Forgive me for I have sinned

[Matt Meiser]

Since my parents' kitchen isn't usable yet (counters went in today, tile tomorrow,) because we haven't had a lot of family time the last three months, and because a lot of family wasn't going to be coming this year for various reasons we decided to take a mini-vacation over the holiday weekend. We headed down to Hartville, Ohio and then on to Ohio's Amish Country. Thursday we slept in, went out for breakfast, swam at hotel, went to a movie, and went to dinner. Friday we hit Hartville Hardware, Hartville Marketplace and then headed down toward Holmes County. We like to visit the furniture stores to look for ideas for projects I've got in mind. One item on my list was what I would call a chimney cupboard. Well, that's no longer on my list. One store had basically EXACTLY what I had in mind. Cost--$300. Looking it over, its built basically exactly the way I would have built it. They could maybe have done a better job of grain matching on the panels on the doors, but often that's true on my projects. By the time I was done we probably would have spent close to the same. And it was pretty far down my list time wise so we get it probably 2 years earlier. Hard to beat. And before anyone suggests otherwise, I'm the one who said we should buy it, not my wife.

We also figured out pretty much what we want for our own kitchen makeover looking at the displays at Keim Lumber, confirmed what we want for our bed, and got some good ideas for LOMLjr's desk (apparently my TOP priority according to her.)

[Ken Fitzgerald]

When those opportunities arise, take advantage of them!

My wife just had the opposite situation. We remodeled the bathroom, painted the master bedroom and recarpeted both rooms. Her feeling was "what a shame to put this 30+ year old cheap pine furniture back into the bedroom. She went to one of several local furniture stores. The LOML loves oak. She came home and suggested it was time to use my new tools. So..I guess a new bed is on my list.

[Peter Quinn]

Not sure you sinned Matt. Maybe carpe'd some diem? If I had to make every thing in my home my family would be living in my van.

[Von Bickley]

Matt,

We need pictures..........

[scott spencer]

Well...at least it's not from IKEA, and it sounds like you had a great T-Day!

[Scott Hildenbrand]

I'll second the picture req.. Interested in seeing it.

I looked up what they look like.. What were they historically used for?

[David DeCristoforo]

"What were they historically used for?"

Well, obviously for keeping your chimneys in... har.

Actually "chimney" refers to the tall narrow shape. You could put anything in them...

[frank shic]

i LOVE rustic furniture like chimney cupboards and jelly cupboards but my wife complains that it looks too country-ish! go figure...

[Scott Hildenbrand]

From what I gather they were often built into nooks in the house.. Sounds alot like that I'd been planning for the small bathroom to put towels and such in... At least now I have a name for it, make it sound more professional instead of a tall skinny cabinet to put the TP and towels in.. ;)

Hmmm.. jelly cupboards are also a new one on me... Wouldn't give enough room though.. We've got a full canning closet.. Last stock count of apple and tomato product was roughly 50 gallons of stock. All canned in quart jars.

Plan on redoing the canning closet soon and making a larger room. There's a spot in the basement, most likely what was the coal room, which would be great for food storage.

THIS is just a small bit of what's actually in the canning closet now..
http://pics.fuzzywolf.com/IMG_1340.JPG
http://pics.fuzzywolf.com/IMG_1343.JPG

[Mike Cruz]

Matt, the beauty of custom furniture is that it is EXACTLY what you want. You found it. No shame in that. If you didn't have a long list of other projects, you could take the time to have pride in building it. Unfortunately, if we all made everything we needed, we'd be living in vans, as Peter pointed out. Congrats and enjoy!

[Matt Meiser]

My title was meant tounge-in-cheek. There were two recent columns in Popular Woodworking about exactly this topic.

This is the cabinet we bought. When I built a new entertainment center in January we lost of a lot of storage for things like games, photo albums, and CDs (those round silver things they used to put music on.) I even started a thread here looking for ideas for storage and over several months this is pretty much what I developed in my mind. They call it a jelly cabinet but I'd been calling it a chimney cabinet. Like someone said it just a tall, narrow cabinet.

I won't be hurting for projects. I've got trim in my parents' kitchen to finish, a hardware storage cabinet to finish, a run of shop cabinets to build, a planer to finish restoring, a drill press to restore, one I'd like to restore, replacing the top on my Unisaw, building my daughter's desk and a stool to go with it, building a bed for us, making new doors and drawers for our kitchen, .... Hmm...maybe we should go back and do some more looking. :D

[Dave Sharpe]

Since we all have used the line "I could build that if only I had this particular tool....," in order to build up our tool collection with the approval of our respective SWMBO's, your penance shall be to GIVE BACK at least one tool from your shop. I know it's a little harsh, but you did step out of line and break the implied code of conduct of home sawdust manufacturers.:D (and so we know that you have paid your penence, I will accept custody of the tool myself, postage paid ....)

[David DeCristoforo]

I have always told potential customers that if they could find what they needed or wanted sitting on the floor of some store, that they should just buy it. There is little likelihood that I would be able to make them something equivalent or "better" for anywhere near the price of a manufactured item, regardless of the level of quality.

Not too long ago, my daughter needed a small computer desk for her appartment. I was buried hip deep at the time so there was no way I could have taken the time to make her one. We went to the local office supply store and she found the "perfect" thing, a small, lightweight desk, metal frame, PL top, casters and a pullout tray. We paid forty five dollars for it! Took me fifteen minutes to assemble it and, much to my surprise, it went together perfectly and there were exactly enough nuts, bolts and screws!!! Thay had even included an allen wrench and a small stamped steel "wrench" for the lock nuts so I didn't even have to make a trip to the toolbox!

[John Olson]

I made two chimney cabinets for the house . But I mondernize them some what so they did not look so country. And the wood was free so all it cost me was the time. For $300 I could have not bought the wood around here.

[frank shic]

that's a great looking cupboard, matt!

[Don Bullock]

Matt, congratulations on making a bright decision. You have made a great discovery that we can't make everything and we really don't have to. The Wood Whisperer had an article about that very subject in a recent magazine.

I got back into woodworking partly because of a beautiful Amish made dining room table and set of chairs that my wife and I fell in love with in a store. Yes, we bought them and they now now literally the centerpiece in our new home. After the table and chairs had been in our home for a few months I decided that I'd like to get back into working with wood and making some furniture. I was inspired by the beauty of the furniture to set up my shop and make some furniture. I keep hoping that all the carpentry, tiling, landscaping and other projects that come with moving into a new home will wane and I'll be able to get back to some furniture projects that I started before we moved. It would also be great if I could actually get the shop arranged and organized.

I realized very quickly that I can't make everything we want or need. It's just not possible. One of the closet companies did a fantastic job on our master bedroom closet and a local cabinet maker made us a beautiful and functional storage cabinet. We are now waiting for two new chests that are being custom built to our specifications.