Working Out the Kinks at Our New Dojo Location

Setting up a dojo is a lot of work. It's not just a matter of laying down the mats. When it's your own space, you want it to be the best it can be. I've come up with a list of issues that I'm in the process of resolving in order to make the most of our new space. They are as follows:

Issue #1: Storage for students. Students' bags and coats are cluttering the area.
Solution: Buy a shelf for student bags and put up hooks in the stairwell for coats.

Issue #2: Equipment Storage. Equipment is currently a bit disorganized.
Solution: Buy hooks and other storage systems to store equipment in a more orderly fashion.

Issue #3: Mat space. Our mats are too big to fit them all the way to the back wall.
Solution: Cut up 1-2 mats to the right size to make full use of the room's space.

Issue #4: Personalization. Would like to personalize the look of the training space for our dojo.
Solution: Build a traditional "shomen" (front of dojo) to include a Japanese style arch, the Canadian and Japanese flags, and a calligraphy scroll with the name of our dojo on it.

I'm sure a number of other issues will come up as we go along. Setting up a dojo is an iterative process. If you are a student and you have an idea or suggestion, please feel free to post it in the comments for the blog entry.