The honest Workshop Tour (...finally)

[@garyfairbrother5532]

Probably the most therapeutic video I’ve ever watched. I am a 78 year old maker, hobbyist, that always felt guilty for many, many years about my shop. Until today. Now that I’ve and heard your honest shop-talk and tour I am at peace. At times I have felt the same way as you when you said you just wanted to burn that one room. (That gave me goose bumps) The evolving shop is normal? My God I’m normal??? Thank you so much for showing the failed projects, which I also have, and call the “Fairbrother Flaws”. I’m so thankful to have stumbled upon your channel and gotten a new friend. Now I can binge and not cringe, lol.

[@velray1231]

Hi Laura. Your shop tour made me feel at home . Wish I could help you organize .

[@IamfromCZ]

Hello Laura, A FOOD AS WELL AS A DRINK is a lid from the vintage cocoa powder tin made by British company Rowntree

[@rainerl-h259]

In Germany the answer will be BEER (because it counts as a complete breakfast)

[@grouch314]

@@rainerl-h259 my first thought was some sort of a stout

[@liamstrain]

I was thinking Ovaltine. Same idea. Cool if they used that as their marketing language.

[@nallegam007]

I was going for Bovril/ bovreal can't remember how it's spelt...

[@ZaunpfahlsSpieleVideos]

I'd have said it's a soup, because it's mostly liquid but still considered a meal.

[@fryeday]

I feel like regardless of what size a shop is, storing project materials always takes up the most space, and is the hardest to keep organized.

[@cruelaz]

but also in a regular household usually organizing once doesnt usually stick. you have to go back adapt the system or change stuff that doesnt work

[@RevdUp.Art.Fotografer]

Totally.

[@GetToKnowNature]

That light switch is an absolute masterpiece! Thank you for sharing the whole place with us.

[@drhender6943]

Agreed!! Is there a build video for that switch? I'd love to make something akin to that for my own shop.

[@MicheleMFrost]

Agree! You mention "m pump" - another maker? Please share info? Loved the tour!

[@RenThraysk]

The little grappling hook is actually a bomb disposal tool. If you saw a trip wire from a booby trap, you could throw, snag the wire and set off the explosive from a safe distance. The first producer was EOD Robotics.

[@bobd5119]

Yet again I learn something new. Thanks!

[@iseriver3982]

If that's a bomb disposal tool then so are knives, car keys, bottle openers, hammers, coat hangers, etc etc. 🙄

[@RenThraysk]

@@iseriver3982 It was specifically designed by a bomb disposal guy for that purpose.

[@aquilifergroup]

@@iseriver3982rest a little; you don’t have to be an a$$hole everyday of your life.

[@joannebarker-marsh717]

I’m so INSPIRED by finding you!! I’m a fifty year old woman who has made and renovated and moved and changed so much stuff in my life! And guess what, I didn’t document it! Thanks so much for this, you make a difference. Can’t wait to see you back and see the progress with the house.

[@alison__16]

Janine's "Outside Office" so simple yet so damn brilliant. I'm using that tomorrow 👍❤️

[@paulfig7045]

It may seem inconsequential to many but hands up to all my people who frothed at the sand paper storage 😍 Thank you for the shop tour and I’m really loving the house build. Your tenacity is contagious.

[@eily_b]

Awesome. I miss my Dad's workshop. He was a carpenter. I still love the smell of fresh wood. Best smell ever.

[@ToreDL87]

I get hungry all the time from the smell, worked as carpenter for 2 years and put on 10kg's 😂😂

[@Dr.K.Wette_BE]

Me too ! He was a teacher, but we have a neat workshop at home and we still build things together. (he is 88)

[@LawtonDigital]

You say "document your stuff", and I agree. I'd love to see a video about how you document your projects and another on how you organize all your digital files to make finding them efficient.

[@AlexanderElse]

That light switch is magnificent. I love it.

[@davemietzke]

I love Love LOVE the neon letters, it feels like there will soon be no neon left, and my heart just warmed to see someone caring for them.

[@FishMH]

Inside a person's shop is like . your being in the inside of their thoughts ? Creative energies, potential projects, successes, and the steps it took to get them to be a success.. I find it the best kind of tour ever !!

[@davebauerart]

Definitely appreciate the honest shop tour! We all can be improving and I am excited to see you new "cool stuff with potential" storage solution.

[@nefariousyawn]

I love the random German banter. Your shop is awesome, thanks for sharing!

[@wrongwayup.]

Idea for your movable clamp storage; see if you can find a school blackboard, the type that can move up and down. You might be able to either use the mechanism of it, or look how it works and imitate it.

[@wrongwayup.]

@@alessazoe Some work with a counter weight I think, yeah. I've also seen them with springs.

[@bradley3549]

An electric (or manual) winch is really all that's needed to finish that moving wall. The idea is sound - especially if you can put storage behind it!

[@emiliusemilius4260]

@@alessazoe I"ve seen some that use another blackboard as the counterweight, so when you pull one up the other one lowers !

[@MikeStavola]

The one from my school used pulleys.

[@GreenShortzDIY]

Laura, I feel you on the the "hoarding," but I prefer to think of it as "resource collection." I just finished building a tiny studio for a local music venue, which was built with 95% scraps I saved from the constrcution of my home. In order to create using reuse materials, it must first be captured and stored. Don't be too hard on yourself about the disarray. It is hard to construct storage for rotating stock of different shapes and sizes. But, I look forward to what you come up with.

[@ivan_valerian]

Every building has AT LEAST one dump room and every room has at least one dump corner Glad that it's not just me and seeing the whole shop is so satisfying Thank you Laura!

[@thelostchapstick3281]

Thankyou for talking about the importance of documentation of projects and ideas and everything, it goes for so many fields of work

[@askmisspatience]

Mixing station is my favorite 😁 Brilliant. Everything is fantastic. Thank you for the inspiration. I’m setting up a shop in my basement with a paint room that I added a ventilation window that partners for airflow with a screen door (rest I added glass block), work table with wall shelves, storage shelves in zones for tools, kits with tools, paper, too. Your storage is phenomenal. Very inspiring. I appreciate the new ideas to help me improve my setup

[@pattishine-hayes5184]

Whether shop materials, or sewing rooms, art supplies, baking supplies - all need specialized storage solutions, that's for sure. I admire and take inspiration from all the projects you have taken on to make your shop more convenient and useful in your work. All the best to you Laura as you work on your home as well!

[@PwnageFury]

I loved this whole video, especially embracing the multi-part map on the side including the carpet, and all the marker squiggles as part of the graphics. So much content is just here is the perfect, the flawless; you embrace the "didn't go as planned" with such grace and joy at the discovery. Your enthusiasm is wonderful and always makes me smile. Thank you for sharing all of this with us!

[@itsfunnyhunny]

The tin with 'A food as well as a drink' was for Cocoa Powder 1960's. x

[@mariecovalciuc5698]

A Food That is a Drink- Smoothie. I enjoy your channel and your enthusiasm for every project and your pure joy when it works just like you imagined.💗

[@slowerpicker]

And I remember watching most, maybe all, of the videos inspired by these projects. Fun to see your appraisal now. Whether they proved themselves or not, the projects were always fun to watch. Carry on !

[@SarahGreen523]

That was a fantastic tour! I really love all your work stations. I think I would just live in your shop, it's so nice. I appreciate meeting another human who collects things of beauty, interest and usefulness, but then has storage problems. Thank goodness I collect smaller things than you, so my storage challenges are not so difficult.... yet. Thank you for the 'honest' tour of your space! Work shops are not supposed to be neat and tidy, they are supposed to look like you're working on projects. A neat and tidy work shop means you are not working. (this is what I tell myself when I look around at the sea of stuff I'm fiddling with)

[@patkane5018]

Very impressive!! More of a "compound" than just a workshop. I love the outside area, very cool! Thanks for sharing it with us!😄😄

[@emk7132]

I joined during the house project and didn’t explore your history being fully satisfied with that present. I am completely floored!! It’s like finding a treasure trove that is only partially revealed!

[@peterkarsten4756]

Thank you so much for this authentic and honest tour. I believe that this honesty regarding imperfection and all what's not going like we would wish it to encourages peoples to love not just the perfect part of others and themselves but the whole person. So, cheers to life! And cheers to you all!

[@misterscottintheway]

I hope you are enjoying your well deserved vacation. I am ultra jealous of your shop and compound. Reminds me of my grandpa's farm when I was a kid.

[@kengroves5303]

Great to see your shop and workspace, especially because it was an honest tour. And the best part was honest Laura.

[@waterbitten]

Thank you for everyone who answered the riddle!! Lol, very nice shop Laura... I wish you were my neighbor, I could take care of your garden and setup the sewing room, in exchange for letting me use your shop every now and then, I dabble in DIY but mostly building things for my overflowing balcony garden and overflowing sewing desk.

[@m.maclellan7147]

I thought similarly! She should get some garden nuts, CNC Nuts, a sewing buddy, etc.....folks with skills, but not the space would be overjoyed to use her tools & space & possibly show her how to do some things ......

[@Siansonea]

You should create an art installation where you use all of your neon letters, combined into a composition that doesn't read as literal words. Instead of keeping everything readable, you could key off the colors and shapes of the neon to form a cohesive visual experience. The letterforms don't even have to be in the correct orientation for reading, you could flip them upside down, put them diagonally or rotated 90°. I think it could even be the kind of thing where you can assemble it in multiple panels, so it's mobile and you can set it up for events and whatnot.

[@m.maclellan7147]

Mount them on hexagonal panels that can rotate ?!

[@gene_takavic57]

As long as you know where to find things, it doesn't matter whether your shop is clean or dirty. It's yours!

[@SamVekemans]

So much progress since 6 years ago, I've been following since you first started.

[@ericcommarato7727]

The drill index anchored to the wall with the handle is sheer genius.

[@rickseiden1]

For my first Father's Day my wife gave me a Leatherman Supertool. I still have it 24 years later, and most days you'll find it on my right hip.

[@marilynnew2189]

I loved this tour of your space. I'm an artist and absolutely love seeing how other people store their stuff. You are such aa happy and joy filled person and I'm so glad to find your channel.

[@thebiggerbyte5991]

Thanks for the tour - it was really good to have a look around. I'm with you 100% on the old neon signs, too.

[@MattInglot]

This isn't just a shop, this is a full blown maker compound! Very cool!

[@helloemilymills]

"Deep in her heart, Janine is also a maker." 😆 Love the banter between your team! Thanks for showing us your shop

[@GerardoWuhl]

As food as well as a drink: that was COCOA... :) Greetings from Uruguay!!

[@matthewb8229]

The Horse Box looks finished. It has a keg in it, so I'm not sure there's much more to be done.

[@borrowedlife]

From an industrial engineering perspective regarding your storage, you should consider using shelving at ninety degrees to the wall you currently use. Stack each shelf heavy at the bottom light at the top, and try to maintain like items together, If it’s deep storage, this system will enable more shelving to be progressively added as needed and still allow space to move.

[@iconoclasttastic9258]

Perfect Sunday afternoon viewing, highly enjoyable thanks Laura, Felix and friends.

[@Neb.333]

What a great space I dream of a “shop like space” for my art studio. Love you creative life style. Thanks for sharing it.

[@a-ms9760]

If CNC isn't your thing there's no shame in that. If it doesn't make you happy you don't need it in your life :) Good luck and fun with everything. Your work and attitude are inspiring.

[@lazymandoplayer]

Excellent tour and it's great that you show what works and what doesn't, both with storage and projects. I always feel you learn more when something doesn't work or you have hiccups along the way to success. Thanks and keep up the good work. Love my Leatherman Wave, it's so useful.

[@emiliusemilius4260]

supe hyped about the riso printed stuff !! looks awersome when done well. Also great shop tour bringing back memories from both your and our personnal journey making stuff. Thank you !!

[@KnitsFromTheVoid]

Wow...I just remembered my childhood dream of owning my very own leatherman. I don't have one, but it has to get on my wishlist

[@lorimontcalm9086]

How many hours does Laura have in her day??? Way more than mere mortals!!! Renovating a house, re-jigging a workshop, making KZbin videos and creating cool stuff and having a fun life with friends, food, beers and ice cream!! Who else wants to be Laura??? Or at least like her, hard working, creative, funny,....

[@stanleyruppert]

Thanks! Terrific shop tour with ideas and discussions.

[@mattwillis3219]

Wow Laura what an awesome shop, thanks for giving us an honest tour! Love seeing how the organisation and retrieval of your potential is made 🥰🥰🥰🥰

[@kevola5739]

When you are mass producing the same product there is some hope of a relatively neat shop. When you are doing different projects, some at the same time, the most you can hope for is to be able to locate the tools and materials required. The 20% of always used tools will probably be nearby but the 80% of sometimes used tools will be an Easter egg hunt. Then making storage items visible can sometimes help cuz locating them requires looking around the shop rather than unearthing them from the pile of closed doors and lids. Because they are visible you will see them often even when not looking for them so your memory should be triggered when the tool or material is required. Multiple workers makes the challenge greater since everyone works differently.

[@lucillekenney8311]

Thanks for the tour! I love your shop, even the messy parts. OMG, I'd love to have a go in you CNC room! I'm drooling over all your tools! I enjoyed this video soooo much! 😍I'm looking forward to future renovations ... or just anything you do.

[@jozetkrekel7625]

Laura, you are such a nice person, and never stops to inspire me as a fellow maker. Love from Amsterdam

[@iggysixx]

Groentjes terug uit Amsterdam (:

[@judyswayne4784]

I always say don’t let the size of your shop stop you from building and being creative. My shop is small and I would love one the size of yours. I think a person always fills to whatever size shop you have. Love all your storage ideas and love how honest and easy going you are. Love to watch you from Kamloops, British Columbia Canada 🇨🇦

[@bek-bek-bek-bek]

Have you considered storing by base material? ie metal, plastics, wood, then when you have an idea, and know what base material you're going to work in, you can go and be inspired by what you find in the corresponding area.

[@Swimdeep]

What a wealth of riches you have with your shop! All that space, so many, many tools and materials-truly my ideal environment. 🌿

[@happykt]

I recommend storing anything that collects water in a bowl type object (like a boat) upside down in the yard.

[@TheParkAttendant]

I'm in love! Your shop is a dream! I wish I had the space you have. I like your storage area, you have a lot of neat stuff!

[@besenwieslersepp1011]

Hi, thats interesting - You also use emulgated Ballistol/Water as a cutting fluid. I first did that 50 years ago, when i built rc-parts from metal and i did not have professional cutting-fluid. But it turned out, that it works perfect with all metals i ever drilled. Greets from munich!

[@alisalarsen9163]

Risograph printing is AWESOME!!!! You could make some sweet Merch with it.

[@ReaTexas]

Antique Vintage Rowntree Tin Box "a food as well as a drink" Cocoa Powder 1960's. Your exact tin is on eBay!

[@cathyblackhall5237]

Love the organisation of the equipment and especially the light switches

[@angieandfidelromero9343]

Hello from The Duke City, Albuquerque New Mexico. Unbelievable shop! I’m a retired machinist/welder… I was unaware that you had a machine shop! Very nice! But I was disappointed that you skipped over and did not really show your wonderful looking Lincoln welders.

[@deliaguzman1138]

I dream of having the room to collect and salvage so much amazing stuff!

[@lindseydrummond5658]

I really look forward to seeing you organize the rest of your shop!!! That would be an amazing project!

[@donewhiskey]

You should sell all of the CNC, because you don’t want to use it and it’s claiming space. Then, put all of your sponsor shop shelving in there and make it look like a store. Counter, some random cash register, a massive catalogue on a swivel holder… Make it look like a general store/auto store, from a few decades ago.

[@dicecupmerlin6756]

So Many cool ideas, but OMG the cocktail station for oil blew my mind!!

[@MatthewEncina]

This is incredible, thanks for sharing

[@geneard639]

Sweet Sewing Room! With the gear you have you can make some awesome shade awnings to cut the heat in summer.

[@geneard639]

To save money, you can buy used sails. Usually the fabric is gently worn and sturdy enough for awnings. It usually does need a proper cleaning and an extra rinse.

[@ShitadaSanx]

I'm envious! I live in a flat in Dortmund, and my workshop is a 5x3 Keller where the tools and the materials share space with the food and the bikes....I even haven't a proper worktable!

[@TheMrWoodsman]

A shop is a work in progress, I can so relate to that! X

[@markuskrypton604]

I liked the shop tour and noticed that I unfortunately missed the video about the construction of the two sandpaper holders, I think they're super amazing.

[@carolelamarche5675]

👏Tellement organisée ! Bravo pour l’ensemble des projets et l’atelier 👏👏👏

[@joonasn]

Aww the little neon room, how nice of you to rescue these old tubes!

[@ADBBuild]

I love that you have a deep storage for Leatherman tools, purely to give them away to people who don't have one.

[@spaistravel]

This is the stuff dreams are made of. Your shop is the coolest.

[@makeitkozi]

Golden sticker opportunity for hoarder corner: Anything Can Be A Grill 😂

[@garagemonkeysan]

Great video. I spend more time organizing my shop than creating projects. Then again shop projects are a form of expression. Mahalo for sharing! : )

[@Mr.Stacey-L-SCC]

If I do nothing else today I'm making myself an outdoor office! I'm very jealous of all the treasures you have, well except for the mice.

[@thomashverring9484]

As a hand tool woodworker, not sharpening all the time sounds mad to me! 😅 Awesome shop, Laura! Awesome place! It's so human, has so much personality! Awesome!

[@qqww-ix7xq]

thank you very mach, your truely workshop, it's giving me a grue of efforts.

[@johannesn.4674]

Da juckt es mir sooo in den Fingern für jedes Werkzeuge und jedes Dingens einen Platz zuschaffen 😍

[@Konzertheld]

"My shop is only a mess because I do not have more space!" Yeah... right. Laura's Shop is probably the biggest one I have ever seen and... I guess every shop is a mess, always. We should just make sure that our shops are at least not dangerous and we spend more time making things than looking for things. :D

[@NinaThoren]

Love a good honest workshop tour! Oh what I would do to have that kind of space to make stuff, right now all the ideas live on paper but someday they will be made real (I hope)

[@tannymin4922]

Loved the video! It would be great to see the lathe used and maybe a video when you organize the storage area

[@SkarnDeBrax]

I love how creative are your creation, it's really amazing !

[@trailfitsandiegoultrarunni2503]

Love love love that power switch!

[@franiomaj4074]

A food as well as a drink is a super oldschool cocoa tin lid. Nice to see this somewhere else, I have two of those in my shop that I got after my grandpa had passed. One of them full of springs and another full of huge rosin pieces that I will propably never use, but I am to sorry to throw them away. greetings from Poland.

[@doninis1354]

I know this "to many things, but..." problem pretty well. I am leaking a shop to make more projects . A shop has to look like it is in "use" I tought it was pretty clean 😉 It is fun to see all your "things" again.

[@bobthomas4514]

deep thoughts of deep storage, stuff always expands to fill the space provided.

[@LewHarriman]

You're living the dream! Spectacular, eclectic idea generators in every corner, on every shelf and in every sq. meter of floor space. And as Adam Savage famously observed: "Shop organization is not an event.. it's a process." Seems to me that the current status of your shop is evidence of your astonishing creativity and productivity. I do wonder whether some of those folks who have the super-organized shops with tidy, polished storage systems and all-clean surfaces ever.. actually... make?

[@jackiegammon2065]

What a great shop! I only wish that I had that much room, but that is another story for sure. The part that I truly enjoyed though is your light switch, that is something I've never seen and it simply puts a smile on my face.... somehow have to find one for myself HA! Thanks for sharing, and can't wait to see future videos!

[@Francois_L_7933]

For the deep storage, just look at Jamie Hyneman's wall, that's got to be one of the most efficient storage out there. And since you like one of a kind tools from small makers, check out Tim Sway's tools. They're really well designed.

[@niemandem2750]

@laura du solltest dir unbedingt so einen 'The FINGERSwAyVER! Highly Functional Push Stick' zulegen, hab jedes mal angst um deine fingerchen, wenn du an der kreissäge arbeitest

[@manuela_kral4983]

Danke für die tolle Tour, in der du uns auf so offene und sympathische Weise dein Paradies zeigst. 😍 Übrigens: diese seltsame Figur auf dem Spielautomaten erinnert mich an Disneys Kater Carlo.

[@Babylonboy55]

I get the key of my first shop in 4 weeks and I can't wait!! This is some good inspiration. ❤️

[@Terrible_Peril]

I love the shop, and your overall aesthetically choices in your builds and decor is absolutely awesome. It's been a bit since we've seen some big ol paint marker interstitials, I'm a fan of those too! I want to see you and Simon the Magpie collaborate on something, I reckon you two would be able to create something super cool and fun. He could do the guts and you can do the funky outer shell. It'll be like something out of a kinda punk diy Dr Seuss kinda thing.

[@kentmckean6795]

Roundtree Cocoa powder is "A Food as Well as a Drink". Your tin in from the late 50's, or early 60's!