Summer Projects?

The North Indian summer is upon us. After a gap of several days I entered my tiny workshop to find it already feels hot and stuffy. Winter is the best time for woodworking in North India but this year I have been busy with other work and could not find much time for the workshop. 

This is a real pity because I had so many projects in mind, beginning with a small router table which I had been planning for a long time. My DeWalt 625 router would do better sitting under a router table of sorts. I had got the plans for a simple table from Carol Reed’s router book and had even purchased the polycarbonate sheet and plywood for the project. That lies half finished as do a couple of other projects.

Summer is no time in North India to be in a small workshop and there is no way I can install an air conditioner in it. Even if I could, the saw dust would choke the air conditioner in no time. Maybe I’ll try a desert cooler.

At any rate, I hope I can find time from my regular work to complete some of the projects I have in mind. I thought I could share some of the projects in this blog. All of them are for some sort of storage need.

Most middle class Indians have no choice but to live in relative small, cramped apartments. Real estate is expensive and will continue to be so in most cities. Home prices in the suburbs are also rising and terrible connectivity is usually a huge dampener for people who would like to shift out of cities. Thus most have no choice but to stay put, especially those who have already invested in an apartment. 

I have found that apartment living has one persistent problem: there is never enough storage space. I began running out of bookshelves years ago and this was one reason why I took to woodworking. Then my wife complained there wasn’t enough space for clothes and all the little things we kept picking up over the years. I soon became obsessed with efficient storage and built a number of little projects to take care of this. 

Over the next few months I a hope to put up seven simple, easy to do projects for apartment storage needs. I will also discuss the variety of ways a DIY person can build each project.

The projects will be as follows:

Mini Showcase

Small Glass Showcase

Canted Wall Box

Shapely Shaker Shelf

Key Cabinet

Lighted Liquor Cabinet

Pray it does not get too hot this summer and I find time to potter in my workshop!