The Ellis Family

This last week i've been workin on drums in my shop and realized that I need to organize it better. I kept misplacing things that I needed and I ended up spending just as much time looking for tools as I did actually using the tools. I didn't do many "major" things...I just built some shelves and installed some pegboard! I have to say thanks to Mema (Kim's Grandma) for giving me the inspiration (she gave me about 30 "Family Handyman" magazines.) I found lots of awesome ideas from those magazines. Here are some pictures of the shop!

Here is the overall picture. It's somewhat messy right now.


This is my multipurpose mobile work bench. It has a drill press bolted on it and a buffing wheel, vise, and clamps mounted on it by C-clamps and that red clamp. I sometimes need to make more room on the table, that's why I didn't permanently mount everything to it. My air compressor hides underneath it. It has a polyurethane hose which is sooooo much better than the old rubber hoses (Family Handyman says so!) And yes, that is a vintage ludwig field drum. I say vintage, but I don't know what era it is from...it just looks really old...I plan on restoring it after I finish up the orders I have for other people.


This is my table saw that I have used only a couple of times. I have a cordless circular saw that is much easier to use when I need to make quick cuts.


This is my shop vac and my homemade router table. I would like to eventually upgrade to a shop dust collector.

Underneath my router table.

This is where I keep my shells. It is also mobile so I can move it around to make more room if I need it. You can't see the bottom rack of shells because it is covered by cardboard to protect it from the elements. I also made a really simple sanding table by tapping sandpaper to some laminated MDF.


I'm pretty excited about this. I made these shelves yesterday. I used to have that board held up by cardboard boxes...so they are gone now and I have room underneath the shelf to store other random junk that needs to be out of the shop. :( I still have to buy some wood for the top shelf. It has a 2x4 up there right now.

Just some drums i've been working on. Still waiting on parts to come in. That big blue blob is my roadcase that I built a couple of years ago for my drums. I don't really have a need for it anymore...I need to either sell it or salvage some of the materials and make a case, probably 2, that will fit inside my car. This case fits in my car, but only if I put it in sideways.

This is the other thingy I built on Friday that has already made my worship much more organized and makes me happy. I actually got the pegboard at Lowes for free! and it fit perfectly!!!!! I was gonna buy a whole sheet and have them cut it in half so I could fit it in my car, but then the guy said he had some left over from earlier that he could sell for about $2, but then he just ended up giving me that piece!!! Thanks dude!

This is something I'm pretty excited about also. I now have a place that is totally out of the way to hang drum hoops! I used to have a huge cardboard box on the floor with this hardware in it...it was really annoying to step around it all the time, now I don't have to worry about it!
I'm sure there will be more revisions to the shop...but for now I'm OK.

This picture is our kitchen table that we painted. You might have noticed that the chairs match the dishes!!!! We finally upholstered the 2 chairs that had funky color cushions.

Last but not least, me and Baxter climbed a tree together!!!!