Reclaiming the Basement: My New Workbench

If you know the difference between, say, a Holtzapffel-style cabinet maker's bench and a split-top Roubo-style workbench, then this post will not impress you. (Bill Fox...I'm looking in your direction.) But...those of you guys who are cramped up in a condo somewhere on the northside and long for a little man-retreat, then you're going to be jealous!

Anyway...back to the story.  Starting a few weeks back, I began to beat my cabin fever by beginning to organize our basement.  Our basement is probably like a lot of basements: unfinished, messy, damp, and quite a bit disorganized. During construction (or re-construction), the basement housed just about everything we owed that wasn't in our POD - and it was messy down there.  Once we moved in, we started to put everything that didn't have a home down there.  Over time, I bought some shelving units and began to put some of our stuff on the shelves, but in no particular order.

We then inherited some of my sister and brother-in-laws stuff to store - as their basement is finished as a playroom and don't have the space.  We don't have a garage, but our basement has it's own entrance, so the basement houses things such as our lawnmower, rakes, and even some patio furniture.  And...IT HAS NEVER REALLY BEEN CLEANED.

Reclaiming the space - as a man space - would require some help.  And help is what I got from my good friends at Menard's.  As part of their New Year specials, they had heavy-duty shelving units on sale as well as various size/shaped work benches.  We needed both.

Since we moved in, I've been keeping my tools scattered in various parts of the house - everywhere from the front closet to the basement to my office.  Nothing really had a home.

Until now.  I carved out a space downstairs to set up a workbench and create a place where I could work.  Being the amateur craftsman that I am, I caved and bought a "workbench kit" from Menard's and it quickly came together.   I'm quite pleased with the way it turned out!

I quickly filled it with various tools and other random stuff I've collected/been given.  I also bought a 2X4 foot sheet of pegboard and tacked it up behind the bench.  I should probably read up on the intricacies of peg-board maximization.

There's a fridge down there already.  All I need is to splice the cable that's down there, put up a small tv, find a suitable Lazy Lad and we'll have my very own man space.

In all of it's dingy, damp glory.