Today we have the second place winner of the My Secret to Saving contest. Jennifer Duenes of Ditching Our Debt is sharing her creative way to save money which definitely has me inspired!
Several years ago, the idea of building my own furniture had never crossed my mind. On a tight budget for most of our marriage, our own home was furnished with providential finds like a free table and chair set left out on the curb or a sofa generously purchased for us by some friends.
Then I stumbled upon several blogger references to free woodworking plans available on a site called AnaWhite.com. Ana White, a mother and wife who lives up in Alaska, had figured out a way to simplify furniture construction and offered free plans as well as video tutorials to build beds, tables, bookcases, desks, coffee tables, and more. Many of them looked very similar to designs found in popular home stores like Pottery Barn.
I knew that I wasn’t ready to build something as intimidating as a table. While we were blessed to have a home where there was space to build, I had very few tools and money to purchase them. What I did instead was to start with small projects and use birthday or Christmas money to slowly build the basic tool collection I needed. After acquiring the basic tools to get started, I aimed for a very simple project: a play kitchen for my son.
There were quite a few imperfections in that first build. I hadn’t realized that wood can be warped, or that you need to adjust for the width of the saw blade when measuring cuts. But somehow, I managed to cobble together a kitchen with a little sink and faucet as well as an oven.
My next project was a picture ledge shelf for about $10, and then a wall-hung cabinet that I made to store craft supplies using an old picture frame I had found in our home. Again, there were a few flaws, but I felt more confident in gauging what I needed to do.
After that came a new mudroom!
. . . and then a rustic X-console to go behind our sofa for about $50 in supplies . . .
And that table that was so intimidating to me a few years ago? Well, it’s just a few steps away from being finished. The wood for the project cost just around $80 and we will be building a matching bench soon. A table very similar to the one I am building retails for $800-$1000 and that’s without shipping or sales tax!
Learning how to build furniture has become one of my favorite ways to save money, and it’s something that anyone can do thanks to the Internet and a simple investment in some basic tools. But the benefits go far beyond cutting costs. Not only have I build furniture, but I’ve also built confidence and learned to overcome fears and insecurities, and that is worth more than the savings itself. I also love the fact that I can customize the design and finishes of the furniture that I want to build.
If you’d like to learn more about the possibilities for building furniture, here are a couple of great sites that I love. They will get you started in figuring out what tools you need and which projects you could start with:
Jennifer Duenes writes at Ditching Our Debt, a blog about her family’s efforts to slowly tackle $90,500 in loans. She also homeschools her 4 kids and loves cooking, woodworking, sewing, and gardening.
All kinds of furniture can be made out of wood crates. The most popular are kitchen shelves, bookcases, stools and even beds. People tend to choose those vintage wine crates, although they are not that easy to get. After getting crates, either they’re old or new, it is up to you what style you turn them into because besides the fact, they are really decorative, they are functional too.
Great article! I think choosing the right tool is important too (ex: miter saw, drill, ect)
Awesome ideas you shared in this post. With that also when it comes to design and style of decoration, wood décor is the best thing that you can choose. You can make your personalize design and style. You need to know that these days the lifestyle of most people are changing easily and for you to be wise it is best to choose product that you can make necessary adjustment in an easy way. Wood décor can last even for a lifetime and even though people change their lifestyle this kind of product can still fit into it.Thankyou for this post.
I agree! Glad to hear another fellow builder chime in who has also attempted a 9 foot table! 🙂 I have not attempted herringbone patterns yet, though. I’m impressed that you made a barn door!
Yes!! Mastering a couple power tools will teach you so much self-confidence. When we bought our new home we needed a significantly larger dining room. The tables in the size I wanted were $1200-1500. Um, no thank you! I went to Pinterest, found a simple table and made it myself. Now we have a gorgeous 9 foot farmhouse table, and a matching bench. I also made a coffee table with the extra lumber. Then this year, I mastered my own herringbone barn door for our laundry room tweaking plans I found on Shanty 2 Chic. My brain is filled with all of the possibilities. This is such a great way to save money, and give some character to your home.
SO impressed by this! I have exactly no skills when it comes to things like this but I love all of these pics. You should sell them! Most of our furniture is free or second hand. But i love the idea of building it myself! Especially since we also have six figures of debt 😉
Thanks, Amber! I am still working on getting faster at building things so that it would make sense to sell pieces, but would love to consider it someday. Getting started is pretty easy – the websites I linked to have lots of beginner projects and videos so you can see how it’s done. You should try it!
I absolutely love everything that you made because they look so pretty! You have great skills at making furniture and I’m sure everything else too.
We unusually just get free furniture from friends or pick up furniture from the curbside. But I see the appeal and great use of making something by ourselves 🙂
Thanks! We have our share of free furniture in our home too, but when we have time, it has been fun to build pieces. And it does get easier/faster as you go along and gain experience. 🙂
Wow! I am adequately impressed!
Nice job! I love Ana’s site, too, but I just LOOK!