MODERN LIVING: The Shoulder Trade

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What Next? Has the do-it-yourself boom reached its peak? No one thinks so —least of all the do-it-yourselfers. As their skills increase, they see themselves tackling bigger and bigger projects. The man who has put together an 8-ft. pram begins to leaf through plans for an 18-ft. outboard cruiser. The woman who has restuffed and recovered an old chair begins to wonder if she could not make a set of furniture for the dining room. Sales to the shoulder trade are climbing so fast that by 1960 the estimates are that they will be well over $10 billion.

Conceivably, then, millions of Americans will live in the happy, independent state of James W. Lowry, 45, of Cleveland, purchasing agent for Republic Steel Corp. Over the years, he has built his daughter a wood-paneled game room, installed a new furnace in his home, made Venetian blinds for all the windows, laid a concrete drive, screened in the front porch, made a suite of bedroom furniture and slipcovers for chairs, built a snowplow, and rigged a darkroom for his other hobby, photography. Says Lowry, in the independent voice of all his breed: "I don't believe I'd know a plumber, electrician or carpenter if I saw one. I haven't hired one for years."