Back in the day when Bill and I were early on married and we had no furniture and were moving to an unfurnished apartment and I had time and a bit of extra money on my hands and decided to learn to build furniture because it filled the need, yeah, back then I had no idea where that would go. It became a hobby. Then it became a way of life. Now it's almost an art form and a creative outlet. I can't imagine going to a furniture store to buy anything. I might go for inspiration. I'll look around and think, I could build that and it would cost a fraction of what they're charging.
I learned how to build furniture. I learned about different kinds of screws and what works for what. I learned how to pick wood that isn't bowed or corkscrewed. I learned about saws and drills and sanders and how to finish a piece and what the best stain is, or maybe that it doesn't matter so much to me as that I like the color. I learned about finishes. I tried a bunch of different kinds and liked some and not so much others. I learned to refinish furniture. I accumulated a bunch of tools over the years.
I learned over time that some of the methods of joining furniture I had use early on didn't really last that many years. So I did more research and am still researching and it turns out there are better methods that don't even use screws or nails and are stronger. Turns out they require more tools, which is both fun, annoying when I don't have money right now to get them, and exciting because for instance, I always wanted a table saw and now I have a genuine reason to save for one. The other day I learned the difference between a planer and a jointer. Did you know you want to run wood through a jointer before a planer? Yeah, me neither, but I do now and maybe someday I'll own those tools and do something about it.
Nowadays my home is full of things I've built. There isn't a room in the house that doesn't include my work. It's really cool to see the process of learning played out in my home. It's satisfying. Some pieces are higher quality than others. All were built to fill a need, and they've all done that. Nowadays I look around and wonder what I'll build next. Right now it's a new bunk bed for the kids. Why? Because I feel like it and what I'm building will fit the need better than the current one. Plus, I like it. I like building. I like seeing it come together. I'm using different methods to join the pieces together this time and I can't wait to see how they work out. Genevieve picked the color for her bed and it's going to be hot pink and how awesome is that?! lol.
I always like personal improvement, and it turns out there is lots of room for improvement in this craft. I find myself unsatisfied with the status quo of what I've done before and looking to try new things. Back when I was in school I always enjoyed the challenge of learning new things. Turns out that process still provides me a lot of satisfaction. So onward and upward. I've got plans, dreams, future things I want to do. And who knows, maybe there will be a little bit of a business in this too. Turns out I kind of liked that the last few months as I built some pieces for others. That's it's own type of fun.
No comments:
Post a Comment