Customer Reviews

Building Real Furniture for Everyday Life (Popular Woodworking)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

The cover of this book is a bit misleading. The detailed plans call for really unsatisfactory approaches. These include plywood with bare edges on many projects, pegboard screwed on the front of a box for a clothes hamper, and end-screwed supports on a bookcase.

There is nothing WRONG with furniture like this - if you want weak, visually unappealing furniture that will give you splinters in a year or two. But you don't need this book to help you build such pieces. This is all furniture anyone who can hold a saw or start a drill can easily figure out with a sketchpad. For the cost of materials you can get a better solution at IKEA.

The book's one redeeming feature: the pictures inside are true to the projects - rough cuts, bare edges and ungainly proportions all show clearly in the illustrations. You will get what you see, and you won't struggle much to achieve it.

There are far better books available with good starter projects that will teach you the RIGHT way to make joints, finish edges, and use attractive proportions: Danny Proulx' books are almost all good, with both plans and plentiful illustrations - such as "Build your Own Home Office Furnuiture", and "Fast and Easy Techniques for building modern cabinetry"
both use inexpensive materials and good techniques to build pieces of which you can be proud.

For good PLANS (but less instruction) you might want ot try : Quick and easy weekend woodworking Projects, and Build Your Own Contemporary Furniture (both also published by Popular woodworking mag and available on Amazon).

Your project might not come out looking quite as nice as the picture, but you have a fighting chance of building something above dorm-room rejects.

If its worth doing, its worth doing right.

This book went into the garbage can 10 minutes after perusal. The projects are very simple but fit into no decor of any home I have ever been in. The coffee table in particular, looks like something found in the 1950's, without the "retro" appeal. In fact IMHO even the pictures of the projects found in this book would have very limited appeal to anyone.

This is rediculous. There is no way someone would put these projects inside of a home! C'mon.... exposed plywood?!? Not in my house!

Are you a cash-strapped college student, a single person or couple just starting out, or just a minimalist? Do you need furniture? Do you have some basic tools, or access to them, and at least average intelligence?

If you meet the above qualifications you will find this book helpful. It shows how to build simple, very sturdy, somewhat funky looking bed stands, dressers, etc.

These aren't my kind of pieces, but I enjoyed the author's laid back attitude, environmental sensitivity and willingness to stand out in the crowd.

Especially helpful if you are into the looks of the 1960s, this book will teach you the basics of woodworking, including the skills which you can use to build "nicer" pieces when you've got the cash.

Or you can just stick with the designs in this book, and someday end up on one of those "weird home" shows on the Discovery Channel. Either way, it's all good!

These really are quick projects anyone can start and finish in a day. The pictures are informative, the plans easy to follow. Best of all, you might find yourself planning more complicated jobs based on these simpler projects.

Build functional, stylish furniture the easy way with BUILDING REAL FURNITURE FOR EVERYDAY USE: 14 PROJECTS YOU CAN MAKE IN A DAY. Here are pages packed with step-by-step color photos of each project, cutting lists in sidebar for easy quick reference, tips on everything from grain orientation and project drawing to hardware and supplies, and more. An outstanding project guide for do-it-yourself home woodworkers who would produce professional-quality results with a minimum of effort.