My New Soaping Space

The new sink area

Since I have had to move my soap making out of the house I was trying to figure out how to make the space in our shed for my soap making supplies and equipment.  Especially when our shed was already full of stuff.  I needed counter top space as well as shelf space.

Stacked cabinets for tool, mold & misc storage

As you can see a lot of stuff got crowded

Picture from the shed door

Misc storage underneath, but I can still
use the counter space

Of course I had to have help to get everything moved, and my husband has been swamped with plumbing work with all of the cold weather.  I called my brothers and drafted them for help with the heavy lifting.  The older of the two brothers that I called has been helping out a friend with concrete, so I had to get him when he was available.  Of course, this ended up being during the coldest day of the last cold snap.  I know, I know, we live in Tennessee, how cold could it have gotten?  Well, we hit a wind chill of under -7*.  Let me just tell you, when you are working in the wind, that is COLD.

As you can see S really likes the new space

We had to move all of the boxes and totes that were stored in the shed before we could move the furniture around.  All of that went stacked in the yard around the shed door.  Of course, we also had snow.  Since it was cold it wasn't a soggy snow, but it did make things a little slick. They also very sweetly helped me get the insulation that was sitting in the shed up in the walls.  This will make a big difference for me this winter. It will mean that I can actually use the heater to warm this area up with a heater.  Once we got the big stuff re-arranged we started to bring the boxes and totes back into the shed.

After getting things settled, they left and I started to do some figuring.  I had gotten a sink, counter top and cabinets from a demolition job.  I wanted to put them in the shed, but I had to figure out if they would fit with everything else that was already there.

I was able to fit it in, but I had to move things around a little bit more, but it did work.  I carried the counter top and sink to the house, and my brother brought the cabinets to the house.  We literally just set the counter top on top of the cabinet.  I don't have water hooked up to the sink, nor do I have drain hook-up.  However, since I am only rinsing with soapy vinegar water, it will be fine to collect the grey water in a bucket under my sink drain pipe.  Also I am using a bucket with a spigot inserted in the side for water for washing and neutralizing any lye left on the lye water dishes.  Since I don't wash my dishes until after the soap has saponified for ease of work ( I will do these in the house) so I don't have to do a ton of dishes in this space with no running water.  I am not real thrilled with the idea of carrying hot water out of my house every time I soap, but it is not the end of the world.

A little rough on organization, but I know things will
change as I work in the space

 As you can see, it is rather crowded in there, but it does work.  It is a small enough space that I could not take a good picture of the full space.  It would be really crowded for multiple people but it is definitely OK for just me.  I have things somewhat organized already, but I am sure that things will get moved around as I work in the space and figure out what will work the best.





In other exciting news, Frugally Sustainable is hosting a giveaway for free enrollment in the Online Intermediate Herbalist Course!  This is a really great value, and I would love to have the opportunity to take this course.  If I don't win I will have to wait a while to be able to afford to take this course, but it is definitely on my list of things to do as the money becomes available.  To enter follow this link.

I am linking with the following blogs:

http://back2basichealth.blogspot.com                                http://www.bystephanielynn.com
http://blackfoxhomestead.com/                                          http://www.iamannekehn.blogspot.com
http://www.hopeineveryseason.com                                  http://ivyandelephants.blogspot.com
http://littlehomesteadonthehill.blogspot.com/                      http://www.sewcando.com/
http://www.campwander.com/                                          http://www.savvysouthernstyle.net/
http://coloradolady.blogspot.com                                      www.aboverubies.net
http://abidingwoman.com/                                               http://www.besimplybetter.com/
http://www.deeprootsathome.com/                                   http://proverbs14verse1.blogspot.com/   
http://raisinghomemakers.com                                          http://sandimyyellowdoor.blogspot.com/
http://www.52mantels.com/                                             http://www.the36thavenue.com/
http://www.create-with-joy.com                                       http://teachingwhatisgood.com/
http://www.the36thavenue.com/                                       http://seevanessacraft.com/
http://katherinescorner.com/                                           http://cupcake-n-bake.blogspot.com          
http://alifeinbalance.net                                                    http://www.hopestudios.blogspot.com
http://thediydreamer.com                                                 http://www.the-chicken-chick.com
http://lavendergardencottage.blogspot.com                       http://www.flusterbuster.com
http://www.time-warp-wife.blogspot.com                        http://www.adelightsomelife.com/
http://www.growinghomeblog.com                                 http://nourishingjoy.com
http://momstheword--livingforhim.blogspot.com/