I took this photo while visiting a Shaker community in Kentucky. I couldn’t find a better photo to motivate my minimalism efforts than an image from a Shaker village. As a woodworker who creates Shaker-style furniture, I have come to appreciate their style – nothing is present that doesn’t need to be.

(Submitted by Bob Hillhouse)

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(Via Minimal Mac.)

The July 2008 issue of American Woodworker (#136) featured an article on low-cost shop storage where the author built a six-foot long, two-feet deep, storage cabinet using scrap plywood and a couple of board feet of pine.

The plans call for using those tough plastic bins that restaurants use when bussing tables. You can vary the cleats to store up to 20 of these plastic bins. I opted for 18, spacing the outside bins with a little more space between them for taller objects. I already had a piece of formica countertop to use for the top so I saved on some plywood.

These stands are replicas of those made by the Shakers in the first half of the 19th century when the Shaker sect was at its peak. They were used to furnish the retiring rooms of the Shaker’s communal dwellings, which often housed 100 or more people. These stands require about seven board feet of lumber each.

UPDATE: These tables were donated to a local group for an auction with the proceeds going to the cause. You never know how a group will respond to pieces like these. One group would love them. Others may not be that crazy about the Shaker Style. These tables went for $50/ea. That was quite a steal but in the end, the organization benefited.

UPDATE: I received an email from the Thos. Moser company the other day. Apparently, TM builds and sells the same style of stands – BUT – for a bit more than $50. Check it out.