My wife handed me a small picture out of a magazine. “Here,” she said with a twinkle, “this is the bed I want you to build us. When can you get started? Will it be done next Friday?” While she possesses many strong virtues, patience is not one of them.
It’s been a while, but the bed is finally finished. It started off looking like this pile of oak lumber on a rack in my garage. 
Then went through a variety of stages in my woodworking shop. 
And, once she put her feminine touch to it, looks like this.
Naturally, she has orders for more: an armoire and two nightstands. Then, when I’m done with those…
As Red Green says, “If women don’t find you handsome, at least let them find you handy.” I had the good fortune of learning a building trade under my brothers years ago so, through the years, I have acquired the skills and tools necessary to build such a bed like this.
Here are the reasons I like to build things:
- It helps me get into the flow: A guy whose name I can write (Csikszentmihaly) but not say, describes the union of our skills and challenges as creating the “flow-the optimal experience.” When our skills match our challenges, we get into the flow and get so engrossed in a project, we lose track of time. If our skills exceed our challenges, we get bored. If our challenges exceed our skills, we get frustrated.
- It’s good to work with my hands: One of the greatest gifts my Dad gave me was a strong work ethic. I have told my own sons that one of the greatest feelings they can have is collapsing in bed at night from physical exhaustion.
- It gets my mind off my job. Having a strong work ethic gives me the tendency to be a workaholic. But when I’m building something, it has my undivided attention. First, because of the challenge: second, because of the danger. Power equipment is very unforgiving.
- It helps me to create. The only things I have built with plans is a house. My wife just gives me a picture and asks me to build. I not only enjoy creating, I challenge myself because of the good it does me.
- It helps me process life. Often, while I’m building something, little light bulbs go off with solutions to problems or new ideas. While I was concentrating on adjustments on a router recently, a solution to a totally unrelated problem popped in my head. Oh, the mystery of the human mind!
- It creates opportunities for accomplishments. It was a lot of work, but when I crawled in it the first time, it wrapped its arms around me and snuggled me.
I recently read that Do-It-Yourself projects are increasing in popularity. People enjoy the cost savings as well as the satisfaction.
What kind of projects do you like to build? Need some help with a suggestion on choosing a project? Let me know if I can help!
Do-It-For-Yourself.