Why We Started Woodworking

If you follow me on social media, you probably know that Alex, and I have been building a ton of furniture from scratch. It has been so much fun for us, so I thought I would share some of the reasons why we started doing this.

If you were to tell me a year ago that we would have built a desk, dining table, herb garden, end table and shelves, I would have told you that you are crazy! So, we definitely didn’t always plan on doing this.

I am sure several people are wondering: “Why wouldn’t you just go out and buy your furniture? It saves a ton of time!” It does, but it is also crazy expensive. For the furniture we want and the look we are trying to achieve, it is insane how expensive stuff is.

If I am being completely honest, I think we kind of started woodworking because of our herb garden project. I really wanted an herb garden outside, and I had seen so many neat ideas on Pinterest. I thought it would be a fun project for us to try to build one! Once we invested in all of the tools to do this, I thought to myself, “I guess we might as well do other projects too!” And before we knew it, we were building a dining table! 🙂 Crazy how one small project can turn into a huge hobby!

Even though the herb garden got us started, there are obviously several other reasons that have kept us going with this hobby:

1. It’s fun!
   • Woodworking has been a lot of fun for us and very different from our 9-5 job. We are on our computers ALL day long and it is so nice to stand up, cut some wood and build something! I like that it has gotten us off the couch at night and on weekends. No need for Netflix when you have a hobby like this!
2. It saves SO much money.
   • It cost us $100 for the wood for our dining table. The dining tables we looked at in the store were $3,000-$5,000! Yikes. Sorry Restoration Hardware, but I would rather spend my money on travel or just save it.
3. Potential for Growth
   • Now that we have built a few bigger pieces, we have considered selling them to local customers. We aren’t sure if people would be interested, but we might float a few pictures out there to see if people like our stuff. I don’t really want a full-time woodworking business, but it could be fun to make custom pieces for some local customers!
4. You get to learn something new.
   • I love that we are constantly learning something new. Even though we aren’t learning something specific to our careers, I think it is still valuable to learn a new skill. Who doesn’t want more skills?!
5. We love the rustic/farmhouse look and feel, and this can be easily achieved by building it yourself.
   • I want our home to have a farmhouse/Fixer Upper feel to it. I love the look of homes with that style and many of the items in these homes are rustic. It is pretty easy to build a distressed table because it doesn’t have to be 100% perfect. It’s okay if it has a few flaws because that is look you are trying to achieve.
6. We have the space.
   • We have a 3 car garage, so we are able to use the 3rd stall as a little shop to store tools, wood, etc. It definitely helps to have the extra space!
7. We have the time.
   • Alex and I used to work 60-80 hours a week. Neither one of us really had hobbies because we didn’t have time to have hobbies. Now that both of us are in more of a consulting role, we are only working 40 hours a week and it feels amazing! I love that we have time to explore new hobbies and try our hand at something new.
8. We watch too much HGTV.
   • We got inspired from watching so many shows on HGTV. Everything from Fixer Upper to Open Concept. We love it all!
9. There are so many tutorials and guides online.
   • I am pretty sure we have followed a guide for almost every project we have done. Sure, we have tweaked a few things along the way, but this would be MUCH harder if we didn’t have the tutorials and guides.
   • We love Shanty2Chic and Ana White. They have amazing guides!

I am excited to continue improving our skills and attempt new projects. Who knows what we might do next!

Do you think you would ever take up a hobby like this? Would anyone be interested in seeing us attempt a specific project or piece of furniture? We are eager to learn more and try our hand at some bigger projects!

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

-Catheryn