I have "worked" for Habitat for Humanity going on 20 years now as my favorite "side gig" that has no paycheck - at least not in money. We throw ritzy galas a couple of times a year for our hi-end donor community and this year the coordinators wanted centerpieces for the tables that brought home the foundation of what we do - build houses. I get the call and start doodling in SOLIDWORKS as I know I will need to collaborate an idea or two with our non-design oriented staff. They wanted a statement of hope for home completion, so figured I needed a model of a house under construction. After a few iterations in SOLIDWORKS with "a lot" of collaboration with the more artsy types we settled on...

My requirements were: fewest types of materials and fewest number of parts. This was driven by the fact that they wanted 23 table centerpieces! Once this was settled on, I was able to crank out a drawing or two and calculate the exact number of each part needed quite easily.

I could then build out 23 "kits" for subsequent assembly. Then it was just a matter of gluing all the parts together over 4 long days of patience..

Sure looked great once the folks in charge of the event set them up with those fancy tables! A couple of dinner attendees even wanted to buy them!

Quite a rewarding project and we plan to use them for quite a few other events into the future...