Karl Champley: Hi! I'm Karl Champley, and welcome to Wasted Spaces, the show that helps homeowners put hidden areas of their home to good use, solving on-going space management problems.

Well, a wall is a wall or so it seems, but this study here backs into an area that is an underused, under-stair space. It sounds like a great opportunity to get all this sports stuff right here.

Chip and Angie Goodwyn have three active children. Their lives are filled with laughter, fun and Chip's enormous collection of sports memorabilia. He has hundreds of thousands of Troy's baseball cards and they're taking over his closets, his daughter's bedroom, even the kitchen. He wants to store and proudly display his cards in his study, but he's not sure how?
Sounds like a challenge.

Karl Champley: Chip, how long you've been collecting all this stuff for?

Chip Goodwyn: Well Karl, 30 plus years.

Karl Champley: Really?

Chip Goodwyn: Yeah!

Karl Champley: I can see, because, not only is this stuff in here, but there is, you've got sports memorabilia in your girl's bedroom.

Chip Goodwyn: I do.

Karl Champley: I think in your own bedroom.

Chip Goodwyn: It's a bit embarrassing.

Karl Champley: Well, what we're going to do is we're going to break into this wall here and we're going to put everything you got here, bedrooms, bathrooms, into this space here.

Here is our plan. We're going to bust into the corner wall of Chip's study, break through the stud and get into the underutilized space under the stairs. After building and installing a box unit with dividers, a cabinet if you will, we'll install large drawers for his card binders, adjustable shelves for the boxes, and two new doors to protect these collectibles from the kids.

For Chip's most prized possessions, a fireproof safe. It's a display and storage option with style and security, a new favorite for the Avid Sports Collector.

There's no reason to cut out any more drywall than we have to, because drywall repair can be tedious. Marking and scoring with the utility knot, makes it easy for a keyhole saw to slice right through the drywall.

Chip Goodwyn: Just like this?

Karl Champley: Just like that.

Chip Goodwyn: That's it, pretty easy.

Karl Champley: The blade got us halfway there, but the keyhole saw gets us through the drywall.

Chip Goodwyn: How we're going to cut the studs then when we get in there? With this thing or do we get a --?

Karl Champley: No, we've got a knife.

Chip Goodwyn: Like a electronic one or--?

Karl Champley: Well, in the olden days we used that, but we're going to use a reciprocating saw.

Chip Goodwyn: Oh, alright, alright. I probably should know what that is, but I don't.

Karl Champley: No, that's fine. It's very similar than like what you've got there.

Chip Goodwyn : Yeah!

Karl Champley: Except, because it is a pail tool, this blade just goes back and forth. It's quiet a large unit, but trust me, it makes life very easy.

Chip Goodwyn: Yeah!

Karl Champley: Stop there, stop there.

Chip Goodwyn: Okay.

Karl Champley: It is my pleasure to give you the first kick.

Chip Goodwyn: Thank you!

Karl Champley: Alright. One, two, three. Oh, look at that.

Chip Goodwyn: Nice kick!

Karl Champley: Actually, what you've just done there, you've enabled us to now get our fingers behind it and pull that off. Look at that.

Chip Goodwyn: See all that stuff back there.

Karl Champley: Oh yeah. So that is a tunnel space.

Chip Goodwyn: That's a tunnel space.

Karl Champley: And there you can access.

Well, we've still got cutting, building, painting and, of course, displaying to do. It's going to be sensational.