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It’s been almost two months since I posted a video of how the shop is coming along, so I figure we’re due for an update.  (It actually has been that long, I just checked.  Weird, huh?)  Anyway, here’s the video you came for!

 

I can’t type out everything that has happened since the last video, but here are a few key points:

1.     The shop is now fully operational!  Kind of like the second Death Star in Return of the Jedi… Everything in the shop can be run now, even if it still looks incomplete.  I’ve come up with a few work-arounds to get things to work, but they all do.

2.     Cabinet finishing is progressing… slowly. If you remember, I got el-cheapo cabinets from a big box store just to get something installed.  The unfinished ones were the cheapest, so that’s what I got.  Well, I’m finishing them with a coat of Milk Paint, and on top of that, a layer of wipe-on polyurethane to seal it up.  I like milk paint here for a couple reasons.  First, unlike latex paint (where you can dent it with your fingernail literally decades after it’s dry), milk paint dries rock hard.  That’s a good thing.  And second, milk paint has more of that antique, “barn-ey” look that I’m going for.  Particularly if you apply it with a bristle brush instead of foam brush or roller.  You probably can’t make out that level of detail in the video, but you can certainly tell in person.

3.     I’ve abandoned wire nuts and am now officially using WAGO lever nuts for all of my shop wiring (and anywhere else in the house I would normally use a wire nut).  There are a number of advantages to the WAGO connectors, but I’m focused on these:  First, the WAGO lever nuts positively lock onto the wires they connect.  I have ZERO worries that wires will work themselves loose as I twist and push connections into boxes.  Second, the WAGO connectors are re-useable, and that extends to the wires they connect.  Ever pull a wire out of a wire nut and try to use it somewhere else?  You typically have to cut back to straight wire to go again.  The WAGO lever nuts keep the wires straight.

4.     OH MY GOODNESS THE NEW GARAGE DOORS ARE AWESOME. I thought it might make the place a little brighter, but I absolutely was NOT ready for the totally transformative nature of my shop with the new garage doors installed.  This is more of a feeling that you get when standing in there than it is a lux measurement, but wow.  Just wow.  Every time I walk in there now, I just smile because it’s become so much more awesome overnight.  And the doors aren’t even all the way done yet!

I only had four days at home to work on this, so progress was limited, but hey, at least I got a video up.  Do you like how it’s coming along?  Sound off in the comments below!