How to build an excellent piece of furniture out of wood
How I did it: I started with leftover wood so I couldn't complain about wasting new materials. I sketched out the plans until I liked the proportions and the angles. The project was to build a bookshelf, and I've built fully functional bookshelves in the past that weren't much to look at. This one was intended to be remarkable so I spent a fair amount of time planning.
Lessons & tips: Learn how to use your tools, for safety's sake if nothing else. I only needed a circular saw, a cutting gauge and a couple saw horses. It wouldn't hurt to read a bit about joinery too, like what kinds of joints are the strongest and how to improve the strength of weak joints.
Resources: I looked on the internet for inspiration but ultimately I didn't find anything exactly like what I wanted so I just sweated it out with a little graph paper.
