This is where my objects come to life, a place made of past, present and future!
The owner's tricks
Whatever the period of my existence, I could not imagine a house without a workshop. The fact of having decided to make a living from it didn't really help things. Over the years and projects, its size, its functions and its organization evolved a lot in my mind until the purchase of my house in 2016. After 6 years of effort, and 10 of reflection, I made it a reality a dream, my dream: the Atelier Xavier Leen.
An empty room, potential...
In 2016, on my land there is a permanent outbuilding with a room of 40m². The space is not too small but not very big either. It's an old workshop, I found some metal frizzies coming from an old metal lathe... A place already steeped in history! There is potential and a lot to do or redo, from floor to ceiling.
[Potential yes, but there is work]
I therefore undertook the construction of the workshop, alone, with precise specifications: everything must be functional, organized, structured so as not to have to search for the missing tool for hours, that everything is within reach hand with a logical distribution of positions, from flow to finishing.
[Space Invaders!]
I started with the floor, poured a patch which I painted with green industrial floor paint, ugly green to be precise.
There is enough space for work but not enough for storage. I had two options, and I chose both: building a wood rack and fitting out the attic for the long rooms. For this 2nd option, I opened the ceiling!
[the homemade wood shelf, where the scraps are stored, the parts ready for work and occasionally 750kg of placo - the house is also under construction!]
I repainted the walls with the pot fonts I had available, attached pallet boards, flooring or even paneling in certain strategic places and installed a homemade "French cleat" fixing system so that all the elements walls are modular, including shelves.
The electrical panel and the entire network have been refurbished to provide as many sockets as possible and lighting worthy of the name.
Recovery: this key word
I had kept a lot of equipment from my grandfather's workshop, in addition to the manual tools and his workbench, including some period switches still functional after 30 years of rest. The opportunity to bring them back to life!
[One of the many nods to the family past]
New out of old...
Then come the interior fittings and other furniture: an old kitchen cabinet in poor condition, a bathroom cabinet, an old workbench... Everything is good! The structures, trays and other boards that were used to make or reinforce this furniture are all recycled. Wood has the power to be reusable or easily diverted.
[Storage, there is never enough]
The rest was built and arranged according to needs, it is not necessarily aesthetic, but it is functional.
