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There is no single best way to come up with good ideas for woodworking projects. But there are a few places you can look to help you refine a basic concept. One of them is actual pieces of furniture, whether they’re in your home, a friend’s home, or a furniture store. Seeing living, breathing woodworking projects and home furnishings will give you an opportunity to scrutinize different designs and styles up close; to get an idea how the parts fit together; to analyze the small details, as well as the overall proportions; and to evaluate how well different pieces of furniture function.

Another good way to generate and refine your ideas is simply to discuss them with fellow woodworking enthusiasts. They’re usually not hard to find and are more than happy to chat about their favorite pastime with anyone who will listen (See tip box, next page).

The local library or your own collection of books and magazines can be excellent sources to help you put a face on the project you’ve been imagining. You may even encounter a completed set of project plans that meets your needs to a tee. Many woodworking project plans include drawings, cutting lists, shopping lists, how-to instructions and photographs. And if what you find is close, but not exactly what you need, most likely you can modify it to suit your needs. You can save a lot of design time by using an existing plan. Just make sure to work out in advance those aspects of the published plan that are new to you.

Evolution of a woodworking project

1Create the design. This step is not as simple as it sounds, but for many woodworkers it is perhaps the most gratifying, if not fun, stages of the process. In it, you’ll move f rom a raw idea to a hard plan.

2Build a prototype. Not everyone chooses to test their plan by building a scale model or a simple prototype, but it is the best way to catch errors and make improvements before you start. Prototyping often takes place before the hard plan is finished.

3Build the project. The more time you spend in the design phase, the more smoothly the actual construction of your project will go. You may still end up doing a little bit of “designing on the fly,” but the chances of a major catastrophe are greatly reduced if the plan is solid.

Antique stores, salvage yards and furniture stores are rich with possibilities for generating ideas. Explore them. Pay attention to shapes and proportions and even joinery techniques. If you see something you like, chances are you can come up with a way to make one for yourself.

Even watching television and movies can be a productive way to generate some good ideas. This may sound a little strange, but most professional woodworkers and designers are on constant lookout for new ideas. Television and movie stylists tend to put a lot of time and effort into choosing their props, and they pay attention to style and design trends.

In reality, the things that can influence you and help you generate ideas are everywhere—you just need to look closely and you will see them.

Creating a concept sketch. Once you have a rough idea of the project in mind, it’s time to get it down on paper. The initial drawings, called “concept sketches,” don’t need to be fancy or even drawn to scale. But getting them down on paper is the trigger to refining the design—it’s also a good idea to have a representation of the idea that you can hold onto, since none of our memories are what they used to be.

As you sketch and doodle, start thinking about some of the more concrete design issues: Is there a particular style you favor (See here to here)? Exactly how big do you want it to be? What should the proportions be (See here to here). In short, play around with ways the project might look until you find one you like.

Share ideas with other woodworkers

One of the best sources for project ideas is other woodworkers. As a group, woodworkers love to talk about woodworking. You probably already know a lot of other woodworkers, but if not, they’re easy to find. Look in the phone book to find local professional woodworkers. But don’t just pop in on the professionals. Be considerate, call and ask if they would be willing to spend a little time guiding you. Phrased that way you’re more likely to get advice.

You can also find woodworkers at a local woodworking club or guild. Woodworking guilds can be professional, amateur, or a combination of both. Most of the members are amateur woodworkers who joined to learn more about woodworking by attending our monthly educational meetings. You could also visit your local woodworking supply stores and see who you run into. Woodworkers are all over those places, and most of them are very eager to talk shop and give out a few of their opinions.

At a typical woodworker’s guild meeting, like this one in Minnesota, one of the members or a special guest will give a demonstration on a new or favorite technique.

Practical considerations. Once you’ve got a fairly detailed concept sketch in hand, and a pretty good idea of where you’re headed with the project, turn your attention to some of the more practical details.

One of the first “practical” decisions you’ll need to make, other than the approximate size and scale, is which wood species to use. In most cases, the furniture style you choose will dictate the best wood species to use. If your goal is to reproduce a style accurately, then not just any wood will do. For example; Mission-style pieces were almost all built using quartersawn white oak. Not only would it be a shame to build a Mission-style piece using, say, knotty pine, it probably wouldn’t look right. In the same respect, building a country-styled piece using teak would be a questionable choice. It isn’t unheard of for professional designers to throw an odd species or two into a more traditional plan for effect, but more likely than not you’ll be disappointed with the outcome if you try it.

As much as (if not more than) style, function and budget will bear on your wood species selection. Outdoor furniture, for example, must be made using rot-resistant lumber or it won’t hold up to the weather. Unless you’re willing to shell out the money for teak or mahogany, that leaves white oak, redwood, cedar and cypress as the main options (excluding pressure-treated pine, which is perfectly suitable for projects that are not “fine woodworking”). By the same token, making a woodworking bench using a softwood would not be advisable. It wouldn’t be long before the benchtop would wear out and the joints would fall apart from the stresses they’d receive. When building any kind of load bearing piece, you need to consider the strength of the wood you choose. Softwoods crush easily, and under repeated stress, the joints will weaken and fail quickly.

Browse published woodworking plans in your search for project ideas. You may even stumble across a design and plan that will work for you, saving you a lot of time and energy. Since most published plans already are shop-tested, you can be fairly confident that they’re accurate (but it’s still a good idea to double-check as you read the plan).

As for the budget issue, you should certainly factor it in. If making your spice rack out of zebrawood means your material costs would be $100 instead of $20 for maple, ask yourself if the benefit is worth the extra cost. But be sure to consider the impact, if any, the species choice will have on the longevity of the product. If the zebrawood spice rack will last 50 years and the maple only three, which one is the better bargain? The old tool-buyer’s saw “Buy the best tool you can afford” can easily be applied to wood selection.

Another factor that should influence your wood species choices is the desire to match the piece you plan to build with the wood found in other furniture pieces and trim that will be in the same room. Before purchasing all your stock, get a sample of the lumber so you can see what it looks like with finish applied. Compare the sample to wood you’re trying to match.

Make concept drawings. They don’t need to be as pretty as the concept sketches shown above, but making a few drawings that capture the gist of the project will get the project-design ball rolling.

American Farm

Typical features: Elaborate “pressed” backrest with relief design, heavily beaded turned legs and spindles, caned seats.

Country

Typical features: Overall rustic appearance (although often achieved with complex construction methods).

Queen Anne

Typical features: Cabriole legs, upholstered seat, curved back legs with decorative center slat, spindle-turned spreaders.