The stages every piece goes through
Furniture is built in the same order whatever its size. It is designed and drawn, every part goes on a cut list, the stock is milled flat, straight and square, the joints are cut, the piece is assembled dry to prove it, then glued, and finally finished. The order matters because each stage depends on the accuracy of the one before: joinery cut on stock that is not square will not close, and a case glued out of square will never take a door that fits. The detailed order for a cabinet is in learning furniture making.
Kinds of furniture, by how they are built
| Kind | How it is built | Plans |
|---|---|---|
| Tables | A top on legs joined by aprons or a trestle; the top must be free to move across its width | Coffee and side tables, dining table, trestle table, desk |
| Cases | Panels joined into a box, with shelves, doors or drawers fitted to its openings | Bookshelf, built-in bookcase, cabinet |
| Seats | Legs, rails and stretchers carrying a person's weight, often racked from side to side | Bench, stool |
| Beds | A frame sized to a mattress, often built to come apart | Bed frame |
| Wall pieces | Fixed to the wall, so the fixing is as important as the piece | Floating shelf |
BenchRoot designs, each drawn and checked; none carries a load rating.
Wood moves, so furniture must let it
Solid wood swells and shrinks as its moisture content follows the air around it, and the Wood Handbook shows the change is far larger across the grain than along it. A tabletop or panel glued rigidly across its width will crack or push its frame apart over a year of seasons. That is why tops are fastened with slotted holes or clips, panels float in grooves, and wide solid parts are never glued cross-grain to each other. How much a given board will move is worked out in the wood movement calculator; plywood, which is cross-laminated, moves very little in its width.
Joints and materials
The joint follows the job: a mortise and tenon for a leg and rail, dadoes and rabbets for a plywood case, dovetails for a drawer or box. Choosing a wood joint compares them by load, grain and glue surface. For materials, solid wood gives edges and surfaces that can be shaped and repaired; plywood gives stable, wide panels for cases. Plywood is rarely its nominal thickness, so measure it before cutting any joint sized to it — the plywood thickness chart shows why. The board foot calculator and cut list optimizer turn a cut list into stock to buy.
Furniture that is regulated or can tip
- Cribs and bunk beds are regulated products in the US, with federal safety standards and testing. BenchRoot does not offer plans for them or for other children's furniture.
- Chests of drawers, dressers and armoires that meet the CPSC's size and weight thresholds fall under its tip-over standard; tall pieces of any kind should be anchored to the wall.
- Seats carry people; BenchRoot's bench and stool plans are drawn and checked, not load-rated.
Safety— Anchor tall furniture
Bookcases, dressers and other tall pieces can tip when climbed on or when drawers are opened. Anchor them to the wall with fixings chosen from their makers' data, as the CPSC's Anchor It campaign urges. Shop rules are in woodworking safety rules.
Sizing tools and the furniture pages
- Learning furniture making — the order of work for a cabinet, from drawing to fitted doors and drawers.
- Advanced woodworking projects — what makes a project harder, and the next step up through BenchRoot's plans.
- Cabinet door size calculator — overlay and inset doors, one or a pair, from your hinge's overlay.
- Drawer size calculator — drawer boxes from your slides' clearances, and drawer spacing.
- Shelf span calculator — estimated sag of a shelf on two supports, not a safe load.
Before starting a piece of furniture
- A drawing with every part, and a cut list from it
- Solid parts arranged so they can move across the grain
- Real material thicknesses measured
- A plan for anchoring anything tall
- No crib, bunk bed or other regulated children's furniture
More project plans
Looking for a larger collection of woodworking project plans?
Ted’s Woodworking is a digital plan library sold by a third party. BenchRoot did not create it and has not reviewed every plan in it, so check what it includes before you buy.
Paid link — BenchRoot may earn a commission if you purchase through this link.
Sources
A guide to the process and kinds of furniture in BenchRoot's own words, with wood movement from the Wood Handbook and the regulated categories from the CPSC. BenchRoot's plans are its own designs, drawn and checked; none is presented as tested or load-rated. Cribs, bunk beds and other children's furniture are regulated and are not offered as plans.
- 1.
Chapter 4: Moisture Relations and Physical Properties of Wood. USDA Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory — Wood Handbook, FPL-GTR-282, 2021.
Used for: Wood changing dimension with moisture content, far more across the grain than along it — the reason a solid top or panel is fixed so that it can move.
- 2.
Clothing Storage Units (16 CFR part 1261) FAQ. U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.
Used for: Free-standing clothing storage units — dressers, chests of drawers, armoires — meeting the CPSC's size and weight thresholds falling under its tip-over standard.
- 3.
AnchorIt.gov. U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.
Used for: Anchoring furniture to the wall against tipping.
- 4.
Full-Size Baby Cribs Business Guidance (16 CFR part 1219). U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.
Used for: Full-size cribs as a regulated product with federal safety standards and testing.
- 5.
Bunk Beds Business Guidance (16 CFR parts 1213 and 1513). U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.
Used for: Bunk beds as a regulated product with federal safety requirements.
About this guide
Written by BenchRoot Editorial. How BenchRoot sources, checks and corrects its pages is set out in the Editorial Policy. If something here is wrong or unclear, the contact page explains how to tell us.