Men and Sheds

It might be just an English thing, but men like to tinker around in their sheds. Well I'm over at our house in France at the moment and 'the shed' is our sub-basement which is over 100 sq metres (approximately 1000 sq feet) of space under the main house. There are windows so it's not totally dark, but it is cooler and I suppose that's why I seem to spend more time down there than upstairs when it's hot.

With all of that space to use for storage it takes a bit of organisation to make the best use of it. Surprisingly because it's so large and there aren't many walls, you quickly run out of places to put things if they are against a wall. So that is where my Filofax came in...

I first of all made a list of the things (major or large things) that we already have over here and put them in to categories. I then made a list of the things we have in England which one day will also have to come over here, as well as the major things already here.

I've then used some graph paper with a rough plan of the basement to sketch out some ideas of where to put some more shelves.

It has worked out quite well, I've now set up our cave in the coolest part of the basement which is under the terrace, for our growing wine collection and added another shelf unit in there for other drinks and bottled water.

I think we will need some free-standing shelf units that come out at right angles from the wall to maximise on the available space.

My Filofax inventory lists have also help solve the continual problem of 'What is in France' and 'What is in England?' I've got a terrible memory so it helps.

I've also got a 'Clothing in France list' in my A5 Filofax as well. I have more or less clothes for all seasons over here in France, but I like to rotate my clothes between England and France, so keeping a list is a big help when it comes to packing for the next visit.

A beintôt