Kingdom of man

4 m². That's the surface area of the kingdom of man. (Where "man" = "the male, adult population (consisting of one (1) person) in my household".) With this humorous, yet surprisingly truthful moniker I'm referring to my storage shed. Of course, the most natural kingdom for a man would be a garage, but unfortunately, my financial situation doesn't allow for housing containing one in the general area I live in, so the shed will have to pass for a garage for now.

Until now, the shed has been mostly filled, in an unorganized way, with all kinds of extra stuff that hasn't been really necessary in the household, yet hasn't been unnecessary enough to be thrown out either. But now, I intend to change that.

I just finished scraping off the old plastic carpet from the floor of the storage shed. Tomorrow I'll put in a new one. Then I'll assemble a cabinet that formerly resided in the bedroom for organized storage space. Whew. Storing the parts of the cabinet for a year has been troublesome, but I've stubbornly insisted on doing so, because I've a vision. Tomorrow it'll be partly fulfilled.

Then I'll add a tool wall for keeping small tools in neat order and racks for storing un-hangable tools and miscellaneous stuff. I'll add some kind of supports to the ceiling so that rarely needed stuff can be stowed away there. Some kind of worktable must be constructed. I'll attach a vice and a wheel truing stand later to that. It might be hard to incorporate a sandblasting cabinet, a circular saw, an anvil and a forge into 4 m² but I'll do what I can.

I suppose that building up a shed, or a garage, is partly similar to interior decoration. The objective is to make the space function well for its intended purpose. In a way, I assume, that now, finally, I can feel the exhilaration that women seem to feel when they get to decorate interiors. Yes, I also like having nice looking and well functioning interiors in the house.

But there's also an essential difference. Interiors of human habitations are usually designed for good functionality for one or more persons and good looks. It seems to be very important that they look good for any visitors. They must be designed for several purposes, and for the purposes of several people.

In contrast, a kingdom of a man is designed solely for functionality, and especially for a single person. The person in question can decide where things go without asking anybody, and assume that things stay there without anybody touching them. I, for one, like to arrange my stuff very precisely. I usually remember where I've left stuff. It drives me nuts if the stuff in question is not where it's supposed to be. I don't have photographic memory, but I have a some kind of a fuzzy, three dimensional version of that. My ideal workspace can be a representation of the way I store stuff in my brain. It doesn't need to be usable, or even comprehensible, to anybody else.

One of the most satisfying things for a craftsman is to complete a task without having to rummage through all of one's belongings to find the thing that one happens to need at the moment.

Another very satisfying thing is the ability to alter the working space instantaneously according to one's needs. If I have an extension cord but not a suitable place to hang it, I can create it. I can just reach out for the hammer (without having to look for it because of my nearly photographic memory), then reach out for a large nail (without having to look this time either, because the nails are in the place they're supposed to be in), and pound the nail in the wall in an appropriate place. Presto! A place to hang the extension cord in.

Also, I think that functional is beautiful. A workspace looks good when it's functional. It may look grimy and messy to the untrained eye, it might smell musty. There might be a musty smelling, half naked, sweaty guy with a beer can in one hand and a nail gun in another standing in the middle of his 4 m². Don't bother him. He's beautiful. He's doing his thing.