When my wife died eighteen months ago, I moved from a 2400 SF century old farmhouse and a 1500 SF barn, into an 850 SF apartment here in my RetCom (retirement community). That was quite a shock for me, but since I now had no one to fall back on, it made the most sense, and it still does. But, what I miss the most is my barn. It was a putterer’s paradise. Among many other things, I spent hundreds of hours out there fashioning a 30-year-old Chevy truck with a cap on the back into my personal µRV of sorts.

I simply loved my dream workshop

In an impishly small sort of way, I fashioned a poor excuse for a workshop in a 30 x 42 inch coat closet in my apartment. It had a pegboard on one wall and an 18 x 32 inch bench which consumed all the floor space. I did bring my workshop sign with me from the barn to make it official. It was better than nothing, but it was NEVER enough.

Then recently, A wild thought sprouted in my feverish brain. The apartment has a 72 x 76 SF walk-in closet that, for the most part, was empty. The thought came to me that my entire wardrobe could easily fit in the coat closet, so why not move my clothes there and turn the walk-in into a workshop that is almost five times the size of what I had then. I spent the better part of a weekend making that happen, and I couldn’t be happier.

No, I can’t build furniture size projects anymore, but I surprisingly can do quite a bit now. My “Tool Rules” sign now happily resides on the door of my “new” workshop. I even managed to bring up some of the frequently used items from my storage locker in the basement of the RetCom building. I currently have a list of fourteen to-do items to prepare my µRV for this year’s travels, and my new workshop can handle them very well, thank you. Now, I am trying to figure out a way to add a window to my workshop, but I suspect that my landlord would never allow that to happen. 😎