Beauty of a project.

I guess I am fairly new to woodworking (At least I am definitely new to
"fine" woodworking). I just finished my first really nice nightstand
and I am working on a second one to match. Here are my thoughts on
plans verses design.
I am doing bedroom furniture based on plans from a woodsmith book. I
followed the plan closely on the first one and got into some trouble as
not all cuts are exactly perfect every time. So on the second one I
have followed the plan loosely and followed the actual project
dimensions very closely. This seems to work much better.
I am also in the process of helping a friend build a
winerack/sideboard. This design is completely from my head to paper. I
am really glad that I have done the woodsmith based projects as they
introduced me to techniques and design ideas that I really needed to
know in order to make a good and stable design for my friend.

So... I think that every woodworker should spend time looking at plans.
Even if they don't build the thing. I think plans are a very effective
medium to share and learn ideas about design and style. I also think
that for inexperienced (I came from a background of a lot of "not-fine"
woodworking) woodworker plans help to solidify techniques, hone skills
and understand common mistakes in a somewhat sheltered environment. At
least this was true of the fine and very detailed plans from woodsmith
(in my mind the best beginner-intermediate woodworking mag). This in
mind I think that eventually a hobby woodworker will become bored with
the reproduction of someone else's work. We hobbyist woodwork because
we like doing it, something that I think is rooted in creativity not
expressed at our "real" jobs. Thus eventually it must come from us.
W