My wife asked why I never build anything for us, just for clients

We were talking about the new kitchen table she wants, and she just said 'you make beautiful things for other people all day, but our house is full of stuff from the store.' It hit me because she's right. I've been in this shop for six years, and I've never made a single piece of furniture for our own home. I'm always too tired after a full day of client work, or I tell myself the materials are too expensive. It made me feel like I've lost the joy in it somewhere. Has anyone else gotten stuck in that cycle, where your craft becomes just a job?

3 comments

3 Comments

jake_walker13d ago

That "play instead of work" line is what finally made it click for me too.

blairwhite28d ago

That line about the house being full of stuff from the store really got me. I was in the exact same spot a few years back. What finally broke the cycle for me was setting aside one Saturday morning a month, no clients allowed, just to make something small for home. It wasn't about a big project like a table right away. I started with a simple shelf. It felt like play again instead of work, and seeing that one thing we used every day really changed my feeling about the whole shop.

hugopark28d ago

Hey, that's a solid idea. I get how making one small thing could shift your whole view. But how do you keep that feeling going? Like after the shelf, did you find yourself still picking up projects for the house, or did you have to keep blocking off that Saturday time to make sure it happened?