Using old Wood

I'm excited to upcycle materials in a new house. To date, I have a lot of projects attempted, and next to nothing completed. I blame my space. Like Virginia Woolf said, a woman needs "a space of her own", and that is very important to me on a philosophical note. I think I have only survived this long without one because I consider my jogging routes to be "my spaces" which is way too abstract and intangible for what Woolf meant, but I do think it is how I define my sense of place living in small and smaller apartments for 10 years. Laying down on the same bluff stretching after a run grounds me and fills me with awe. I just don't have a way to give that creative energy an outlet because I get home and the kitchen is also the sewing room.

Now that we will have more than enough room to barely squeeze by each other, I am attracted to future projects, even though I may still have 3 boxes full of fabric because I can't sew, but at least I will have a way to have a creative outlet, and that's good, isn't it? Hmm, right?

J is on the same wavelength. But I feel guilty for having more space, and I don't even have it yet. I'm really confused between wanting to have a small footprint in life (living in small spaces) and having the ability to turn junk into art/functional purposes, grow more of our own food, etc,  but with that, usually having to buy and live in bigger spaces.

Nonetheless, moral dilemnas aside, J is also stoked to have his own space and "build things" from benches with trees we're cutting down to using old wood  we find (maybe unusable original wood siding under the metal crap) to make stuff.

On that note, here are some ideas for some future failure of a project for me and the Jman to attempt:

Design by Sarah Richardson and Thomas Smythe. Photograph by Stacey Brandford

Design by Claire Archambault, Photograph by Monic Richard for Maison & Demeure

Personally I hate this much rustic as seen below, but the bench is probably what we will end with, lacking the necessary design/building skills to make it into something cooler. 

Source: http://henninghouse.com/2011/07/how-to-build-your-own-rustic-wood-benches/

Of course, it works outdoors, but he imagines building benches for our dinner table, not to scrape off muddy boots, ya know?