Frequently Asked Questions

Who are you?

My name is Jonathan Szczepanski, and I am addicted to sawdust. Seriously though, I am an aspiring furniture maker, married with two kids. To help pay the bills I continue as a freelance web designer. I live in Beltsville, MD just outside of Washington, D.C.

What is the primary purpose for building your at-home-workshop?

I want to eventually become a professional furniture maker. I want to design, construct, and sell furniture of my own. This workshop will be the first big step to achieving that goal.

I have always had an interest in building things. What person hasn't? But when I was in my last year of college studying design, I took the class "Applied Three-Dimensional Design". The class was about designing things - household accessories, office products, electronics - those sorts of things. But the last assignment was a piece of furniture. It was the most exciting - and expensive - project I had in college.

I designed a dining room table. It took about a month to complete, from pencil sketches through to the final coat of finish. When I had my final review for the class, I never felt more proud of a project. That is when I realized I was happiest when I am making things with my own hands.

My wife and I still use the table in our dining room today. It might be the first piece I try and sell to people.

What type of furniture do you like to construct?

I like to construct furniture of my own design. It's the most satisfying. My design style is a mix of Japanese philosophies, Arts and Crafts sensibilities, and contemporary European cleanliness. I tend to shy away from furniture that has superficial adornment. I think furniture should be well-proportioned, properly balanced, and have a little movement to it - some thing that you just want to touch.

Do you plan to sell your furniture?

I do plan to sell my pieces. At first I'll focus on selling pieces part-time so that I can build a portfolio and a reputation. This will make for an easier transition to full-time furniture maker.

While I would like to be able to make a living at making furniture, at first I am going to be more concerned with honing my craft and creating the best pieces that I possibly can. If I can do that, I'm sure I'll find success whether it's monetary or otherwise.

What would you say has been the biggest challenge or setback in building your workshop?

The biggest challenge so far has been finding a foundation contractor.

I am going to build the entire workshop myself except for two parts - the foundation and bringing power to the workshop. These two portions I am going to contract out. To my surprise, it has taken me three months to find and sign a contract with a foundation contractor.

I first asked friends, family, and friends of family for recommendations on contractors. I then looked around online, in the yellow pages, as well as local newspapers and circulars for numbers for contractors. Altogether I called eleven contractors.

It was such a challenge just to get contractors to call me back. I was amazed at how long it took them to return my calls, reply to faxes, and send a bid.

I am still amazed that I only received four bids from the eleven contractors I contacted. I didn't think it would be that difficult to find someone to give money to for an honest days work.

What would you say has been the biggest surprise?

The biggest surprise has been how much my wife Alice has supported me. She has always supported my artistic endeavors, but building a workshop will require a large time and monetary commitment. Alice hasn't flinched once, even as estimates kept rising as they came in. Even if she doesn't pickup a hammer, I am thankful to have such a supportive wife and I love her for it.

Is the workshop going to be outfitted with anything especially cool?

Of course the shop will be filled with big, honkin' power tools, but I have some other things that I will hang in the shop to personalize it. I have two swords that I would like to put up, a Sports Illustrated cover of Maryland's men's basketball championship, and maybe a Vargas or two if I can find them.

I am also going to try and work in a hoist system to bring things from the first floor to the second floor. It will require some sort of trap door in the second floor, but it will save me time and frustration, not to mention my back. I guess I'll call it my "Lazy Jonathan".

What made you think of creating this website?

While doing my research for the workshop, I found it difficult to find information online. Most of the sites are commercial, so I had to sift through ads and pitches to find useful information. Many of the useful sites were done by individuals. I thought I could return the favor by documenting my discoveries so that others might benefit from my research.

The second reason for having on online journal, was so that my family and friends could track my progress. While I am going to do a lot of the work myself, it is going to be impossible for me to do all of the work by myself. I will need - and I am counting on - help from my friends and family. I am going to use the website as a way for those who want to help to be able to see what task I have coming up, so that they have a better idea if and when they will be able to assist.

What advice could you lend for someone who might be interested in getting into furniture-making?

The first thing is to start designing furniture. Draw, sculpt, or model anything that interests you. I recommend a sketch book. It is an easy way to quickly jot down an idea. Then you have a record of ideas to come back to and refine.

Second, you need to learn the basics of constructing furniture as well as the techniques. There are plenty of books out there that can help. I would recommend many of the books from Taunton Press (www.taunton.com). They are an excellent source of furniture books as well as magazines like Fine Woodworking (www.finewoodworking.com).

Lastly, you should expose yourself to furniture.

Go to a museum. There you can see what has been done. Locally the Renwick Gallery is very good.

See a craft show. The American Craft Council has a great show in Baltimore every year where you can see many talented furniture makers.

Go window shopping. Go to stores and find furniture that you like. I like to guess how it is constructed, then I will actually lay on the ground if necessary to see the joinery. I know it's strange, but you have to crawl before you can walk.