Some things I am particularly reflective about:
1.) I built my first set of drawers. And then, I earned the street/workshop cred to be commissioned to make more.
I stayed up until 5 am in a snow storm with the task of building utility drawers that go in the back storage area. Up until this point Dan had fashioned all the other boxes/drawers and I had said I wanted to learn how. Dan's (highly efficient though damn toughlove) way of teaching/motivating is to say: "Ok, do it." He figures you've paid attention to everything he's done up to this point, or done your own research enough to be competent. Yeah, it is a great approach--no hand holding, no overlording or forceful tutorial, just do it. But, and correct me if I'm wrong here, "Just Doing 'It'"--going after whatever you want to accomplish without exaggerations or reservations about what it is you know and can do, or performance anxiety/worry about how bad you're gonna fu** it up. . .that is a next level kind of approach to life.
I toiled in the workshop for an embarrassing number of hours before I started doing anything meaningful on the project. I think I felt confused and anxious; I kept fruitlessly assessing my approach, gathering measurements I wasn't sure were right or significant. I sifted through the wood pile. My mind was cloudy and I was. . .angry.
Then Daniel turned in for the night, it was 11:45 pm. He had probably finished five or six large tasks. He asked me if I was coming in; I mumbled. In many ways I was waiting for him to leave so I could have a break down. So he did. And I did. I kicked a metal leg of a utility shelf real hard. Like, grown-up hard. I thought I might have broken something. I yelled, "This is ridiculous!" or, I can't remember. Maybe it was just a violent yodel. Big and second toes throbbed.
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| Utility drawers. Bottom most is a "garage table". |
Dan came out at 4:45 am to see if I had cut my arm off. He saw that I had hacked apart a milk crate to fashion "face plates" to two of the drawers and hired me for future drawer construction.
On a technical note: I highly recommend drawer slides, though they are a little pricey. Takes the whole custom storage thing to a more professional level besides making the drawers flat out easier to use.
2.) Daniel did not make a roof rack. He made a patio.
You should see this thing. It is the raddest. He modeled the design on a roof rack his kayak instructor had in high school, on a van in which he and sizeable paddling entorages had traveled to Canada and Mexico and back many times over. Might max our top speed out at 25mph. . . but he has prefigured for us many nights of sleeping up on that patio rack under big ol' western skys. Plus, it screams dance party. So, there's that. Yolo. -Delilah
Photo spread of rest of our accomplishments:
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| Kitchen w/ storage. Yes that is a tennis ball under the foot pump pedal as a rebound aid. |
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| Inserted speakers in back doors. Subwoofer quality complements of semi-hollow doors! |
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| Memory foam custom cut to fit the bed at shortest setting. Combines with seat backs and butts to reach extended bed length of 78" |
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| Switch board. |
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| Polyurethane on errthing. |
