Making Martha Proud

Let's face it: the more storage units you build, the more surface areas you have on which to work.

At least that's the way it is in my shop, where any flat surface becomes cluttered with tools and other items which have no designated cubby or drawer to call home. This can make woodworking frustrating when you're constantly shifting piles from one surface to another.

Not only that, but if you're wasting time searching for a tool because it's buried under a stack of sandpaper, you're not doing what you want to be doing—building stuff.

This spring marks the 5th anniversary of having my shop built and I've decided to release my inner-Martha Stewart and get more organized.

So I opened a can of Martha on an eyesore masquerading as a light duty sharpening bench. Without shelves, the area was cluttered, inefficient, potentially hazardous, and downright unsightly.

I used some of the pile of pine to create a small cabinet, with one shelf, and four bins that effectively hold everything from the jumbled mess that had previously inhabited the space.

Storage units don't have to award-winning and can be made relatively quickly using simple joinery. But the time you invest in constructing them will make building your show-and-tell projects more enjoyable.

Now if only I could develop the same desire to tidy up my house.