Furniture of necessity

[Sean Hughto]

I'm looking forward to Chris' book, but this post likely has little to do with it. ;) We all tend to aspire to mostly make really nice stuff that will last generations and be cherished heirlooms. I know I do for the most part. But almost as often I find myself and my family needing some piece of furniture for a particular need that must be met very quickly and is not likely to become an heirloom by any means. Years ago when my daughter's birth was imminent, we needed a stable stand/table for a Moses basket to keep he in as a newborn. I went to my basement workbench and a couple hours later with the help of pine and screws, I had a nice little table with flared legs to make it extra stable and a lipped edge to contain the basket. It's still in use as a plant stand on the front porch, but no one would ever mistake it for fine furniture. It's more like functional folk art. Since then I've done dozens of other quick hit projects with no time and no fancy joinery. Working this way is fun and fulfilling in a way that fancy months long projects are not. It's so great to get to "done" in a day or two. And the freedom of on-the-fly creating with pragmatism as the touch stone - with little time for second-guessing or over wrought worry about messing up the next step etc is a relief. I wondered if anyone else did these sorts of things and wanted to share.

I did one over the weekend. My teenage daughter need a shelving unit in her small bathroom to contain her sundries which were spilling off the back of the toilet and edges of the small vanity. Pine and screws to the rescue. I left the rough edges from the mill, and used milk paint to give it a colorful but sort of distressed look. A coat of urethane and voila - a day later: on the wall!

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https://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1547/24101600039_14eefc9ec5_c.jpg

It won't win any design awards or likely exist in 10 years, but fun to knock out just the same.

Anyone else enjoy quick honey-doo kinda projects?

[Barry Dima]

It's so great to get to "done" in a day or two. And the freedom of on-the-fly creating with pragmatism as the touch stone - with little time for second-guessing or over wrought worry about messing up the next step etc is a relief. I wondered if anyone else did these sorts of things and wanted to share.

Now THIS is a thread I can identify with. I'll post pics later if I remember, but this hobby started out as "I'm not paying that much money for that" on top of wanting a new skill—two reasons I doubt I'm alone in. My favorite so far is a 2x4 for holding wine glasses that's basically a larger version of a chisel rack you'd see in someone's work space. Lesson learned there: Tung oil can gussy up just about anything.

These little projects are also really useful to me as low-risk skill builders. For a rack for mugs, I practiced laying out and executing shallow but wide housing joints. Learned a lot about sharpness and grain there. For shop projects, I've been using my dividers more just to reinforce proportion. For some janky shelves for my daughter, I beveled the front face to better understand how that affects aesthetics. For me, practice is better on these small-but-useful sundries than that box I'm giving as a wedding gift.

EDIT: And these pieces of necessity are great for paring down the pile of scrap. Why buy shelf brackets when you can just drill a hole in a 2x?

[Chris Hachet]

I do these all of the time. They keep my skills sharp when I build that occasional piece of heirloom furniture. Nice work and design touches on the shelf unit. UIt is often more difficult to get the furniture of necessity to look right than the heirloom stuff....

Good proportions and color choice sir. Would look forward to additional pics of your work.

[ken hatch]

With a smile as I read the post I think: "All you need to do is look at any photo of my shop". Most every wall has some cabinet or shelf of necessity.

Just because we can does not always mean we should.

ken

[Kees Heiden]

I like that. And a finished product in a weekend ain't bad!

[Bill Houghton]

Nice little cabinet. Your extra touches take it a couple of levels past the purely functional. I haven't done any of that sort of item recently, because we reached furniture saturation a while back; but, when the kids were little, I sure made plenty of tables, bookcases, etc., some of which are still in use (the six-foot-tall, three-foot-wide bookcase held together with finishing nails, built probably 40 years ago, is my wife's bookcase).

Clearly, as a man with at least one teenage daughter, you've got more than one honey creating your honey-do list.

[Tom Vanzant]

Did a squirrel feeder for a friend of my daughter. I had a 4" wide piece of cedar fence slat...12" for the back, 6" for the shelf, and 3"x3" for the gusset. I screwed together, then added a long drywall screw up thru the shelf to secure the ear of corn.

[Chris Hachet]

Did a squirrel feeder for a friend of my daughter. I had a 4" wide piece of cedar fence slat...12" for the back, 6" for the shelf, and 3"x3" for the gusset. I screwed together, then added a long drywall screw up thru the shelf to secure the ear of corn.


One evening projects like that can be a lot of fun.

[Bob Glenn]

I started making this stuff years ago, before I knew anything about the subject. I had few tools, one jack plane, and I built a planing bench out of treated lumber to knock down boards from the saw mill. Working mostly in yellow poplar, I made some corner cabinets, tv stands, bucket benches, step back cupboards and firewood boxes. I stained the wood and then painted select areas, mostly a muted blue, followed by a coat of dark brown Briwax to add a patina. Knocked together with reproduction cut nails, a style has developed that we and the kids love.

The stuff is rock solid and there is a certain "honesty" about each piece that I enjoy. Unfortunately, Adam Cheribini has gone in to semi-retirement. Looking forward to this tread. Bob
'

[Bill Houghton]

Did a squirrel feeder for a friend of my daughter.

You surely realize that there are folks living where squirrels are known as "tree rats," who would consider making a squirrel feeder as logical a move as building a rattlesnake den.

[Jim Koepke]

Much of what I build could fit in to the "furniture of necessity" description.

This utility bench was built as "furniture of necessity" around Christmas time in 2013:

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It supports my power sharpening system.

When built, it was too cold in the shop to glue the drawer together. The drawer is still holding together fine without having ever been glued. Some of my best fitting dovetails turn up on a piece of furniture of necessity.

jtk

[Tom Vanzant]

Bill, the squirrel feeder was to "distract" the little buggers away from her bird feeder, and just for the record, she has dealt with rattlers in her garage. San Antonio can be like that...

[Kees Heiden]

Maybe not really a neccesity, but this one was for the school where my daughter was working at that time. I love simple quick in between projects.

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[Bill Houghton]

Kees,

That stove is really cute.

[Sean Hughto]

Love it, Kees! We bought a pre-made one of those when my daughter was a toddler that was super expensive and not as nice!

And I came up with a pic of another "softwood and screws" effort. This one was when we needed to get a room humidifier up off the floor so the mist would disperse better. As it's full of water and top heavy, I splayed the legs for stability. Once again, I had fun with my milk paint! I used a molding plane for the edge of the top - so traditional hand tool woodworking!!!

https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8169/7902282610_b6fc5bc96c_c.jpg

[Shawn Pixley]

I need to do things like at all the time. There is a satisfaction there.

[Mel Fulks]

I like it , and agree quick projects are useful and energy refreshing. Always thought medicine cabinets were "under represented" especially since there are so few manufactured design types, good to see them getting some attention here. And it looks like they they have good product placement income potential !!

[Sean Hughto]

I've made various wall cabinets that are "medicine cabinet" size over the years, but just never used any as medicine cabinets. Like this one:
https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3108/3256578957_17e609cbbb_o.jpg

[Jay Larson]

There have been plenty of projects like this in my homes. From water bed frames and futon platforms in college, to bookshelves and tables more recently. Almost all of them were either given away to someone in need when I was done with them (or built a better version).

In fact right now in our living room we are using a prototype bedside table as a TV stand until my shop is finished.

Now, I use these items as a way to test design ideas, and work processes. Not much time or expensive material invested. As far as when I was in college, it truly was furniture of necessity as there was no way I could afford the waterbed frame, not even the flamed finish pine 2x10s...

[Joe A Faulkner]

Great little project Sean. The color scheme gives it a fun, somewhat whimsical look and ties in nicely with tile.

[Sean Hughto]

Thank you, Joe. You're kind.

[Frederick Skelly]

I do alot off this sort of thing, especially out in my shop. But none of it looks as nice as the "necessities" you show here Sean. All of mine has more of an industrial form-follows-function look, with plywood and visible screws plus a coat of varnish.

[Sean Hughto]

I have some with ply or visible nail heads, etc. Those things can be pretty in their way. I'm talkin need driven, built fast, with what's to hand. Liberating and often satisfying like the lathe where stuff takes final shape in hours instead of months.

[Frederick Skelly]

I have some with ply or visible nail heads, etc. Those things can be pretty in their way. I'm talkin need driven, built fast, with what's to hand. Liberating and often satisfying like the lathe where stuff takes final shape in hours instead of months.

Man, I sure agree. Sometimes it's very satisfying to do a project in 2 days rather than a couple months.

Talking about visible screws, I once made a lego board for a neighbor kid out of ash. It was white wood with black drywall screws showing at each corner - and it was pretty.

I always enjoy seeing your work. It gives me something to aspire to. Thanks for posting it.
Fred