Garage Treasures Found and Used--Part 2

This is part 2 of the earlier post about the stackable shelves that I got from my dad's garage to use in our new rec room for my games which are currently in my hall closet.

Saturday, I discussed with the painter if he wanted to use spray paint or a brush and he said spray paint would be faster so he'd go with that and I should let him know when I got the paint and sometime next week he could to them. Well, it was a beautiful day with no wind so I just did them myself, partly because the painter charged too much and the paint was already way more than I expected.

First, I laid out the two big tarps that I took from my dad's garage as well and couldn't help but think of my dad all the while I was working. I thought how he would have done such a much better job than I was doing, but that I just wanted to have them look better than the plain wood. After all, they were just shelves and would be covered with stuff anyway. I didn't sand them or put any primer on them. I'm sure my dad would have.

Then, I just started bringing them out one at a time and spraying them. Another thing my dad probably would not have done. He never liked using spray paint so I'm sure he would have used a brush instead. Another thing my dad was never concerned about was how long things took. He just had the patience to do things right and do it well no matter how long it took. I, on the other hand, do not have that much patience yet. Maybe some day I will, but for now, I just wanted to get them done in one day so when the floor is finished early this week, I can begin using them in the rec room.

I wish though I had started with the brown because it covered so much better than the orange. I didn't buy enough orange to do two coats of it so I'll try them the way they are and if I still am dissatisfied with the orange ones once they are covered with stuff, then I'll redo them with the brown. I have 4 or 5 cans of brown left.

Although I'm sure dad would not approve of how I did them, he would be happy I didn't pay the painter to do them. It took me four hours to do all seven shelves so I'm sure it would have even taken the painter longer. So at least I saved myself over $100 there. Yes, he charged $25 an hour! I thinks that's high. Praise God he wasn't available to do them that day!

The Garage Treasures Found and Used--Part 1

Harry liked having his cars handy. He always parked them in the driveway, never in the garage. I think he felt it wasted too much space that could be put to better use.

Harry loved working out in his 3-car garage. That truly was his favorite place in the whole world because he could putter in there to his heart's content. He had his big band saw in the far end, a drill press, a work bench, cabinets and even some kind of air vacuum system to draw the sawdust out, plus all kinds of hardware.

In the middle section was his lumberyard. He had the whole second garage filled completely with wood arranged by size and marked with its dimensions on the end. Some he also marked the kind it was. There was only a narrow little path to walk around and even that had obstacles to climb over or move to get by.

The first section he had all his yard tools, more storage cupboards, his current "project" or two and just a bunch of junk. There was only a little room to walk and you couldn't even get all the way to the back! Two hand push lawn mowers and a big leaf shredder resided right near the front.

About two months after dad died, I started focusing on clearing out the garage. When I was able to get to the back and side of that first area (about a month later), there were some really nice stackable shelves that he had made. They were just bare wood, but had slots that interlocked but that made it easy to carry them to move them around. They were also nice because you could stack them as many as five high or have two stacks of lower ones. Altogether, there were 7 longer shelves and 6 shorter ones. I tried selling them at the yard sale I had for $10 each, but no one wanted them. I was really shocked but glad now because I took them for myself. No way was I going to throw those out!

I set them up in my basement and used them to hold the things I brought over from his house to sell on Ebay with the thought in mind that one day I would use them in our rec room to hold my games that currently are in my hall closet to make more room for our blankets, comforters and throws that a currently balled up in my bathroom closet and in the laundry hamper, just because we don't have any other place to put them.

In part 2 of this post, I will update you on the current status of these shelves. What's in your garage? A car? How boring!

(If you enjoy this blog why not buy "My Funny Dad, Harry")

No More Reaching To the Back of a Cupboard Shelf

Harry was always looking for ways to make things easier. When my mom wanted something out of her lower kitchen cupboards, it seemed as though it was always way in the back and she had to unload all the stuff that was in front first to get at what she needed. When Harry saw my mom struggling to get big bowls that were way in the back of a kitchen cupboard, he began thinking of a solution.

Harry remodeled our kitchen, putting in rolling shelves in the cupboards under the counter,(sort of like drawers but the sides didn't come up all the way so we could still see what was in there). To get things from way in the back became easy. The shelf just rolled out and we could easily reach the things in the back without having to move everything first!

I really think this is a wonderful idea and those who do remodeling or home construction should give it some serious consideration. (Sorry, I don't think I have any pictures of these.)