When his now 91-year-old father first moved here a few years ago, Ray Young wanted to make the most of their time together. Ray had no experience with woodworking, but his dad Ding Young did. So they decided to try to build something together. So Ding started visiting his son six mornings a week, between 9 a.m. and noon. They ended up making a flowerpot, which felt good.
The father and son have taught themselves to construct multiple items from up-cycled wood pallets, and formed a company out of Ray’s garage called. Their list of more than 600 projects ranges from bicycle baskets, to Christmas tree-shaped beer bottle holders, to staircases for dogs to climb into beds. But then, Ray and Ding got a commission to make one of those community library boxes, so neighbors could exchange books. A challenge that Ray and Ding relished in rising to. They started making little libraries that looked exactly like the houses behind them, except for the sign encouraging you to pull the door gently and pick a book to read voraciously