Carpentry plans and haircuts

My carpentry skills, were there still guilds to establish standards today, would probably be at or near a journeyman level. I have long graduated beyond birdhouses, and jewelry boxes to designing and building furniture.

Heres the DVD stand made in early 2010:

And the TV stand made later the same year.

I can easily figure out how to make sturdy, functional, but still "delicate looking" and light weight (when compared to my father's thick and heavy style that takes two people to lift always). Not to mention, mine break down so they're lighter to move.

Dad and I have fought some over my style. He was convinced that it wouldn't be strong enough without using thicker wood, or different joints. Indeed it took a lot of "My design, dad, I want it this way". And once he got used to the idea (also known as me sitting on top of the finished product to show how strong it was) he usually starts his smug strut to his friends about "look what my daughter can do." In some ways his being difficult is a tactic in order to make me think about why I want it a certain way and if it will actually be the best way to do it. And more than once, it has helped me catch flaws in my design.

My pieces are beautiful, and I'm not abashed to say so because I took so much care in making them. But they're still very simple. Straight lines, simple joinery, and up till this point, the most complicated thing i had taken on was drawers. The two pieces above were always planned to be a part of a complete set, which eventually will include a pair of end tables and a new coffee table.

Well, I'm starting to get the itch to play in some sawdust again and the wheels in my head are a turning. I whipped up some design sketches over the last few days, slowly refining it from scribbles on napkins and post it notes, down to this design for the end tables:

This will be one of two end tables to go on the side of my couch and armchair. The dimensions are completely non-standard, but they will work much better than my current (hand me downs from my sister's college years) tables or anything i can afford to buy. The Red Couch of Awesomeness should be around for as long as possible so I designed these end tables to be taller than average to work with the high arm rests. I freaking can't WAIT to be able to reach over to put a drink on the table without thinking about where the edge is.

Best part of all: the legs will be detachable! My current end tables and coffee table are designed that way, and it's made moving from apartment to apartment so simple. I had to do some serious brainstorming on how to be able to reach the wing nuts while still having a drawer though. I finally came up with this (the table as seen from above with the top removed):

What i'm most proud of is the design of how to reach the wing nuts without loosing stability for the drawer skirt. The thing on the left is an example of how the bottom shelf will be affixed to the legs. I've also considered bolting it through a hole, to make it more stable but there's still time to refine.

In other news:

If you read waaayyyy back to 2009, or look at my Rants and Raves tab, I got a haircut from "Just a Trim" that set off a tirade. Just to remind you, my hair was falling past the middle of my back or below my breasts, but since it had started showing some serious split ends, i decided to get a few inches max taken off. I told the lady i wanted it to fall just at the top of my breasts. What i got was a collar bone cut and she took off about six or seven inches. I was furious and upset.

Yesterday, my hair was back to the same length and bad condition and i decided to save some money and ask my mother to cut my hair and gave her the same parameters as before. Hair should fall at the top of my breasts and do a straight cut, no layers.

My hair is EXACTLY where i asked for, looks and feels healthier, and it was very cheap. I just treated my mom to sushi by way of thanks.

What I want to know is how my mother, with no professional training, can give me a better hair cut than the woman who claims to have been doing this for several decades?