When my neighbor, Chip, was getting ready to move away he put two items out in the trash that he let me take. First item was a beaten-up Craftsman toolbox. Drawer missing and another dented, it had seen better days.....
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| One drawer was missing, bottom drawer was dented and other drawer was off it's track. |
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| Once bottom 3 of the 4 drawers were removed it was a nice (dirty) open space |
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| Cleaned up swell! |
I had cut wood walls to convert it into a garage, but it was making the toolbox very heavy to move around. Plus I felt like I needed to glue the wood pieces together inside the toolbox (which meant wallpapering inside the toolbox too - which I could do, but wasn't in the mood for the contortions I would have to do in order to wallpaper). I always read about people using gator board or foam board to create walls...so I decided to try it:
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| All my walls are cut: This step took me longer than I anticipated since my foam board cutter was in a "safe place" in the basement and took me a while to find. |
Back Wall and floor had to be 2 pieces since the hole opening into the space is smaller than the area it needed to cover. But flooring and trims will cover the seams.
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| Using right angle trims I reinforced the side walls |
I had to cover the old drawer supports so the side walls have bump outs where those were located.
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| Started papering the flooring |
Itsy Bitsy wallpaper company had a great garage floor and some wall tile papers that coordinated! Technically the tile paper was called "French Tile" but it looked like garage walls to me...
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| Seam on the back wall (laying flat on the table) towards the right will be covered by stripwood trim |
As you can see, I kept one drawer (technically two if you count the top of the box that lifts up to reveal a cavity too).
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| Box is all papered |
Last remaining drawer was to hide the battery pack and wiring for the 4 garage lights in the box. It's not a pretty wiring job, but it gets the job done. This step also took a while since I realized I had left most of my electrical tools at the store and (at that time last night) we had over 8" of snow (i.e. I am not driving over to the shop to grab my tools). But luckily I found my solder iron (after some searching - it was in a "safe place") and there was a 4" long length of solder in the bucket with it! And in my "left over's drawer" I had some left over wires from fixtures whose wiring I had shortened when I installed them. And there was a small bag of about 12 eyelets in the left-over's drawer too! I did remember to previously purchase and bring home the battery pack and tapewire. So I had barely enough supplies to finish the wiring! (But still had to spend about 15 or 20 minutes searching for an extension cord so that I could solder since the soldering iron cord wasn't long enough to reach the table where the project was located. I swear 75% of my mini play/work time is spent searching for the tools and supplies I need to do the next step of my project!)
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| Wiring isn't pretty but it works! |
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| All lit up and ready to decorate! |
I have a collection of stuff to put on a shelf, rack, or table but don't have the shelf, rack, etc. So I will work on that later. Most were bought from Wright Guide Miniatures before they were forced to retire (someone stole their truck full of all their displays and all their inventory a year or so ago in Las Vegas - so sad).
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| Lots of little bits for a shelf or bookcase or another work table |
Originally I had a Ford Sports Car to go in the garage too, but it was 13" long and the box is only 10-1/2" deep so the car is being put aside for some other project, someday. But that meant my garage now looks a little sparse...and I don't think the mechanics' creepers (or whatever the tool's real name is) are used with motorcycles so the red and wooden mechanic creepers (seen on the left in the photo above) may be ditched. I have to verify with my brother-in-law; he's a car/motorcycle guru; he'll be able to tell me what would or wouldn't be appropriate for this setting....
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| One arrangement of motorcycles in the shop |
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| Love that the tire rack fits perfectly in that niche |
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| I love the detail on this wallpaper flooring - looks like a garage floor! |
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| Second arrangement and one I will most likely keep |
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| All lit up with the dining room lights off |
(From left to right: 2012 XL 1200V Seventy-Two, 2013 FLHTK Electro Glide, and a 2015 Street Glide.)
The box is looking sparse. I need to put another fixture on the left side to hold all that Wright Guide stuff I have. And the back wall is getting some motorcycle-themed posters/artwork. I have these 2 plastic party favors I was going to use as the motorcycles in the roombox until I discovered the 1:12 Harley Davidson replicas.
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| Red and Blue plastic motorcycle party favors, slightly under 1:12 scale but still nice for $3.95 each |
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| Maybe snap the handlebars and headlight off and mount on the wall? Or the tank? Or front wheel? I don't know.... |
I am toying around with the idea of busting them apart and making some sort of wall hanging art piece out of them. But I'm not 100% sure. I will continue to add to the scene throughout the next few months/years (including getting a plexi-glass front protector), but for all intents and purposes it is a completed project!
(And for those wondering, the other item I took from Chip's trash was an old computer cover (?) (I'm not a techie so I don't know what you call computer parts, but it's not the actual guts of a computer, but just the outer shell of the console) -- technically 2 of them -- that I will convert into a 1990's or early 2000's business office. Just brainstorming what type of business it is (architecture? accountant? web design company? etc.) before I start constructing it's mini elevator and offices. So that may be a project later on this year or early next year!)
For now though, there is 10" or 11" of snow that needs to be shoveled and a bunch of windows from a customer's Victoria's Farmhouse kit that needs to be painted and assembled so I'm using this snow day to get a lot of stuff done!
