Wood shop, metal shop, race shop

Jack Olsen had to find a way to make this 440-sq-ft garage work as a metal shop, a wood shop, and an auto shop-all without any room to expand and only $1,000 to cover the upgrades.

Jack works on his first project in his new garage: a wall unit with toy chests and bookshelves for his son's nursery. Jack built new cabinets from scrap material. "I asked my wife to pick colors for my shop to remind me of working with my father in his shop in Chicago."

Repurposed ready-to-assemble shelves hold eye, ear, lung, and face protection. A freestanding laundry sink wasn't very useful until Jack added a countertop around it.

A drafting table (foreground) was a must-have component for Jack's makeover. Cabinets at the front of the garage are original to the 1920s structure.

To double up on space, two side-by-side workbenches fold flat against the wall when they're not in use. The woodworking bench has predrilled holes for a table-mounted router. It's at the same height as the steel welding table and the adjacent shelves, so there's 18' of continuous table surface for working long pieces of wood or steel.

To build a fence for his son, Jack taught himself to weld. Most of his welding clamps are stored on the welding table's backsplash. They're out of sight when the table's up (top photo), but readily available when it's dropped down.