I needed to know how to make my own shelves, so this weekend while I visited my parents, I asked my mom. My mom knows how to make things; she’s comfortable with studfinders, drills, all that basic and slightly-above-basic stuff. Her dad, my Opa, was a mechanic, which literally saved his life. In the concentration camp, during the war, he knew how to make things, and how to fix things. He was valuable, so they didn’t kill him.
When I feel anxious, making things helps to calm and steady me. Cooking, sewing, hammering, measuring. Adjusting and correcting. It’s not even about doing it well (some things I’m good at; others I’m not), but there’s a wonderful feeling of becoming absorbed in a project for hours and hours.
So today, with my mom’s instructions and some friendly help from the landlord’s husband, this new mini-pantry came together. Highly imperfect, construction-wise, but I love it anyway.
Kloncke 
i love it! :)
kinda makes me want to give it a try.
and you’ve got some good teas up there. the Ceylon and the Pu-Erh are my ‘go-to’ teas of the season.
It looks great, Katie! and especially cheery against that yellow wall :) hope you are well, I miss you.
Beautiful work! Nothing beats a nice homemade shelf :)
Nice work! DOING things is so satisfying, even when the result is less-than-perfect. (But it looks beautiful from here.)
friendship!! this looks SO SO good! you are such a handywomyn! always inspiring me lovebug :)
Aw, thanks friends! I will pass on the compliments to my mama, who deserves them the most. I kept asking her more and more questions (What kind of wood should it be? How do these pegs work, again? How do I make sure it’s level?) until she finally drew me a diagram so that I could go to Home Depot and have some inkling of what I was looking for, and how to assemble the pieces. :)
But yes, like you said Mahfam, doing things is hella satisfying. Maybe we can make some stuff together in the new year.
Aneeta, I can’t wait til you’re home! Let’s cook dal from the lentils on the shelf. :)
Susan I miss you, too! Hope you are all kinds of happy and healthy these days — keeping busy, no doubt.
BK, you were the first to introduce me to the concept of rinsing tea before steeping. Thought about that just the other morning, while making Pu-Ehr.
Emily, someday I hope we can do a crafty project together, and I can apprentice with you! Y’all’s table is hella inspiring!
YOU ARE SO CUTE WITH YOUR LEVEL! I want to make a shelf!