Making my space fit for purpose

As a maker, my workspaces (my workshop, my desk, my sewing table), are critical to me being motivated to do what I love so dearly. An unhappy space will keep me bolted to the sofa, pondering how frustrating work will be, whereas a space that is characterful, made for purpose, and clean will sing to me its sweet siren song of "get to work".

Adam Savage spends much of his excellent autobiography/ADHD-maker-how-to, Every Tools a Hammer: Life is What You Make It, how to create (and defend) a workspace that facilitates creation with as little friction as possible. The concluding chapter, Sweep Up Every Day, has formed a pillar of my making workflow.

The desk in my room has not been working for a long time, its short depth keeps me too close to my monitors to be comfortable and meant any volume of tools and materials quickly overwhelmed its chipping veneer top. This regularly forced me to work out in the shared space, full of distractions like friendly conversation (yuck). There are a whole bunch of other nagging little frustrations with the desk that I really shouldn't get into for my and your sanities, but suffice to say a change was long overdue.

As I started using my (freshly new to me) 60s industrial typewriter upon it, it struck me how wimpy a desk it was. It rattled and shook with every strike of the keys and the immense stature of it dwarfed the tabletop. It was impractical and it finally had to go.

(yes, a very dorky post about my typewriters is in the works).

I've had the desk for nearly a decade, but despite being a desk shaped object, it has kept my tools off the floor, albeit with great discomfort. So I'd like you all to bow your heads and take a breath in... and out... in gratitude for its service, it performed commendably despite its limitations.

I've thought about building a better desk for a long time but its always been a project a little outside of my reach. Considering how long some of my previous ambitious furniture projects have taken, I wasn't ready to bind myself up in self hatred and guilt for 12 months (looking at you, workbench). Rather than try to build something ambitious, I decided to go back to my roots and build something mildly janky with lightly inappropriate recycled materials.

A quick trip to Reverse Garbage presented to me a hastily constructed access ramp of nearly the perfect dimensions of 18mm ply. It seemed like the perfect platform to start and so I took her home and got to work.

The desk itself took me only about a day of good work, working by the fly, using scrap pine and plywood to reenforce the desk where would be critical. For the purposes of speed I opted to use the existing legs of the current desk, knowing I could always easily replace them later if they were a problem but they haven't been so far.

I never really doubted my ability to build something structurally sound but I continued to fret about getting the finished surface to a state that would be nice to touch and comfortable to work on. It wasn't until after the very last coat of oil that I could completely trust that it would come out okay.

Throughout the process I've been impressed with the tools I've developed in my making. I found myself with more and better quality solutions in my toolbelt to solve problems as they arrived. This helped me build with a lot of confidence. The quality of what I built still astounds me a little. Now have the practice to create an object this nice out of literal garbage. But now I face different problem, it doesn't fit in my room.

Current layout. Please excuse the mess, I had already started reorganising before I thought to take 'before' pictures

Okay, so I knew this before I started construction, the required room layout overhaul is actually a large reason I hadn't taken on this project earlier.

Driven by my ADHD medication, I pulled everything in my room out, evaluated, pondered, and started working towards putting it back together. I shoved my bed into the corner and stuck my desk against the window to enjoy more daylight then I fit everything around those. Some highlights of my reorganisation include:

Desk all finished up, so much room for activities!

This beautiful bookshelf was only $60 and I think she has a lot of life left in her. Oh and now my chair is in my room!

My low use stationary is finally organised. This makes my brain happy.

My old shelf did end up serving me very well in my wardrobe

New tool wall is a huge upgrade of accessibility from having to reach behind my monitors for access. This wall serves as the household's toolbox predominately

I also donated and threw away a handful of things, but nothing huge. I was surprised how much more storage space I unlocked, the breathing room / baby fat created in my new systems. Once again, I'll try not to bore you with the over-analysis of why everything moved and how its organised, but suffice to say everything has played its roll in creating a more useable workspace.

Actually, there is one more solution I want to get excited about, a bedside table for my partner. Now with the bed against the wall, there is nowhere for her to put her book, glasses and phone without stumbling blindly through my room to find them on my desk. So some scrap pine and a couple of hours of good work later and I have this:

The lamp serves double duty as a soft light for the otherwise dark corner whilst also being a perfect reading light. I didn't know I could produce woodworking at such a quality so quickly. Its not perfect by any stretch, but it is certainly worthy.

This entire 'project' only took about a week and a half and I've only been living with it for a month or so but already I feel lighter and move through my room easier. I've just reorganised my artwork on my walls and the space feels more like mine than it ever has. The added floor space now lets me do yoga in my room and just lets me breathe.

Things are well organised and are staying that way simply because its easier to keep them tidy than it is to make a mess. Most importantly though, I've been doing good work. My last three posts (and this one) I directly contribute to the availability of my new space. I want to sit at my desk and write, create. I'm proud of this work.

As I write this now, I finally get to comfortably look out into the blue sky while I type these words, watching a pair a currawongs fly past.