Comfortable refuge now work place

When Dave Henke installed cable TV, a restroom and a refrigerator in his garage in Greenacres, he might not have realized that his roomy refuge would also someday help him earn a living.

“I’ll build anything anybody wants,” Henke said.

Laid off from his job as a steamfitter a few years ago, he’s since turned his skills loose on the tools in his garage, turning metal into artwork.

Behind him, painted rebar and assorted metal shaped like grape vines climb a piece of lattice he hauls to farmers’ markets and other crafty venues.

“It just kind of expanded from wine racks,” he said.

Boxes of industrial bearings sit on the floor below a row of jovial looking metal creatures they will become.

“He’s out there pretty much all day and into the evening,” said Laura Henke, Dave’s wife.

Her creative impulses come through in scrapbooking projects in the basement of the house. But since they built it in 1990, she’s left the shop to Dave.

“It’s something that he had wanted to do for years and years,” she said.

Since then, the humble storage space has evolved to include most of the creature comforts of home.

“If you’re going to put something in, you may as well make it as comfortable as can be,” Laura Henke said.

There’s a steady stream of entertainment via history or country music TV channels coming through buried cables in the backyard.

A simple intercom system connects the shop to the house, although the backyard separating the two sometimes comes in handy.

“If I get mad at him, he can go out there. He’s got all the necessities of life,” she said.

“One of these days I’m going to put a sign out there that says ‘The Dog House,’ ” said Dave Henke with a smile as he proudly pointed out the shop’s offerings.

Up a flight of stairs, an air-conditioned loft holds Henke’s upholstery tools. There are boxes filled with the “Back Relaxer.” One of his first business ventures, a web of straps attaches to a mattress and is pushed by the feet of a patient to put tension on aching back muscles.

Against one of the loft walls is an impressive collection of old baseball caps. Next to the window a table holds a model tugboat that, so far, has been about five years in the making.

In the same space where a local Model A club recently gathered to show off their rides, Henke spends the rest of his week welding, bending and painting his way into people’s collections.

At about 1,400 square feet, including a nonheated area for more mundane storage, there’s room for both business and pleasure in the Henkes’ garage.

“It’s the envy of a lot of people we know,” Laura Henke said.