Tuesday, September 18, 2012

My work space and my favorite refinishing tools.

My garage is my work space.  It is also our only storage space.  So we've had to be crafty in how it's set up.
We've come up with a few things that make paint overspray work in the same space as all of other goodies.

The drapery wire and clips strung along the back garage opening were found at Ikea and strung across the opening to our third car garage (it's behind the others and at the moment I can't remember what that's called??).  We clipped a large drop cloth to the wire and I pull it shut when I'm sanding or spraying.
(The bikes are there from our ride yesterday, but they're too heavy for me to heft up on the hooks, so they're there waiting for the man of the house.)

Five drop cloths lined up on one side of the garage and keep garage floor protected and everything I'm working on stays on that side.  The van gets moved in and out when I work.  I made the mistake of leaving it in one time during a quick spray project and now one side is covered in overspray grit.  Ooops.
I also wash them every month to keep them somewhat clean.
Heavy duty painter's plastic lines one wall from end to end.  It gets changed out every six months or so when the paint starts flaking off.  
Right now there's a paint silhouette of a past project on the wall.  We affectionately refer to it as the "garage monster".  Can you see it?
On to my favorite tools...
This air blower tool…thing, is what I use to spray out my garage so I don't have extra dust lying around that might settle on wet paint.  That would be no bueno.  I also use the leaf blower when things get overly dusty.
I keep my compressor in the back of the garage (next to our Christmas tree) because it's loud and I don't want it right next to me - plus, it scares the kids.  It's a portable Campbell Hausfeld and has been real handy for on-sight type projects.
I do love my compressor, but I do wish it was a wee bit larger because my Kobalt pneumatic sander requires so much air.
My favorite part about it is the zip zip sound it makes like the air tools used to work on cars. It sounds so professional.





A couple other favorites from my instagram feed - noise canceling headphones and an industrial fan.  It's a life saver during the summer!  And, of course, my favorite painting shoes.

I would love to hear about how you make a workspace multi-functioning and if you have additional tools I should be using! 


You can follow along with my best life here.

10 comments:

  1. Thank you for sharing! I also work out of my garage, but your is way more organized than mine! I spray painted my black car once, and had to pay almost $200 to get it detailed. Looking forward to see more of your work!

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  2. I think it's called a tandum garage?

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  3. thankyou so much for that post Nat, it is really helpful to me as I have recently given up spraying on my back lawn in favour of doing it in the garage. I love your idea of the drop cloth curtain...at the moment I have stapled some old sheets up to the rafters in my garage, but to have them work as a curtain would be so much better. I also love my air spray tool, so great for cleaning out the dust and grot in old dresser drawers etc. And sanding dust on nooks and crannys of furniture. Other air tools I cannot live without are my staple guns - one for ordinary staples and the other for long (furniture) staples. They are awesome!

    xx Karen

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    1. sorry, a question for you - do you work with your garage door open? If not what do you do for light and ventilation?

      thanks :)

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    2. I do work with my garage door open - the city says I'm not supposed to, but I do anyway. I use environmentally safe products so the fire department gave me the go-ahead and because I spend very little time actually spraying each week. I do close my garage most of the way after I finish as a courtesy of my neighbors and so the overspray can still move through.

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  4. very good Natty
    I think I should try to do the same thing

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  5. I pull my items out of the garage and paint on the side of the house - let them dry for a while then pull them back in to cure. I REALLY want a cute barn type storage shed for my back yard to store my projects in... one day...

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  6. love your workspace... and am so jealous of all the fun projects you have coming up in the near future! xo

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  7. Wow! Splendid transformation you have there! Two thumbs up for giving your garage a makeover that can make it more functional! :)

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