My new eBay workspace
It is still a work in progress, but so much better than what I had previously -- It makes photographing, measuring and packing my items much less of a job. It also gives us a place to play and store board games and lets my daughter pound on the keyboard or get out messy toys without anyone hassling her. I originally intended to put another TV out there, but the electric wiring would not handle it. I had to rewire all the sockets after the space heater blew one out.
Like I said in my last post, I still plan to finish the floor with some concrete stain. I also need to rehang the matchstick blind I'm using to cover the closet. You can't see it in the photos, but I created a closet using the Rubbermaid wire shelving that was all over the garage -- I fit it into an 8-foot alcove to give me storage for clothing -- as I seem to be selling more and more clothes. Actually the whole project was all about recycling items I already had. All I bought was 2 heavy-duty plastic Sterlite 5-shelf units (on sale for $25 each), 1 gallon paint ($10), the gray couch ($30 at Goodwill), the 5-arm floor lamp ($19 at Target), and 2 orange area rugs ($7 each at Goodwill).
I read that garage renovations that take out the doors so it can't be used as a garage anymore actually hurt the value of the home, so I didn't want to do anything permanent (and couldn't afford to anyway). Luckily the interior was already dry-walled and the ceiling finished. To make the doors blend in I painted them the same as the wall (I thought the beige I bought would be darker than it was) and brought in the huge Algerian Ivy plants I had on my porch all summer. I moved the sports rack to the center of the garage doors on one side and hung the ivies on each side. I took apart the Sterlite shelf I already had and combined it with the 2 new ones to create 5 3-shelf units that I arranged in an L-shape to make a 3-1/2 foot half-wall around the utility part of the garage. Backing the shelves with some vintage grasscloth wallpaper I found at an estate sale a couple of years ago blocked out the lawn tractor, bikes and tools that needed to stay in there. Topping them with 3 large Boston ferns that needed to winter inside helped mask the 2nd garage door.
My work area is a bank of Sterlite drawers and shelves that I had - just reconfigured, with one of the rubbermaid shelves covered with grasscloth as a display area above. I made an island to hold my boxes and to use as a staging area for shipping from half of a heavy-duty utility shelf I had and a big piece of MDF board that was already in the garage. I also made cheap casings for the door and windows out of some scrap wood bought, but never used for another project. The curtains were made from a piece of linen I had been using as a photography backdrop and a tablecloth I also used to back my photos. To unify the fabrics (and make them wide enough) I edged them with part of an old green bedskirt I found in the basement. Oh -- to cover the bare bulbs I made fixtures with up-turned cloth lampshades - super easy. I have a ceiling fan (new in the box from a yard sale for $4) that I will try to put in my spring. Like I said - work in progress.
