Interior design and home décor trends come and go frequently, but handcrafted wood furniture and accents provide a timeless warmth that never fades. Whether you are a beginner looking for easy DIY wood projects or an experienced woodworker ready to build intricate details into your home, this guide provides inspiring woodworking ideas for home décor and furniture.
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Types of Home Décor Woodworking Projects
Small woodworking projects like shelving, picture frames, wall art, coat racks, and decorative boxes allow you to add personal touches throughout your home without overhauling entire rooms.
Shelving
Custom shelving is useful for organization and displaying your favorite items. Build a bookshelf, media unit, display case, or floating shelves. Consider mixing wood types and finishes for added interest. Add trim details, glass doors, and lighting.
Picture Frames
Picture frames made with delicate wood molding or reclaimed barn wood can complement wall art or family photos. Choose a frame style and wood that matches your existing décor. Consider frames with multiple openings or unexpected shapes.
Wall Art
Create your own wall hangings like wooden starburst mirrors, monogram letters, pallet plank signs, geometric hangings, or abtract wall sculptures. Choose wood, paint/stain, textures, and objects like beads or metal that coordinate with the room they will hang in.
Coat Racks
Rustic, industrial, or minimalist coat racks instantly provide function and visual interest near an entryway. Select hooks to match your style and wood tone. Include shelves, drawers, benches or mirrors as part of larger entryway system.
Decorative Boxes
Boxes crafted from beautiful woods lend storage and display space on shelves, side tables, dressers, or counters. Consider raised panels, inlaid designs, Privacy locks, tiny feet details, or exotic wood pairings for final flourish. Larger trunks can serve as coffee tables or window seats.
Easy Woodworking Furniture Ideas
The furniture ideas in this section require mainly basic tools and techniques but still allow room for your creative finishing touches. These beginner woodworking plans yield functional furniture like coffee tables, side tables, benches, cutting boards, or charcuterie boards.
Coffee Tables
Coffee tables made from wood highlight natural grains and colors to anchor living room seating. Use a large slab of wood or build a simple table frame and top. Include storage shelves, lift-top designs, metal accents, or customize stains and finishes instead.
Side Tables
Every seating space could use a handy side table for lamps, drinks, or accessories. Have fun pairing contrasting woods, sizes, shapes for eclectic bedside or sofa tables. Leave raw wood edges or distress surfaces for an antiqued appeal. Consider tables with woven bottom shelves or display cutouts.
Benches
Entryway benches allow you extra seating space and shoe storage by the door. Choose your bench height, width, back support, and wood tones to perfectly fill empty hall space. Add cushioning or leave unfinished wood seating. Include hinged lift seats, drawers, hooks, or hide blankets inside.
Cutting Boards
Handcrafted cutting boards make inspiring gifts and visual focal points in the kitchen. Use hardwoods like maple or walnut and experiment with creative shapes, edging, feet, or juice grooves. Make these boards functional yet beautiful enough to display by adding contrasting wood inlays, special finishes or carvings.
Charcuterie Boards
Charcuterie boards offer the perfect party presentation for meats, cheeses, fruits and spreads. Craft mini individual boards or large shareable versions combining multiple woods and special touches like carved handles, small bowls, or special compartments.
Advanced Furniture Woodworking Ideas
The woodworking projects below require more specialized tools, materials, and wood joinery skills, but allow you make stunning statement furniture like beds, dressers, desks, or even entire dining sets. Carefully follow intermediate or advanced plans, allowing time for careful detailing.
Beds
Beds made by hand have special sentimental meaning and make lovely wedding or heirloom gifts. Design sleigh, four poster, or platform beds with headboards and footboards. Add carved accents, storage drawers, exotic veneers, or creative joinery like dovetail joints.
Dressers
Asymmetric angles, mix-matched drawers and handles give handmade dressers quirky modern or vintage appeal. Include inner organization or specialty drawers and surfaces for jewelry, ties, or makeup storage. Experiment with color-blocking drawer fronts or add mirrors and distressed details.
Desks
Custom home office desks allow perfect leg room, storage, and surface space suited to your needs. Design around computer requirements, preferred drawers, and work flow. Add personal touches like leather desktops, hidden compartments, or keyboard drawers and wrist cushions.
Dining Sets
Full dining sets with beautiful handmade tables, chairs, benches buffet storage lend a stately yet warm presence to special gather meals and entertain. Select chairs with carved backs, woven seats and table pedestal bases for added visual appeal. Extendable tables allow flexible seating arrangements.
Design Tips for Wood Furniture
Choosing beautiful woods, stains, finishes and key details give your hand crafted furniture special appeal whether you build simplistic modern designs or ornate traditional styles.
Wood Selection
Hard woods like oak, maple, cherry withstand frequent use and bring rich warm grains to life. Exotic lighter woods can provide lovely contrast details. Reclaimed barn woods offer eco-friendly worn character.
Staining and Finishing Play with different stains in subtle natural hues or dramatic ebony tones. Protect with polyurethane or oils to seal the deal. Consider layering wash, glaze or whitewash techniques.
Hardware
Drawer pulls, knobs, hooks and hinges in polished metals, leather, glass or iron provide the perfect finishing touch.
Distressing
Simulated signs of wear like small cracks, paint chips or sanding add vintage casual charm.
Decorative Details
Carvings, inlays, trim accents show off your woodworking chops. Weave textures with rattan, beads, tiles or metalworked accents. Personalize with monograms, sentiments or special objects.
Selling Your Woodworking Creations
After perfecting your hobby on personal projects, consider selling specialty wood creations as side business. Reach local customer through venues like:
Craft Fairs: Display sample products at weekend markets and see firsthand reactions. Take custom orders for future pickups. Exchange contact info for referrals and testimonials to help establish yourself locally.
Online via Etsy/Social Media: Photograph finished pieces styled attractively and create accompanying social media feeds. Share posts across platforms driving traffic back to full Etsy shop. Ship custom orders nationwide.
Consignment Shops: Approach boutique home goods stores about displaying certain pieces for sale on consignment with percentage going to store. This taps into established higher-end customer traffic.
No matter what path you choose, exceptional woodworking quality and good word of mouth referrals help gain traction when starting out. Carefully calculate costs per project and keep order records. Pricing fairly helps woodworking hobby sustain itself as side business. Determine what project types and pace realistically work for your lifestyle.
Supplies for Home Décor Woodworking Projects
Having the proper tools, materials, and safety equipment on hand allows you to smoothly create any décor project without frustrating delays. Review this checklist before embarking on your next creation.
Tools
Gather essential hand and power tools:
- Saws – jigsaw, miter, circular, table
- Sanders – orbital, belt, palm
- Drills and drill bits
- Hammers and mallets
- Clamps
- Planes
- Squares and levels
- Routers
- Sanders and sandpaper
Materials
- Wood types – oak, walnut, pine, cedar
- Plywood, MDF
- Paint, stains, urethanes, oils
- Hardware – nails, screws, hinges
- Glass, tile
- Fabrics, beads
Safety Equipment
- Goggles & respiratory masks
- Ear protection
- Dust collection
- First aid kit
- Fire extinguisher
Conclusion
Exploring home décor and furniture woodworking opens up endless possibilities to infuse personal flair throughout your space. Start with small decorative touches or basic furniture before working your way up to larger statement pieces that require more skill. Review inspiring woodworking images and plan resources online. Connect with helpful online woodworking communities to continue learning. Most importantly, enjoy the entire satisfying process from concept, designing, building, finishing and installing your custom woodwork all on your own.
Below are two external links that could be relevant to this article:
- https://www.youtube.com/user/SteveRamseyWoodworking – Steve Ramsey Woodworking YouTube channel with useful woodworking tutorials
- https://www.woodworkersguildofamerica.com/ – Woodworkers Guild of America site for connecting with woodworking community