My late Mom must be cackling in delight at my little Carpenter project (her maiden name) just completed. I jerry-rigged a couple of chunks of pine already the right size... to pass as a tiny nightstand where I only have 4" of space beside the guest bed. It's now on its way to the garage, to be painted with the Neighborhood Kid Crew Saturday-- for my HS bestie's Sunday arrival.

At Carpenter Camp, cabin-guests were expected to pick up a saw and a chunk of wood if something needed a fix....and half the cost of this eventual-retirement house was paid via Mom's legacy. So I like to think she's somewhere watching her middle daughter get more like her, the grayer my hair gets!

Mom was very creative with her own little projects, and would always be as tickled with herself as I am right now... (Example: the large funnel attached to a chunk of garden hose, by the fridge, with the hose going to another funnel in the basement, where she insisted on doing ALL the laundry? "Hey, MOM?")

We kids came to call this kind of Mom's projects a 'make-do.' Our judgmental opinions would weigh whether a particular fix counted as either a 'good effort' (aka Fail), a 'fabrication' (useful, unique, clever), or an entry in the 'Make Do Hall of Shame.' I think we'd agree this one is in the middle category. (It is at least NOT a clear winner for 2015.)

A wide board at the base slips into a narrow, open section of the bed frame to prevent racking. The top is actually right at the custom bed's unique bedside height.

I have no idea which essential(s) Leslie HAS to have there, but that's her call, and I can show her to the tool dept., if she wants to improve it with a hook under the top!

~S~