry stuff, gardening stuff, bikes and overall it was dim and cluttered.

Choosing to continue working from home, I decided to give our workshop a facelift. It wasn't going to be an easy job. The preparation itself included the following jobs:

    • Move my clothes rack out from under the stairs.
    • Move bikes out of the garage and put them under the stairs
    • Buy and build a garden shed (which I would not recommend, lol)
    • Move garden stuff out and into the shed
    • Move all of the stock out and into storage
    • Get advice from a painter
    • Purchase paint and equipment
    • Make a few dump runs

 

Once the garage was ready to paint, it was pretty straightforward. Paint the walls and ceiling with an undercoat and topcoat. I painted the walls and ceiling an off white to brighten up the space.

After painting, I noticed that our window looked ugly; it was like the builder didn’t finish his job. There were gaps between the framing and the concrete walls. So I decided to build an architrave.

The final part of the renovations was carpet laying. I purchased two Fortify garage carpet rolls from Mitre 10 and rolled them out, taped the seams together, cut out a section for the washing machine and basin, and that was it! The garage carpet didn’t need to be taped down; it sat perfectly.

Renovations began on the 15th of March and were completed by mid-April. A lot of time was spent on the preparations. Now the workshop feels lovely, warm and a nice space to be in. There’s less clutter and more open space. I love our workshop now.

One funny moment was not knowing that I needed a gun to use the wood glue! Lol, amateur move while building the window architrave. At Mitre 10, I grabbed the wood glue and didn't even think to myself, how does the glue come out?

I got home and when it came to using the glue, I read the instructions, cut the tip off and try to squeeze the glue out, thinking when I cut the tip-off, the glue will somehow be activated and will come out. I tried squeezing it, shaking it, googled it, and then in a tutorial, a builder using the glue inside a gun.

Frustrated, I headed back to Mitre 10 and asked, “so...is it common knowledge for people to buy the gun with the glue?”, she replied “yes”.

Once I figured out how to put the glue in the gun, it worked. 

The overall costs for the renovations covered: 

    • Paint (undercoat and topcoat)
    • Paint equipment
    • Window architrave materials (wood, foam, glue)
    • Garage carpet

    The total of the costs came to $934.59. Most of the expenses were on the garage carpet. Live and learn, overall happy with my work and our new space.

    DIY 3
    DIY 4
    workshop2
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