Illusion Cabinet

Stylish legs and a dapper door dress up a simple case piece – and help to deceive the eye. This design is inspired by a taper, but I needed to establish the right proportions to flesh the idea [...]

Thomas Day, Master Cabinetmaker

This antebellum free black man was the most successful cabinetmaker in North Carolina. My introduction to Thomas Day came in 1998 on a shopping trip to High Point, N.C., for a bed. I stumbled [...]

Sliding Door Stereo Cabinet

A modern approach to joinery yields perfect miters. Project #2009 • Skill Level: Intermediate • Time: 3 days • Cost: $250 I have a definite affinity for Mid-Century furniture. There’s just [...]

Chimney Cupboard

This classic furniture piece offers lots of storage in a small footprint – and it’s a simple hand-tool build I need some additional storage space in my 7′ x 13′ shop, however, space [...]

Monticello Lap Desk

In 1776, Thomas Jefferson commissioned Benjamin Randolph, a Philadelphia cabinetmaker, to build a compact lap desk to serve as a portable office. This small mahogany box, now prominently [...]

White Water Shaker Table

The first time I encountered this table in the White Water Shaker collection, it was locked in a storeroom with more than a dozen other pieces. To my eye, there was something unusual about it. [...]

Contemporary Shelves

  Construction lumber dressed up for display. For sturdy, attractive and affordable material to build these shelves, bypass the fancy stuff at the front of your local home center and head [...]

A Tapered-leg Table

Small tables are useful just about anywhere in the home. They can be easy to build, but a good design is important. To make the design more interesting, tapered legs (often part of Shaker, [...]

Portuguese Folding Table

  A clever design yields portable functionality. My father-in-law gave me a table just like this one on our last trip to Portugal. He picked it up in Serra de Monchique, a small mountain [...]

Serpentine Chest

Expand your casework repertoire with a curvaceous front. One of the most interesting aspects of a serpentine chest, with its front concave at the ends and convex in the center, is how the wood [...]

Uncle Bob’s Table

My Uncle Bob was a butcher—not the woodworking kind people joke about, but the real thing. In his off hours, he used to switch blades and put his meat-cutting bandsaw to work as a woodworking [...]

Line & Berry Chest of Drawers

Though not traditional, router patterns make quick work of the inlay. In southeastern Pennsylvania, just northwest of Philadelphia, is Chester County. It was one of the original three counties [...]