Whether You’re a Skilled Craftsman or DIY Newb, You’re Going to Want This Book on Your Shelf

Jeff Waldman’s story should inspire anyone to pick up a hammer. Wanting to escape the confines of San Francisco, Waldman, an electronic systems engineer by profession, and his partner, Molly Fiffer, who works in nonprofit, headed to the Santa Cruz Mountains where they DIY’ed their own cabin, each step a total learning process. It started with a table.

"Everything we built there, at the time that we built it, was the pinnacle of our experience and knowhow," says Molly. "That picnic table represented the totality of what we were capable of making."

The couple constructed Redwood Cabin using wood they felled and milled on-site—those experiences were new, too—and brought friends along to pitch in, all in the name of experimenting, learning, and building something together. Sadly, the cabin burned down in the fires that blazed through the area in August of 202o. But not everything was lost.

Plans for the cabin (and other designs) are available for purchase from Waldman’s company, Elevated Spaces, and his new book, Tools: The Ultimate Guide, covers all the hammers, wrenches, and welders you’d need to build one. Even if you don’t plan on felling redwoods, you’ll be glad to be have Waldman’s book for the task at hand.

Follow Jeff Waldman on Instagram @elevatedspaces, or read more about Redwood Cabin.