I can’t believe how quickly this happened. They started building this workshop around 8:30 yesterday morning, left around 4:30 pm, returned at 7:30 this morning, and finished at 11:00. Construction is ready! It is painted, shingled and finished. I still need a garage door, but they contracted it out to an overhead door company and I think they will be here later today to install it.
But here is my finished workshop for now.
This is how it is oriented in the backyard. It is located right behind the garage, 14 feet away. The entrance door of the workshop faces the backyard.
The building measures 18′ x 27′. I had to keep it under 500 square feet so the city wouldn’t require an engineering base. I worked with the construction company to make it as large as possible without exceeding the 500 square foot maximum. This building is 486 square feet.
It is larger than our garage, which I have used as a workshop for years. So I think there will be plenty of space to use and store my tools.
Of course, just because your part is finished, that doesn’t mean the building is actually finished. It’s just a very basic building right now, but eventually, I’ll take some time to make it nice.
But for now, I’m just grateful to have this building. I’ve been waiting for a workshop for years and years!! And finally making that dream a reality is incredibly exciting. This is the only wall that has no window or door. I wanted a complete, uninterrupted wall, so I chose this side, the side facing the back of the garden.
So the four windows are on the front wall and the back wall of the building. These are windows I bought years ago when I had the crazy idea to turn our garage into my workshop. I’m so glad I didn’t do that, but these windows ended up in our storage shed since then. I was so glad this company was willing to use these windows (which match the windows in our house) instead of using their own.
The interior looks huge. This is 87 square feet larger than my studio and my studio seems huge to me.
I can’t wait to design the inside of this with storage, countertops, etc. In fact, I’ll now have room for a proper table saw!
I’m not really sure what I’m going to do with the walls or the floor. Drywall on the walls? What type of soil? I haven’t even thought about these details yet. I haven’t thought beyond simply constructing the building.
Apart from the garage door, the rest I have to finish. Of course, I’ll add some blue shutters and a coral front door to match our house. They have already painted it Sherwin Williams Mindful Gray to match our house. And I’ll build some entry steps to the front door. I’ll also add some type of skirting to hide the entire bottom area and keep the bugs out of there.
And I will build a much-needed ramp that goes from the end of the garage to the workshop garage door to make it very easy to get in and out of heavy supplies and tools, if necessary, and for Matt to get in. workshop easily if you want to visit it. It will be a very nice and wide ramp. I had considered pouring a concrete ramp, but I’m going to think more about that. Maybe I’ll stick with wood, but I’ll make that decision later after I’ve given it more thought.
So that’s it! Years and years of dreaming, and it all came true in just over a day. It would be hard to believe if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes and documented the entire process from start to finish with photographs. I’ll share them tomorrow and show you each step from start to finish. But until then, I’ll sit in my workshop for a while and do some planning, dreaming, and admiring.
Addicted 2 Decorating is where I share my DIY and decorating journey as I remodel and decorate the 1948 upper that my husband Matt and I purchased in 2013. Matt has MS and can’t do physical labor, so I do most of the work in the house alone. You can learn more about me here.
