My Mad Lab...er...Workshop! Yeah, that's it - My Workshop! :-)

I promised some people I would post some pictures of my workshop.  I suppose it's difficult to imagine just where in my small house I could find enough space to work, let alone store all my stuff - and yes, I have a lot of "stuff".  Well, I manage, though it seems like the space is already full, I somehow manage to fit more "stuff" in.

So here goes!

To get to the basement, I go down a narrow set of open stairs from the kitchen.  The basement is uninsulated with a concrete floor and concrete walls.  There are 4 windows, two on each side wall, and an exit onto the back yard with a shorter and much wider set of stairs.  The following pictures were taken at night, so bear that in mind as you look at them.  The windows are the new ones I put in in the fall, so now all the windows in the house have been replaced from the original and, of course, make the house that much more cozy.

At the bottom of the stairs from the kitchen is where my soap cures.  I keep each batch in its own plastic shoebox (that has holes for air circulation).  You can also see some of the finished bath and body products that are waiting to be sold.

On the bottom middle shelf above are my liquid oils - Olive, Castor, Canola, Avocado etc.  On the bottom right are my cocoa butter and shea butter and salts etc.  Kitty Litter buckets come in really handy!

Next photo is a little closer picture of the same area - gives you a little better look at what is there.








Here's my workbench - every mad lab...er...Workshop should have one!  I put a new top on the bench that was already there because that one was made of tongue and groove boards that were old, and uneven and unlevel.  This works MUCH better!  There are about 5 coats of polyurethane on it, and as long as I make sure to wipe it clean anytime I spill stuff on it (notably lye) it should stand the test of time.
The plastic bins under the bench hold other supplies, and the bins on the bottom, resting on the floor hold the wax for my candles.  I had some better task lighting installed in the form of three four foot long fluorescent light fixtures (one is above the workbench, of course), added some more outlets and put in an outlet bar.  Some things I don't have to have plugged in all the time, but some I do, and this arrangement works quite well.

In this next photo you can see the workbench plus the shelving beside it.  That shelf unit holds my microwave (which I use for melting things like butters and oils and beeswax for balms and solid lotion sticks), the stereo (yes, Sean, that's your old one!!), pots, pans, utensils and on the bottom are my hard oils like palm and coconut and other stuff (like my lye buckets).


Because the walls are concrete, it's difficult to mount shelves, so I've had to use standalone shelving units.  The ones I have are very versatile and luckily for me, 
go on sale at Canadian Tire every so often.  I'm thinking I might need another one for the area around the corner from this unit.  We'll see.


This photo shows my drawer units that have things like bags, small equipment, candle moulds, wicks, wax additives and so on.  I don't know what I'd do without them. 




I use all the space I can - note the baskets hanging from the floor joists.  They each contain something different; for example the one on the right contains soap ends that I sell by the ounce at the Market.  There are LOTS of nails in those joists so I do hang stuff from there when I can.  I tell ya, I DO use everything I can.  :-D

 A real bonus in my basement is the water hookup for a sink.  There was a sink there, just not one that was particularly efficient for my use.  So when the plumber was here fixing the items the insurance company wanted corrected, I had him replace the sink with a proper laundry tub and faucet. This is MUCH better because now I can wash my soap pot and utensils a lot easier.  This is where the second fluorescent light fixture is (so I can see to make sure the pots are clean, of course).  You can also see the door to the backyard.  Steve is going to build better shelves in this area for our tools, as well as a counter area for my dish drainer.  Whoo Hoo!

Here is where I label and package my products.  I love this folding table because it is strong and sturdy - in fact if I could find another like it I'd be a happy camper.  However it seems this style is no longer being made, so any one I find will likely be a second hand one.  The third fluorescent light fixture is above this table, in among the duct work.  The extra light is fantastic - and a less exhausting for the eyes.

Here are the finished candles and the soap labelled and ready for sale.

At the top of the picture on the right you can see the duct going from the furnace to the kitchen - it's very low.  I've hit my head on it numerous times and it's why I don't do any "work" in that area of the basement!

Across the "aisle" from the finished soap and candles are these areas - from left to right are my essential oils (on the white shelves) and fragrance oils (in the totes below them); packaging supplies (jars, bottles, tubes, tins and bags) in the totes with the white lids and in the boxes on the top shelf; and the botanicals and additives in the jars on the unpainted shelving.  These shelves are shallow, but just the right depth for the large mason jars holding things like peppermint leaves, lavender buds, beeswax and other stuff.

Here's another shot of the additive "wall".  The stairs to the kitchen are just behind it, and the area under the stairs holds the boxes from things like printers and other equipment, because as sure as the sun rises in the east, if I recycle them, I'll have to send some piece of equipment back for repair and have to look around for a box to put it in!

And, yes, that is Mabel on top of the icebox.  She loves to sit on the chair and check out whatever it is I'm labelling at the moment.  She's good company.

Well, that's it for this post.  I hope I satisfied your curiosity about where I do my thing.  It's not a big space, nor is it shiny and new, but it's mine and it works.  :-)