How can you furnish your home with great looking modern furniture if you’re strapped for cash in this economy? Build it yourself! I came across a great article describing how you can do just that. Using plans from Plan Canvas on Etsy.com, you can build various types of modern style furniture for your home with simple tools for very little money.

The furniture is definitely all modern in style but there are enough different types to furnish nearly the entire home. The plans include dining room sets, armchairs, side tables, coffee tables, a couch, entertainment center, nightstand, and even a dry bar. The one outdoor piece of furniture is a Craftsman style planter box.

You will not need a big set of fancy tools to build these items. According to the article, you only need a drill, screwdrivers, hammers, and possibly a circular saw or jig saw. The claim is also made on the Plan Canvas site that the projects can be completed in a few hours.

Making these plywood pieces will also cost you very little. Several of them are made economically with a single piece of plywood. For $6.99 you can build modern end tables, a coffee table, two armchairs, or a desk. For $7.99 you can build an entertainment center. For $10.99 you can build a dining room set. For $12.99 you can build a table and chairs from a design inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright. For $15.99 you can build a living room collection — and that’s the most expensive project! 

This collection of plans will allow anyone with some resourcefulness and a good work ethic to furnish their home with an impressive set of modern furniture at a low cost. In these troubled times we can’t all afford to shell out a great deal of money for retail but would benefit from a little do-it-yourself.

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Are you looking for an easy woodworking project with a plan? Look no further! I found this simple project from an e-zine article by Rick Bergin. An easy woodworking project is a rustic oak coffee table that can be done in four simple steps without any nails, screws, glue, or joints.

The first step is to acquire the oak beams for the table. You will need four rough cut kiln dried oak beams, each one meter long and 120 mm x 180 mm. These measurements do not have to be exact but can be adjusted according to your own preference. You should be able to find the oak beams at any lumberyard, but you should shop around before you buy to make sure you get the best deal.

The next step is to cut one of the beams into two 430 mm lengths and make a cutout on each of them. Cutting one of the beams into two 430 mm lengths will leave 140 mm of that beam unused. After you have the two 430 mm beams, pick one 120 mm side of each and measure 25 mm from the short edges of them. Then draw a line at those points. Then, preferably using a router, make a 25 mm deep cutout in each of the beams between the two lines. If you do not have a router, you can set a circular saw to 25 mm depth, make several cuts across the lumber, and use a chisel to make the cutouts.

The third step is to finish the oak beams by sanding them with a belt sander that has a medium grit belt. The cutouts on the two support beams should be finished well so that the table beams will have a steady surface on which to rest. After sanding, you may want to apply a couple of coats of Danish oil to enhance the wood grain.

Lastly, you are ready to put the remaining three one-meter length beams onto the two 430 mm support beams. First space the 430 mm beams about 600 mm (or two feet) apart. Then, place the three one-meter beams across them into the cutout spaces. You will not need to fix them in place because of their weight. There will be small spaces between the beams. You may place wedges or dowels in these spaces to keep them in place, but that is not essential.

By getting the oak beams, cutting them to the correct sizes, finishing them, and placing them together you will have created a rustic oak coffee table that will look great in the right setting. See the plan above for help with the directions. It should be a fun, easy woodworking project to cut your teeth on.

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Have you ever been in part of your home and thought, “I could really use a place to sit down here” but not had one? If so, an easy woodworking project for a small bench from PopularMechanics.com may be for you. An attractive bench with storage space inside can be built in seven steps using pine, plywood, and a number of tools and hardware.

The bench seat is 14 by 36 inches with a hinged top and storage space underneath. The legs are slanted boards with semicircles cut at the bottom. The bench has a single 30-inch hinge for the top and a spring-loaded lid support to prevent it from slamming down onto fingers. It can be painted whatever color you wish or dressed with stenciling, wallpaper, or a poster or print on the seat.

The article explains how to assemble the bench in seven steps. The first is to prepare the two 34-inch long aprons by cutting them from 1”x6” pine. Then the curves are drawn on the edges with a cardboard template for the second step, which is cutting the aprons with a saber saw with a fine-toothed blade. Besides the curves, the saber saw is used to cut grooves into the aprons that will hold the plywood bottom of the box used for storage. The third step is to cut the two 10 1/2-inch wide legs from 12”x1” pine and cut dados into them that will support the bottom of the storage box. The fourth step is to use a compass to mark the bottom of each leg and cut the semicircles into them with the saber saw. The fifth step is to assemble the aprons, legs and bottom with drywall screws. The sixth step is to plug the screw holes with dowels, sand them, and apply putty to them before priming and painting the bench. The seventh and final step is to attach the 14”x36” seat with the 30-inch hinge along with the lid support.

The project does require a number of materials and tools. The materials needed are the 1-inch thick pine boards for the aprons and legs, the 1/4-inch thick plywood for the storage box bottom, the 3/4-inch thick pine for the seat, twelve 1 5/8-inch drywall screws, twelve 3/8-inch diameter dowel plugs, a 30-inch long continuous hinge, and a toy box lid support. The tools needed are a saber saw, a table saw, a router, a 3/8-inch diameter countersink bit, a pencil compass, a drill or driver, an awl, 80-grit sandpaper, a 3” foam trim roller, and a foam brush.

For the complete woodworking design instructions and plans, see the How to Build a Wooden Bench article on popularmechanics.com. We could all use an extra bench to sit on and some extra storage space.

Technorati Tags: easy woodworking, woodworking design