Keeme’s Garage

Back when Keeme and I had our house on Nowhereville, a running joke sort of developed between us. He was saying how he wanted to build a garage behind the house, and when I tried to suggest a good spot, he started saying it was too small and he only had a little tiny space in the back for his stuff. His protests were greatly exaggerated, believe me. But every since that day, he’s always joked about his postage-stamp size section of whatever house we happen to have at the time. Meanwhile, I’ve always kept it in the back of my mind that I really would like to build or buy him a garage, someday.

A bit of backstory, here. In real life, Keeme repairs and restores cars- and a big passion in his life are classic cars. Its something that he always has talked about, as long as I’ve known him.

The other day at work, I got the sudden urge to go ahead and tear down the Hydro prefab house I’ve had up for a few weeks now, and do something different. I never did anything with that house other than use it to sort inventory. I didn’t even furnish it, yet. But I realized, our parcel was going to waste, right now. I knew it was time to do something else with our land. Now seemed like a perfect time to do something for Keeme, or at least make an attempt at it. I decided this towards the end of my workday, and started planning out how I would try to build the garage. I’ve never built anything larger than a vase before.. and I sure haven’t tried to make any buildings. But I had an idea in mind, and I was determined to try it. So, as soon as I got home, I leveled our parcel down to bare ground and got started.

I’m not very good at building, at all. Every time I’ve tried to start something, I get frustrated and give up after a few minutes. But this time, I had a very clear vision in mind of how I wanted to build. I started with a megaprim for the floor. Once I got that first prim put down, the rest of the garage came together surprisingly fast.

I was so surprised, and proud of myself. The garage actually looked like a garage. Once the building itself was done, the next couple of days became like a treasure hunt of finding all the extras and accessories to complete the build. I started with some auto shop tools, a workbench and desk, and parked a car inside.

The more things I added, the more it started to really look like an auto repair shop. And the more enthusiastic I became, looking for more things to add. A fire extinguisher, a couch and table for the waiting area, a couple of road cones, a coffee machine.. And knowing how much Keeme loves classic cars, I started to scour Deviant Art and Google, looking for the best classic car art I could find.

Everytime I thought I was just about done, I’d think of something else. A car diagram chart. A bulletin board. A stack of tires..

I’ve never worked so hard on a build before, or spent so much time looking for little things to add. But I’m having a complete blast, doing it. Keeme says he loved it, which made my day. It also encouraged me to think of more little details to add, and surprise him with. I started googling up images of car repair receipts and bills for the bulletin board, even a takeout menu.

And of course, the table in the waiting area needed magazines, so I started googling magazine covers that I thought you’d likely find in a repair shop. Sports Illustrated, some car magazine, and a Maxim. (With Halle Berry on the cover, cause I know Keeme loves her, haha.)

This is the most fun I’ve had with our land, so far. And its completely different from the type of builds I usually like. Thats what makes it fun, though. I like surprising our friends and trying to come up with something different every few weeks.

I think its finished for the most part, now. But I’m sure I’ll make little changes here and there, as they occur to me. And I especially love trying to think up new little touches to add that Keeme would like, for him to find whenever he comes online.

~ by Vegas Blogger on April 20, 2009.