Wooden bed posts can be made in a home workshop.
Building your own bed frame, chest of drawers or nightstand may seem like a lot of work, but it allows you to express your creativity and create furniture that fits your exact needs. Most decorative woodworking furniture techniques take practice, but some basic bedroom furniture can be built by beginners. Choosing the right projects and using the right tools will help you build the bedroom set of your dreams.
Start Small
If you have never made a piece of furniture before, building your own headboard and bed frame from scratch may be too challenging. Building a simple nightstand or other smaller piece of bedroom furniture will let you become comfortable with measuring and cutting wood without having to know complicated joinery techniques. Choose a project that won't require the purchase of expensive woods and that won't have to bear significant weight. This will allow you to practice the most basic woodworking skills without the frustration or disappointment of wasting money on a larger project.
Try Bent Wood
Bending flexible woods like willow allows you to build creative bedroom furniture pieces without difficult joinery techniques or special miter cutting saws. Mother Earth News reports that green pieces of wood are bent into shape and held in place as they dry. Bent wood has natural curves that aren't created by gluing or cutting the wood, creating strong pieces of furniture. Finished bent wood head and foot boards can be added to a pre-made metal bed frame for an easy bed project, or bent wood legs can be attached to a simple plywood top to create a quick nightstand.
Practice Different Joinery Techniques
Joinery techniques are different ways of connecting two pieces of wood together to create a flexible and strong seam. Some of the most common joinery methods used in making bedroom furniture include dovetails, dowel joints and dado joints, according to the Mattress Inside website. Understanding which joining method to use on what parts of bedroom furniture will ensure that your pieces are sturdy and look neatly finished. Practice the various joinery techniques a project calls for on smaller projects or with scrap wood before attempting a large project like an armoire or a bed.
Use Woodworking Plans
Woodworking and furniture-making experts have created a wide variety of plans for every type of bedroom furniture. Using a pre-finished plan ensures that the project will run smoothly, especially if you have little experience with furniture-making. Woodworking plans contain supply lists, diagrams that illustrate how pieces fit together and directions on cutting and assembling the furniture, according to WoodworkersWorkshop. Many basic plans can be found for free or purchased for a low cost. Once you become acquainted with decorative techniques like bevel edging and scroll cutting, you can alter the look of a basic design found in a plan to create a custom piece of bedroom furniture.
Choose the Right Hardware
A beautiful, handmade bed frame will become a disappointment if it falls apart after a few days of use. Using the right hardware, including screws, angle brackets for weight-bearing support and dowels to join pieces together, ensures that your new bedroom furniture will last for many years. The Fine Woodworking website recommends choosing hardware that matches the overall style of the piece when it will be visible, such as drawer pulls and cabinet hinges. For a truly custom piece, many pieces of hardware can be made with some basic metalworking tools or created from scrap wood left over from the project.
Tags: bedroom furniture, bedroom furniture, bedroom furniture will, furniture will, custom piece