Working construction with my dad from age twelve was ideal for learning to simplify. I didn’t believe there was only one way to do things. There was almost always simpler, faster, and often better ways. That often lead to unpleasant arguments.
Finally, On My Own
When on my own at age 22, I finally put many of my ideas into practice. After several years building homes, I was tired of subcontractors and chose to work on my own.
I opened a one-person cabinet shop. It was more enjoyable. My simplifying helped me be competitive and business was good.
Furnishing My Apartment
After my first marriage ended, I moved to an apartment and needed some inexpensive furniture quickly. My shop kept me busy and had little time to make furniture for myself. I quickly designed and built some simple but functional furniture for my apartment.
The living room photos below show my stereo equipment on a stack of square plywood boxes sized to fit record albums (yes, it was a long time ago.) I built the boxes from ½ inch plywood, nailing them together for quick assembly. The speakers were plywood with burlap front covers. The poor sharpness of the photos results from scanning old, recently discovered Polaroid pictures.
Some artwork I'd collected over the years hung on the wall above the stereo. The right-side wall has two simple, floor-to-ceiling bookcases and between them and to each side are 2 feet by 8-foot particle board panels with 1 inch by 4-inch edges. Altogether, it formed a wall for books and decorations. Everything remained unfinished for many years.
I built the partially visible coffee table entirely of pine and some tiles. It also remained unfinished. I needed to furnish my apartment and believed that I would finish the piece someday, but I didn’t.
The next photo is of one bedroom in the two-bedroom apartment. I used 1X12 pine boards to cut and assemble 1 foot by two-foot boxes I could stack vertically and horizontally along one wall of the bedroom. I don’t know where the clown came from, nor do I remember the other items except for the model 1953 Corvette, which I still keep in my office. The boxes accommodated all I needed, including a tiny TV.
Build Better Furniture Yourself
I used this furniture for many years, and it's quick and easy to build, but with a little effort and readily available consumer-brand tools from home improvement stores, you can build much better furniture. Any small garage or storage space can serve as a shop. With limited skills you can build attractive and functional furniture pieces with the complete instructions, drawings, materials list, and photos I provide for six projects in my book Simplified Woodworking Book One. It’s available in paperback for $12.95 but now you can get the PDF version for only $5 and download it immediately and read it on any device or print any part of it. Just click on the cover photo below and get your copy now. Thanks.
I welcome your questions about the book, the projects, or any projects you are working on. Thanks.