As an artist and avid crafter I have always considered handmade items to be better than mass manufactured items. They have better quality, more attention to detail, character, and each piece is unique.
My husband, who also loves to craft and create, has a complete opposite view towards handmade items. He has always thought of them as inferior, having poor quality, and shabby.
The reason between the two thought processes simply has to do with experience. My husband, as well as many other people I have met in my life, have most commonly seen handmade items that were not well made, that broke easily, or were just plain ugly.
There was not much care invested into their creation. These items are homemade.
In my experience, handmade is the highest quality of items, custom pieces made with great care and skill; couture fashions, designer shoes, custom wood furniture, and great works of art.
In my art and crafting I have always strived for the handmade quality and look. Many times I can’t get past the homemade stage. (That is usually when I give up on that project and throw it away.)
Still confused?
Let me put it another way. A homemade item is similar to a badly done home DIY project. Let’s say you buy a house where the previous owner did everything themselves and did a horrendous job.
The cabinets are not screwed into the wall, the second floor deck is falling down, and all of the bathroom fixtures leak. (That is the house we currently live in.) You would not like it very much and would never want to buy a house that had been DIY remodeled ever again.
That is the type of quality and skill that goes into a homemade item.
So, you are stuck with a bad house and it needs fixed, right? What do you do? Call a professional (and we have.)
For us, our main go-to handyman is my father. He has never been a contractor but he has owned and worked on his own homes for over 30 years.
What’s the difference? My father has had plenty of DIY mistakes. He has been through the steep learning curve and now he knows what he can do and how to do it well. He has experience!
That’s it. The difference between handmade and homemade is the amount of experience and skill the person has in making the item.
A G Johnson Design 