Old Paint

   Have you ever painted something and when your done you maybe have a 1/3 of a can of paint left over?   You dutifully mark the can with something like "downstairs bedroom", seal it, date it, and put it away cause you know that someday you will want to touch up a scratch or something and when that happens, you will have the "downstairs bedroom" paint on hand just to take care of that problem.    It sounds good, although my experience has been that when you get ready to touch up that scratch you pull out that old paint can and discover that eight years or more have passed since you painted the downstairs bedroom.   Upon opening the can you find that the paint has separated or has a crust on top.  It's not a pretty scene.    Still with all that so-called experience that I talk about, I continue to save left over paint with the idea that it will have some value to me someday.

   In our house next to the basement shop there is this little room that is 4' x 8' and is built out of cement block.  Beyond this room is a crawl space that is 16' by 8' that we use as a storage area.   When the grandkids come to visit, they refer to that crawl space as the "Cave".   This little 4x8 area is the focus of this week's writings.     I did take some "before and during" pictures of this project, but due to the wife and I sharing this one camera, those pictures seem to have gotten deleted before I had a chance to download them.  (It may have something to do with the way I took the pictures of the posters of Miss Makita 2002 and Miss Makita 2003 which were hanging against the back wall of this little storage area.  I don't understand the problem because it was the advertising for Makita tools that always interested me the most...)

    On one side of the doorway to this little area are the electrical panels for the house so we tend to call this area the electrical room.   On the otherside of the doorway is a 4x4 foot area that had a couple large shelves for storing stuff.   That is the way it was when we moved in 10 years ago and that was how I had used the space myself.   I started renovating the electrical room by removing the paint, stain, varnish cans, and various other stuff I had stacked in there.   When done and the shelves were taken out, I discovered a neat little blocked-in area.    It would be a perfect place to go to if there was a tornado warning or storm warnings of some sort.  (If the house did crash down on us, I would be right next to my tools...)

      Previously there were 2 shelves built that were 4'x4'  and they worked well for storing things except if you wanted something from the back it was always hard to get to.    I replaced those 2 shelves with four shelves that I had built in a U shape.    By doing that it will allow me to stand in the middle and be able to see and reach for anything or everything that is available.  

  It turned out nice.   (At least today it looks clean and neat.  Who knows about later on.)   As you can see I have once again stockpiled my used treasured cans of paint.    I did gain some additional space, but it did not take long to find objects (of value) to place on those shelves.     (Notice - no room for my posters advertising Makita tools. Hmmm.)
   
    As you can see from the picture at the right - if a tornado does occur,  there would be room for the wife and I to squeeze in the aisle for protection.   It does not appear that there would be room for a cat.   That's okay,   I have been training her that if the tornado siren goes off we humans go to the electrical room and she should stand next to the picture window and look for birds.  

 Next week - another project and maybe more pictures.