My partner is interested in woodworking but seemed to be delayed getting started so I challenged him to build four sitting stools over the month of July.

I choose the number four because:

• You've got to make more than one of something to get good at making it.
• A week per sitting stool seemed reasonable for planning and execution.
• Sitting stools can be simple to build but the possibilities are great and they don't need to be as structurally sound as a step stool.

I'm making some sitting stools, too. My interest is stools that can be stacked easily and I found many great ideas on Pinterest. I was most impressed with a design that stacked horizontally instead of vertically.

I read about them a bit in this Dezeen article. The website for Torafu Architects is www.torafu.com. There is a nice story about how the architects designed this as a joint project with a community workshop established after the tsunami.

These seemed simple enough for me to make. My partner created some drawings for them, making up an angle for the legs.

Before I go further, I want to say that TOOL LIBRARIES ARE AWESOME! We were able to borrow this great miter saw in the photo and it was so helpful.

Making thing is hard! The photo hides a lot:

• gaps between the wood because I didn't clamp them together while screwing in the screws
• accidentally screwing in on the outside instead of the inside of the legs
• an extra screw on the top to try and reduce wiggle

I took one apart and pretty much redid the whole thing. I made 3 of these so that knocked out most of the month's requirement. ;)