Workshop Minimalism in The Heartland I

Recently we spent a week helping our daughter get settled into her new home in The Heartland.  Originally we were to spend only a couple of days with her, meeting the moving truck and helping to get things arranged in her “turn-key ready” rental house.  Well, the first thing was that Mayflower was five days late in getting her stuff there, and 2) that was probably a good thing as the house required a week’s worth of home-improvements to get it ready to live in.

Since I had not brought my remodeler’s tool kit with me, some improvisation was required.  Even though there was no real “workshop” in the house there was something akin to a workbench-y thing in the basement, and with a few strategic purchases at the hardware store and some local thrift stores/flea markets, a full range of woodworking undertakings was possible.

While I was not making “fine furniture” I did end up doing a lot of trim work, including patching holes in the hardwood floor, replacing missing moldings, working on window locks, and actually grafting in some new material into the jamb for making the mortise for the back door deadbolt lock.

Along the way I learned, or more truthfully reminded myself, that a fully-equipped workshop with an exquisite workbench with the finest tool set was not required to do a lot of good work.

Next time: the hardware store essentials (new tools).