MAN CAVE MAKEOVER

Twenty-five years ago, when our kids had left school, TOH (The Other Half) took the plunge and started his own air conditioning business. To avoid high overheads he worked from home. We had an office built under the house next to the garage. So our highset house now became a two storey house. After he retired, his office became his man cave, where he pursued his hobbies and what ever men do in their caves other than make a mess.
I was astounded at how much junk one man can collect and store in his cave when we decided to  clean it out and turn it into a classroom for U3A, as well as a new clean tidy cave for him. TOH has taken on teaching "Movie Making" to oldies in U3A.(University of the Third Age.) He taught  one course at the local library in term one and many students wanted to do more and other members wanted to do the course but the room at the library was taken over by another group. So we decided to do it at home, which is better because using his own gear is much better and faster.
However, this meant a clean out of the cave. Secretly I was very excited. The rest of the story is in pictures:

The man cave as it was. Looking from the garage door.

Looking towards the garage door. The office has its own entry on the left, so clients didn't have to go into the house.

As luck would have it, our interior designer daughter was in Brisbane for a week doing a job for her Sydney company. So when she got home from work we gave her another job of designing a man cave which can be turned into a classroom once a week. She's brilliant. First thing she said was, "Everything has to go and start afresh." Father looked shocked at first but realised daughter knows best. I was very pleased.

TOH starts emptying two filing cabinets which held 25 years worth of files, a lot of sensitive stuff he shredded. 

 First up we bought new lights as the old fleuro tubes were rusted into the fittings. We bought the new LED lights, which don't use much electricity. We had to employ a licensed electrician even though TOH was once an electrician, he didn't have an up to date license, and the warranty would not be valid.

They are nifty lights that only have chips and no bulbs.

They work well too.

"C'mon you can't shred forever! Lets start sorting this stuff. What to you need and what can we toss?"

 Finally I get him organised. Boxes for junk and boxes for stuff you want to keep. 

 The junk mounts up. We stack it in the garage where my car used to live. The stuff to keep is on the other side of the car. 

 I hired my Gardener/Handyman to remove the furniture and rubbish and take it to the dump. He's under the built in desk unscrewing it from the wall.

 Handyman and helper fill a truck and trailer with all the furniture and junk. Can you believe how much junk one man can collect?

 TOH sadly watches his twenty five years of beloved office disappear to the dump.

Now what?????

(Stay tuned for the makeover)