Woodworking

We had a friend in Idaho who did a similar thing, and it might work for you as well, on a similar basis. He bought some property and an old single wide trailer that was barely there, but livable.
They moved in, and then Don added a room to the trailer, and also fixed up the interior of it. Every year Don would build a new deck, and by the next spring the deck had transformed into an inclosed room of the house.
Eventually, they had a magnificent home, and you could never even tell that there was an old trailer hidden deep inside there somewhere. He probably had over 2,000 -3,000 sqft by the time he stopped.
Then, he went underneath the house and started digging out the sandy dirt, and put in a small basement.

I know you don’t need that big of a project, but if you can find some sort of a cheap outdoor building, then you can do like Bobby suggested, and like Don did, and just gradually add on.

 

I've seen houses like that, and have been in one of them. It's interesting to find that there's a travel trailer somewhere inside a full-sized home. Buildings are probably beyond my capabilities, though. I built a shed once and it didn't come out very good. Nothing fit the way I had planned it.

 

I've not worked in wood all that much except to build an appliance stands and some basic shelving.

I did make a mantel a few years ago, just because the room really needed one:



I just found a design on the web and copied it. In hindsight, I wish I had not made it so tall. A slimmer profile would have been better...this is a little boxy.

While not exactly woodworking, I needed a cornice on the patio door in that room so I could hang some sheers over the vertical blinds, so I made one using the same trim and stain as the mantel:



And I just remembered: while I had my router out, I made a corner shelf unit for my kitchen countertop:



None of it is professional quality, but I like having things around the house that I made.

 

A friend's husband is CEO of a tech firm, and has a woodworking shop on their property. The guy is very good.

He's from Michigan, and his folks still live there. Every once in a while he'll make a trip back home to buy some of the old hardwood salvaged from the bottom of the lake.

He made me this pen from some of that wood:



Just amazing what humans can conceive of and then create.

 

One guy got creative like that in the DC area town I lived in for so long. Remodeling permits are a lot easier to get than permits to demolish a house and build a new one, so he bought this old tiny house that should have been a "knock-down," then constructed this huge home around it under a remodeling permit.

It was right up the road from me. I would drive by, and while it was under construction you could look through the windows of the new big home and see that small house inside, still intact. When he was near completion, he dismantled the original house and carted it away.

 

I recall your saying he built that knife-holder to fit your kitchen drawer.

I can't imagine being able to do work of the quality in your pics. He must have some nice equipment...and a large shop to house it all.