Last week, Rob wondered if some of your projects begin and end on the “cerebral” level, with nary a board cut. For lots of you, daydreaming about future projects is sometimes as far as the woodworking gets. – Editor
“My inspirations come from the readers’ project submissions. I’ll see one that looks like something I’d like to try but with a little modification here or there. Then I’m off to the races thinking about how I would do it and what it would look like with my own ‘improvements.’ I might even dog-ear the page to come back to it. Then I start reading the rest of the issue and 99 percent of the time I forget about my great inspiration…until I come back to finish an article and there it is, that project. I’ll start constructing it over again, maybe with different modifications this time. All in my head, where it usually stays.” – Phil Gilstrap
“I lose a lot of sleep building these imaginary projects in my dreams. Thankfully they usually turn out okay.” – John van Veen
“I was sure that I was the only person in the whole world that did that. GEE WHIZ, if I had completed even ten percent of those projects, I could have filled any NFL stadium 100 times over.” – Charles Tubbs<
“Your commentary resonated with me. A while ago, my wife came to me with her version of a plan to improve our closet organization. I modified the plan for building purposes. The only problem was, I forgot to build it in pieces to fit through a narrow (23″) closet door. Just squeaked by with a 1/2″ to spare!” -Tracy Novak
“This happens to me all the time — I have so many projects running around my brain, I’ve forgotten where they came from!” – Jeff Hansen
“Happens often, and if I’d built all the projects that have been built in my mind, I would be drowning under furniture. Most often this happens when I see New Yankee Workshop or some of my favorite YouTube makers. I have spent several nights building a bedroom set or desk while trying to fall asleep. Recently, I was at a local furniture store and saw some tables I liked. I started taking measurements and had the set built in my mind before I even got home. Wood, cost and time are the issues here, as well as a very active mind.” – Richard Smith
“I know I have been in your shoes on this topic. Visiting furniture stores to get decorating ideas, my wife will invariably spy a piece of furniture that she feels would be great in a room at the house. I usually look at its construction and then its price. Almost always there is a big difference between price and quality. Not to downplay lap joints, but I seldom find dovetailed drawers with solid-wood bottoms. Over the years, I have ended up taking a picture, making some measurements and then going home to build it. Satisfaction and saving some money. Happy wife, happy life.” – Mark L. Sanders
“Found a piece laying on the river bank near me. Knew I had to do something with it. Not much in the way of woodworking but a little sanding and a few coats of polyurethane.” – Gary Hibben
