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I really need to start remodeling my shop. It looks like a band of 10 years old work here and looks very Unprofessional. I need some Ideas. I am my own worst client.
Could some of you more OCD/Organized people post some pictures of your shops & showrooms for Ideas for me to work off of..
I am dealing with 980 Sqft box.(40x24) I will probably be adding another 300 or so (10x30) off the back to put the router and Metal working equipment in there so I can get rid of all the dust in the main shop. The Shop is divided at 13ft off the right Side where I have my Office,Plotters and Layout tables, ect.
I'm about to call the discovery channel and see if they want to do a show "Sign Shop Hoarders and Makeover Extreme."
Any help or Ideas would be greatly appreciated besides a small nuke, I am kind of at a loss.
posted
Bill, if you really want to mess up your shiop, start making "vintage" signs. Every piece of scrap wood & rescued trim becomes valuable. Then quit making them, throw it all out & it'll look like your shop is empty.
-------------------- Rodger MacMunn T.R. MacMunn & Sons C.P.207, Sharbot Lake, ON 613-279-1230 trmac@frontenac.net Posts: 475 | From: Sharbot Lake, Ontario | Registered: Nov 2003
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posted
I wish I could help but I'm in the boat beside you. I have everything from my old office crammed into my smaller, stupidly shaped new office. I constantly feel like I'm crawling over stuff.
My office is the original building. When the bays were added on, they also added onto the back of my office but you have to go into the bays to get to the room behind the office.
Then the place was rented for wayyyy too long at a lot less than it should've been in exchange for "maintaining the building". (Insert 3 stooges theme song here). When they drywalled the office, they didn't want to go around the chimney, so they squared off the back wall - losing about 2' of space. Behind that is the original brick wall & window. Plan is to gut the office & cut the brick wall out to make a doorway into the back room, aka the VIP lounge. That back room will then have french doors & be my plotter/printer room.
Did I forget to mention the back room that I can't get to from my office is painted black & relatives of the long term renters started a local strip club? Yup, everytime I walk into the room, I look for where there had to have been a stripper pole.
-------------------- Chris Welker Wildfire Signs Indiana, Pa Posts: 4254 | From: Indiana, PA | Registered: Mar 2001
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well mine is 2005 build. glad i did it then cause i sure couldnt do it today. i got 24 X 30 X 16 tall at the back wall. 2 part epoxy paint on the concrete floor. ill post some pics if you like, or you can go to facebook A SIGN MINT. and see some of it.
[ February 23, 2012, 01:02 AM: Message edited by: old paint ]
-------------------- joe pribish-A SIGN MINT 2811 longleaf Dr. pensacola, fl 32526 850-637-1519 BEWARE THE TRUTH.....YOU MAY NOT LIKE WHAT YOU FIND Posts: 11582 | From: pensacola, fl. usa | Registered: Nov 1998
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posted
I just remodeled mine...it is 8x5 and about 24 inches tall...bed of my F150. I wish I had a hard tonneau that also opened up at the front, but manage to get to the stuff up in the front well enough with my skippy ladder and know to not put stuff up there that I use often.
Yeah, OK. I know. I am spoiled being able to do my entire operation out of the back of my truck. I do have a nice office that I keep fairly organized. The desk is even clean this week. I also have a beautiful painting studio with big windows and sliding doors that overlooks the back deck. Will have to do a major floor clean soon as Gracie comes in and out of her doggie door in there and has tracked in some mud on the light gray brick floor.
Would love to have a nice big shop for my woodworking tools, but I should probably sell off this fancy place first. If that happens later this year, I will tackle putting together a nice shop. Would love to have one that can be easily rearranged with enough space. I have had a couple of them before and seems like the more space I had, the harder it was to keep them together. It is never easy!
-------------------- Preston McCall 112 Rim Road Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501 text: 5056607370 Posts: 1552 | From: Santa Fe, New Mexico | Registered: Nov 1998
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Sounds to me like it's time for a road trip! You need to explore other sign shops and see how they do it!
-------------------- Jane Diaz Diaz Sign Art 628 W. Lincoln Ave. Pontiac, Il. 61764 815-844-7024 www.diazsignart.com Posts: 4102 | From: Pontiac, IL USA | Registered: Feb 1999
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posted
I think they have an archive article about Shop Design in Signcraft. Maybe you can find on line at their website under a search.
We are building our pole barn now. Finishing inside. It's small but effective. I would like to build a paint booth area to spray signs. Have a small showroom/office in attached garage area.
I do think it's all about organization and having areas multi useable. We are going to put a wall in the barn for paint area so we don't have to heat entire barn. etc....
Good Luck!! If you find any good articles or books let us know. I'm sure you can find shop design on line. I've seen it for mechanic shops.
-------------------- Summit Signs 231 Victoria Rd Venice, Fla 34293 sales@summitsign.com http://www.summitsign.com Design Is The Difference. Posts: 271 | From: Venice, Fla | Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
I actually took on course on shop design.......back in the very dark ages.
The key to a good layout is material flow. Start at the front door where material enters and then place machines,benches, storage, finishing etc. in a logical order and you will have a good start.
Joe,
Makin Chip$ and Havin Fun!
-------------------- Joe Cieslowski Connecticut Woodcarvers Gallery P.O.Box 368 East Canaan CT 06024 jcieslowski@snet.net 860-824-0883 Posts: 2345 | From: East Canaan CT 06024 | Registered: Nov 2001
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posted
Jane has the best idea, but here's two little things that may help - my tool and paint storage room is covered with pegboard, making it easy to see what you're looking for and utilizing the entire wall for storage.
Another good storage idea is to lean your substrates with the edges out, so you can flip thru and see what you have in the scrap pile. I don't throw much away, and my scrap pile has made me a lot of money over the years.
For a cheap but functional desk, I bought two melamine cabinets and used a 3/4" sheet of plywood covered with black styrene between them. I made it high so it would be comfortable to sit or stand at the computer. The chair is an office chair mounted to a drafting chair base.....
posted
Love it Sonny!!! A comfortable office chair on a drafting chair base!
-------------------- Dave Grundy retired in Chelem,Yucatan,Mexico/Hensall,Ontario,Canada 1-519-262-3651 Canada 011-52-1-999-102-2923 Mexico cell 1-226-785-8957 Canada/Mexico home
posted
I just put up a quick video on my web site. You can get a sense of what it is like here....I do have it pretty damn good. Going to do a longer one soon.
-------------------- Jackson Smart Jackson's Signs Port Angeles, WA ...."The Straits of Juan De Fuca in my front yard and Olympic National Park in my backyard...
"Living on Earth is expensive...but it does include a free trip around the Sun" Posts: 1000 | From: Port Angeles, Washington | Registered: Jan 1999
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I remember Sonny's and Jackson's shop you guys are awesome! Oh yeah and Old P's shop when he had it on a busy street. Damn I need to reorganize myself. But I've been trying, been getting rid of a bunch of things and time to clear out stuff and throw it away.
-------------------- aka:Cisco the "Traveling Millennium Sign Artist" http://www.franciscovargas.com Fresno, CA 93703 559 252-0935 "to live life, is to love life, a sign of no life, is a sign of no love"...Cisco 12'98 Posts: 3576 | From: Fresno, Ca, the great USA | Registered: Dec 1998
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Yes!! It's all about Organization and Feng Swei! Love that desk in the pics. I can't wait to get my offie/showroom looking like this. We're almost done drywalling. This is so inspiring!! Love the pics.
We just moved so I am too, going thru everything... archiving old files, getting rid of stuff. So much on line now.
I really think being organized is key to creative success. It's like a subliminal thing. having junk all over seems to make my brain shake... although any surface seems to get cluttered... my sister is the same way. Work in progress. LOL!
-------------------- Summit Signs 231 Victoria Rd Venice, Fla 34293 sales@summitsign.com http://www.summitsign.com Design Is The Difference. Posts: 271 | From: Venice, Fla | Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
Thanks Everyone, I look at my place and it just seems so overwhelming at times as I have a Tendency to always try and tackle everything at once. ADD thing.. SO I am going to try something way out of my Norm..
First set a Single Goal.(Which is almost Impossible for me)and try to tackle it in small doses.
I know to the most of you that is normal Behavior,
posted
preston you need one a these!!! http://www.roll-a-bed.com/?gclid=CNWV_quit64CFSOHtgodh0XSqw this is a pic of the "paint" side of the shop(when its clean) if you look to the upper right, i have a fold down substraight rack that i raise and lower with the boat crank on the wall. there is a white board hanging down at the bottom of all the paint cans, its on hings and can be made into a table for mixing paint. i also have an air operated paint shaker to the far left in the pic on the door frame.
[ February 24, 2012, 02:03 PM: Message edited by: old paint ]
-------------------- joe pribish-A SIGN MINT 2811 longleaf Dr. pensacola, fl 32526 850-637-1519 BEWARE THE TRUTH.....YOU MAY NOT LIKE WHAT YOU FIND Posts: 11582 | From: pensacola, fl. usa | Registered: Nov 1998
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I'm in the same boat as Bill with my garage art studio.... can't find my way from one end to the other. I like the way you're organized Sonny and the chair is a pretty cool idea too! I'm gonna give that a try.
posted
this is the other side of the shop, workbench area. ans no iam not a gator fan, i just had a lot of orange paint. the lable and sorting of nuts and bolts was all i could do when i had my chest cracked open.
-------------------- joe pribish-A SIGN MINT 2811 longleaf Dr. pensacola, fl 32526 850-637-1519 BEWARE THE TRUTH.....YOU MAY NOT LIKE WHAT YOU FIND Posts: 11582 | From: pensacola, fl. usa | Registered: Nov 1998
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Joe - that is pretty impressive. I never had you pegged for a 'neat-nik.' Nice shop. Everything is hanging 'straight' so I can only assume that the earth must have shifted a degree or two off it's axis. hehehe ))))))))))))))))))))))))
-------------------- Todd Gill Outside The Lines Potterville, MI Posts: 7792 | From: Potterville, MI | Registered: Dec 2001
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todd when you got your chest cracked, you got 4 to 6 months of not lifting anything heavier then a bowl of soup...........you find things to occupie all that time.
[ February 25, 2012, 01:42 AM: Message edited by: old paint ]
-------------------- joe pribish-A SIGN MINT 2811 longleaf Dr. pensacola, fl 32526 850-637-1519 BEWARE THE TRUTH.....YOU MAY NOT LIKE WHAT YOU FIND Posts: 11582 | From: pensacola, fl. usa | Registered: Nov 1998
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Cool video, Jackson! Great idea for your web site. Nice shop Sonny...I feel like I know a whole other side now. I can see the bar bells get a lot of use, right next to the desk... Love the desk and all your memorabilia display. Glad to see you don't have outlines around all your equipment on the peg board. That's scary when I see someone with the outlines. I don't have pictures right now of my place, but one thing I think is so helpful is just about everything in my studio is on wheels. Big difference and helpful for changing things up as work comes in. Plus I have about 4 or 5 sets of saw horses and a whole bunch of hollow core doors that I got for free somewhere. They make great tables as I need them and again, they are movable. I actually remember that article in Signcraft and one of the points that I went with was the thing about everything on wheels. They also had a design for 4' x 8' easels that I used and made two of them...yup...on wheels. Best design too. I will try to get some pics, but no promises. Haven't ever figured out how to load them on here. Every time I try, it doesn't work. Anyway...I also got a few old metal carts and they come in real handy. Signcraft also had an article about meking a cart with slots for everything, but I never got around to doing all that. My husband is in warehousing and he set me up with super duper heavy duty metal frames with particle board shelves. It just happened a few years ago and it was the BEST THING ever! No wheels, but they are in a corner and everything is more organized than I have EVER been. Super helpful. I di a job for a guy that sells lab equipment and he sold me two tech tables for next to nothing. A SUPER find! They have a line of sockets in each of them and lights under a top shelf and drawers for storage. I do paint mixing there and vinyl application taping on the other one. Between the shelves and the lab tables and everything else on wheels, life is good. I would also suggest putting it down on graph paper...also a big help. Good luck. I hope some of these ideas have helped or I am just blathering to hear myself write.
-------------------- Judy Grossman JG Signs & Designs 226 W. Jackson St. Sonora, CA 95370 Posts: 207 | From: Sonora, CA, USA | Registered: Dec 1998
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Behind that is the original brick wall & window. Plan is to gut the office & cut the brick wall out to make a doorway into the back room, aka the VIP lounge. That back room will then have french doors & be my plotter/printer room.
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