Life During Construction (Or, Build A Shop FIRST)

 

A giant white board taped to the fridge was helpful to keep our tasks and progress in front of us

If we were asked the top ten pieces of advice we would give to anyone attempting a house-building DIY, "Build a shop first" would be one on the list. Construction would be so much easier if a shop is on the premises, and if a family is involved (and perhaps living in an RV on site)  make it a big shop so that there is extra storage space! We have yet to build a shop but the lack of one has certainly been part of what slows us down.

Taping to-do lists in each room was supposed to be helpful, but I'm not sure we remembered to look at them on our way through. 

There is a certain point where you can see the end of the project, but then there are times you are slowed down because of lack of organization of tools. Time has to be taken to move tools and materials out of the way so something can be done in the space. Sometimes whole portions of what would have been building time have to be devoted to sorting out tools. Oh for a shop that had a hook for every hammer, a shelf for every box of screws, and the table saw could be set up permanently!

And so if you don't have a shop, the living room becomes the shop. If you recall, this wasn't the first time! Except this time we had a toddler underfoot so we had to have a barrier. Can you imagine any construction guy you know tolerating doing construction in a child-proof site? How many times a day would he want to step over that barrier? But we did it!

The question no one wanted to answer was, "where is all this stuff going when we move in?"

No more commute meant more time building after work! 

In the middle of the construction, my husband started to work from home (that was before everyone was doing it-- guess we are trend-setters). Not anticipating this, we had no office in the house plans. We had a small closet to house a computer for the rest of us, but it wasn't an office either. How could we have overlooked such an essential space??? 

So that beautifully pristine new flooring in that wide-open space now housed a shop, an office, and anything else needed to give the family a happy life. I didn't say normal, just happy.

Children are very adaptable. 

Projects could be done up at the house that were harder to do in the hot and crowded RV. 

My 6-inch windowsills have been appreciated by everyone in the house. Each one became a mini-shop at one point. 

And when your castle is in the way on the floor, it can also live on a windowsill for a while. 

I was even able to "decorate" a bit in my laundry room "kitchen."

No pantry, no problem. Just find an out-of-the-way corner that isn't housing tools or paint. No way were we storing 40 pounds of apples in a mouse-prone RV!