Tips for Setting up a Workshop

 

So you've settled on a decent location and rented your garage. Now the fun part comes...setting up shop!

We showed you how to find space to set up a workshop in Part 1: Tips for Renting a Garage. Read on for our story of trial and error, with pro tips for setting up your workspace.

Our journey to finding the perfect place has been a long one. It all started eight months ago when we decided to rent a garage for workshop space. We looked at many different units before applying for the perfect place, the garage attached to my residential building. It was prime real estate in an ideal location, in a mixed-use area near other small businesses. Everyone in the neighborhood has yard sales on weekends, so hosting a pop up shop is as easy as pulling up the door. The garage faced the sidewalks and streets of a busy intersection.

As fate would have it, there were several setbacks along the way. First, we had to wait three months for the garage to become available.  Then, the week of move-in, we got the call. The owner of the building had made a mistake and would not be renting the garage after all. We would have to wait two more weeks for another unit to be transferred to us. A garage in a terrible location, down an alley behind a large industrial building.

The path to following a dream is never easy, but you must keep traveling on...

Through hard work and perseverance, our team was able to make it work.  It took many helpful hands to get this place ready. First, we had to sweep out all the dirt and carefully collect the cobwebs. The spider's quickly became the familiar of the workshop, as they are nature's sewing spinners. After an intense cleaning, we were lucky enough to find most we needed for free. Emily and I were walking down the street after just starting to work on the garage when we found a beautiful iron clothing rack outside a college dorm!

We were also able to find a clear shower curtain in a free box, which is a must if you are going to keep any clothing on display in a garage. The plastic cover keeps fabrics clean and dry.

Anya and I knew we would need good quality storage for all the fabrics, so we went with ULINE plastic storage bins. They are industrial grade, sturdy and waterproof. We originally wanted to order lockers, but they are very hard to obtain. 

Before we had access to this unit, I made a vision board with everything I needed to get. One of the items was the same printer/scanner combo I had in my old workshop ten years ago. I tried to find it online, but HP stopped manufacturing it. Luckily, 

Anya and I found a used model at Church of the Guardian Angel Thrift Store. We also found a kitchen cart to use as a shipping station.

The front of the garage is a small area for tarot and tea readings. I made a curtain of vines to divide the two halves of the space and keep storage behind the scenes. As I was sitting here eating a matcha cookie, my first customer Maklin walked by for a $5.00 reading. Maybe it's not such a bad location after all...