The Revival Shed started roughly 10 years ago, when I wanted to make some signs to mythical places to put up around my garden, and from there it branched out into making random things for friends and family  such as birthday/christmas pressies / random things to insult people.

With the fact that my grandfather taught me woodworking as a child in a house and garage that he built himself back in the 1950’s, plus my mother is an upholsterer/interior designer and my father is an engineer, you can start to see a picture of how the seeds of the revival shed were sewn at a very early age.

NECESSITY IS THE MOTHER OF INVENTION

Well, the above phrase meant that if you needed to make/repair something, and you don’t have the time/money to get the right part sorted pronto, then you need to work with what you have to hand.   And this is why I LOVE upcycling.    Now take for example my old trusty motorcycle.   That old beast carried me to work every day, but if it went unexpectedly ‘Pete Tong’, then a trip to my dads garage was the next port of call.  However, the right parts were not always to hand, so I had to think on my feet and tweak away through sheer belligerence to get a solution in place.

This has taught me to look at things in a different light.   Why thrown things away?  Why not repair and repurpose items ?   What else can you do with something ?

So with this in mind, let’s fast forward to March  2020……..

Well, Dan had his plan to move into a new house all on his own, but with the ominous lockdown courtesy of the coronavirus, this was JUST achieved even though I was considered to be an essential worker due to my work supporting various scientific and pharmaceutical laboratories. So I was living totally on my own for the first time ever in my life, I have to work in a building totally on my own, and frankly, life was wierd as ****.  HOWEVER…

WHAT DOES DAN HAVE?    Let’s take stock of things and try to find the positives

Lots of boxes of crap – Full with the the sort of things you just randomly accumulate in life

a very limited amount of broken old furniture (Which was kindly donated, but it was old broken tat)

A random array of tools

No internet

No friends/family to help

No furniture shops open

BEER /  Rum / Toilet roll / pasta

A Bluetooth speaker

SO…. a Plan starts to hatch

Right Dan, you need furniture.  can buy scaffolding boards and get them delivered, you have evenings and weekends on your hands, the weather is banging and what the hell have you got to lose ?

OPEN’S BEER AND BOTTLE OF RUM

PUTS ON TUNES

HAS A THINK

TURNS ON POWER TOOLS

CONSIDERS WHAT IS DANGEROUS THEN CARRY’S ON REGARDLESS

DRINKS MORE BEER

So first was a dining table.   I’ve always wanted a cool farmhouse style table.   then came a TV unit, some floating wardrobes, a bedside table, the HUGE bed and i’m sure you can figure out the rest.

NOW FAST FORWARD TO 2022

Tess, my little border collie companion has joined me since the start of the year, and she regularly enjoys chilling out with me whilst I make my creations.  

I am being asked to make more specific items for people, and i’m branching out into more ways to make things involving laser engravers, CNC routers, epoxy resins and anything else that is cool !

I have now got access to workshop space courtesy of the local Maker Space and a desire to turn this new hobby into a business,  

So Let’s see where the next steps lead !!!