The experiences and exploits of a college grad trying to make it in the "real world:" leaving school and friends in New England, moving south, and living with her boyfriend. Watch as I pretend to be an adult.
What do you do when you want to furnish your home with something slightly better than particle board, but find yourself...rather lacking in funds? Well, after you've finished mooching off friends and relatives, you're left with a few options. 1) Buy used furniture using Craig's List or local classifieds 2) Go Dumpster Diving **shudders** 3) Become exceptionally innovative with milk crates and 2x4's
...or you can build your own.
This is where Elija and I find ourselves. While we are fortunate enough to possess many of the larger peices of furniture needed (couches, bed, desks, dresser, etc.), we find ourselves short two ends tables, two nightstands, one or two bookshelves and- dum dum dum- a kitchen table. So we are building them. We have decided to build for a number of reasons- mainly that we're both admitted furniture snobs. Oh, and we're both incredible picky as well. Quite frankly, my stomach turns at the thought of spending my hard earned money on some inferiorly constructed Target-quality crap that I don't really like, and will have to replace in four or five years anyway. And I don't delude myself that we can afford anything better- I mean, my god. Have you seen how expensive nice furniture is these days? I just don't have $400 to drop on a pair of end tables. Hell, I don't have $400 to drop on the whole lot. Maybe $200. Maybe. Fortunately, most of what we need is not that difficult to build. Also, quite happily, as picky as Elija and I are about furniture, we're the same kind of picky- if that makes sense. We both love American arts and crafts style furniture in general. Our specific tastes vary a bit from there (he tends to like things that are a bit more solid with extremely simple lines, while I like things that look like they have a slight shaker or oriental influence) but we can usually find something to agree on. And you know what? I actually enjoy making furniture. No, really. It's fun. I spend so much of my day sitting in front of a computer at work, that it is really nice to come home and do something with my hands (get your mind out of the gutter!). Things are coming along slowly- we're about half done with the bookshef, and that's fine. We're in no rush, which makes the process much more enjoyable- well, for me anyway. As soon as we've got a finished product, I'll take some pics and post them. Because I'm sure you all want nothing more in life than to see what I'm building in my spare time. Heh.
After 22 posted at 12:07 PM
