The other day, someone left a comment on a post (I can’t remember which one) saying something like, “You’re the messiest DIYer I know…” 😀 Ummm…YEP! It wasn’t a mean comment. She was actually quite complimentary. But that first part of her comment made me laugh because I know it’s true.
I used to be embarrassed about it, but over the years, I’ve just embraced it. I’m getting to that age where I’m a whole lot less concerned about what people think about me than I used to be. You know how it is. When we’re younger, we’re almost consumed with others’ perceptions of us. As we get older, that becomes less important. Not that I don’t want people to think well of me, but I’m a lot less likely to try to hide the embarrassing parts of myself and my personality these days. I’m a messy person, and when I work on projects, I’m like a tornado leaving a path of destruction behind me. But it always works out in the end.
After all, not too long ago, my studio looked like this…
But today, I’m sitting at my desk in a studio that looks like this…
It always works out in the end. And that brings me to the current state of our carport. I’ve been using this as my workshop for years now. It’s where I use my big power tools (miter saw, table saw, planer, etc.). It’s where I paint cabinet doors and drawer fronts. It’s where I build some things. I just leave my big power tools out there, and I’m surprised they’ve never been stolen. In fact, I’ve never had anything stolen from our property.
But I’m not the best at cleaning up after my projects. So I have big piles of sawdust, a huge pile of scrap lumber, random pieces of scrap plywood leaning against random items. This has been my very messy method for years now. Now that I have a workshop, I need to build a cart for scraps so that I can keep those clean, dry, and organized.
My carport is also the landing place for items that people give me because they think I can do something interesting with them, like that big mirror in the photo below. It really is a unique mirror, but I didn’t have anywhere to put it, so into the carport it went.
I’ve got paint left over from the workshop, and chairs that used to be in the breakfast room, and then were stored in the sunroom, and then were moved out here…for some reason that I can’t really explain. 😀
I’ve got a small chest freezer that I bought in a panic when our upright freezer in the pantry stopped working. I don’t really want to get rid of it just in case I need it again, but I’ve never had a place to store it, so into the carport it went also.
And of course, I always have a junk pile somewhere in the back yard — a place where I can toss all of the construction scraps while I’m working on a room. Once the pile gets big enough during or after a project, I either hire someone to haul it away or rent a dumpster. I’ve never been concerned about the pile looking awful because, quite frankly, my back yard has never looked nice anyway. But now that things are happening in the back yard, and I’m on my way to having a cute workshop, and the driveway is finished, and the carport is actually finished (and looks nice when it’s clean), I’d like to stop having a junk pile so visible. As long as there are projects happening in our house, I will have a junk pile, but maybe I can find a less conspicuous place for it.
Also, right now, the cardboard boxes are taking over. I’m saving them because my mom and I are going to turn them into landscaping stones and boulders. For now, they can be stored in the workshop and I can get them out of the carport.
But really, it’s just a bunch of tools and mess left over from projects.
It looks like it’s verging on becoming a junk yard, so this is the next project on the list.
Now that our driveway is done, I’m very excited about being able to park in the carport. So today, my mom and I are going to tackle this cleaning project, and I’m hoping we can get the whole thing done today.
If we can get it done today, I’ll share our finished driveway with you tomorrow! I’m so incredibly excited about how it turned out. It really changed the look of our house like I didn’t really expect.
UPDATE: If you’re wondering about our plans for the cardboard boxes, you can check out this post for more info: Faux DIY Rocks & Boulders? Yes, Please!
Addicted 2 Decorating is where I share my DIY and decorating journey as I remodel and decorate the 1948 fixer upper that my husband, Matt, and I bought in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do physical work, so I do the majority of the work on the house by myself. You can learn more about me here.
