What to do with a Shaker box: Part 1

When I see someone use something I’ve produced, like sit at a table or stand on a stool I’ve created, I experience an odd mix of feelings. One is delight that the thing I’ve made, however humble, is useful. One is trepidation that they might not like it. And there’s also a twinge of abject terror that what I’ve made will fail and grandma will crash earthward, or that the desk will wind up splayed on the floor like a newborn fawn.

But it’s mostly delight. Grandma hasn’t fallen and the desk still stands. Making useful stuff is satisfying.

Hence this post and its soon-to-come brethren: what to do with a Shaker box? Everybody’s got stuff, and everybody puts it somewhere. Shaker boxes have served as elegant, durable ways to store and organize items in American homes for the last two centuries.

Got mail? Papers? Woodworking magazines (obviously)? A shaker carrier keeps it all in one place and looks good at the same time.