Maybe the supply of old furniture will dry up, and demand would rise enough to make actual quality furniture feasible again

Fully considered any idea I brought up in earnest, and explained out loud his thought process on why the idea would or would not be helpful.

Gave me enough autonomy to get things done, and he would occasionally check in and was always available for support whenever I hit a roadblock.

Edit to add

He would always say there are about a hundred ways to do most things, and most of those ways would produce an acceptable result in an acceptable time.