I have wanted to build a woodshop in the woods behind our house ever since I believed I’d outgrown my garage. I just haven’t done it before since I thought it would cost more than I wanted to spend. At last, with retirement, the time has come.

When we bought our current home, it was right-sized for our two teen-aged boys, Margaret and me, but it was twice the size of our former home. We had a problem. We had more room than we had furniture.

I decided to build what we needed since I had years of experience watching New Yankee Workshop. I just needed to upgrade a few tools and buy a few more. I built TV cabinets first for Chris and Adam to house their TVs and video game consoles. I built cheap nightstands for our bedroom. I thought I was a craftsman when I built a blanket chest for Margaret.

The husband-father-carpenter built what his family needed!

I also made, but didn’t finish a China cabinet because I learned Margaret didn’t want it. It ended up as a repurposed bookcase and stayed in our home way too long.

My woodshop was in our 20’ by 25’ two-car garage – the space between the garbage cans and the push mower. Before I could create there, I had to back out the car and truck, set up an assembly table, set up the table saw and miter saw and drag out the small power tools and their extension cords. I created – piddled, mainly – most Saturdays.

Then, when I was tired, I’d have to blow the dust out the garage door, store the tools, and put the car and truck back in the garage. It was such a pain.

Around the time Norm hung up his tool belt, I found Jay Bates on YouTube. He created some pretty nice things in an empty apartment in the complex where he worked.

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I designed storage shelves to hang from my garage ceiling, just like Jay’s. They’re great. I watched Jay on YouTube and built in my garage for years until I had a medical event. After it, I stopped moving everything out of the garage, setting up the tools. I closed it all down and built nothing for two years. It was just too much to clean it all up again and put it away.

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But, once you’ve had fine particle sawdust up your nose, you’ll never really stop woodworking. So, I’ll start again as soon as the 12’ x 16’ shop is ready. There’ll be a bump out with an office and a half-balf. This is where my bestsellers will come from.

The office. Not the half bath.

In my new shop I’ll write, I’ll build small wood projects and, when I’m done for the day, I’ll close the door and head into the house. I’ll wait for another day to sweep up sawdust and put the tools away.