Workshop Shelf Revamp

Here at Simply Redeemed we have a sweet little workshop located in Cassidy's Basement! It makes a perfect little spot for all of our furniture flips and staging to take place! But, when we first started flipping furniture, the space looked a little bit like a dungeon. It was disorganized, our tools were everywhere, and we had very little space to actually work. Not to mentioned we were worried about what little Parker would get into! Links to everything we could find can be found here.

So, here is the space before.

Luckily, all of the shelves were already there, but it was disorganized, there was just junk EVERYWHERE and it was impossible to find the things that we needed in the midst of the project.

So the first step was to clean it all out! We started by just removing all of the junk and wiping down all the shelves.

Next , we went to Michael’s and Hobby Lobby to buy some wood bins. We knew we wanted to paint the shelves a darker color, so we figured that wood bins would really pop! We bought the unfinished wood containers because they are A LOT cheaper than the actual home decor ones. You can find them in the craft sections of your Hobby Lobby or Michael’s. We just grabbed a few that we thought would work for what we needed.

Also, we didn't really have an exact plan for how we were going to use the bins-- we just bought a handful and figured out how to organize afterwards. Total cost for all of these wood crates was about $25!

We then figured out how we wanted to configure them on the shelves.. Next, was painting!

We knew that we wanted to do a darker paint on the shelves, so we went to Home Depot and picked out Behr's Ink Black color. We then purchased a gallon of flat paint from Lowe's with a color match of the ink black. The reason we did this was because Lowe's was running a great Labor Day special and the gallon only cost us $20! Next, we decided if we wanted the shelves and the cement block behind it in the ink black, or if we wanted to do a lighter color on the cement block behind.

Once we chose the all black, the painting was pretty easy! We rolled the cement block and some of the higher shelves and then painted some of the lower (more likely to be used daily) shelves with a chalk paint. The reason we did it that way was because chalk paint is a little more durable than just the regular paint so we thought it would require less touch up in the future. The recipe for chalk paint* can be found below.

Finally, was the organization and final touches! We added a paper towel holder, our Simply Redeemed sign made by Kelly Genn at Brush and Thread Studio (@brushandthreadstudio), a little plant, some bins for dirty rags and paintbrushes, a bin to hold extension cords and then it was done! We absolutely love it now and it's perfect for our little workspace!

*Chalk Paint Recipe:

Sample size of flat paint

1 TBSP Plaster of Paris

1 TBSP Calcium Carbonate Powder

1-2 tsp warm water

Mix plaster of paris, calcium carbonate powder and warm water well until no more chunks exist. Start with just 1 tsp of water and slowly add the second tsp as needed. Add liquid to paint sample and thoroughly mix until combined.