8 Easy Woodworking Projects for Beginners

These easy woodworking projects are easy and can be completed by a beginner with very little woodworking experience. All of our DIY tutorials provide clear and detailed instructions.

How We Got Started with DIY

Before getting into diy projects we lived in a one bedroom apartment for a couple of years before buying out first home. At the time we loved watching HGTV and we had so many ideas, but had a tiny budget.

After purchasing our first home, we realized that a few thousand dollars doesn’t go very far when you have to pay a contractor.

So, we looked around and found projects that we could tackle ourselves and save money.

We started small with things like paint and laminate flooring than worked our way up to bigger projects.

My husband was prior military and had experience working on fighter jets, so he had an understanding of tools.

He enjoyed working on projects, so I took advantage of that and pushed him to do more projects than he probably planned on.

In the end he is thankful that I pushed him because he realized what he is capable of! So, I am not just a nagging wife, I am a supportive wife LOL.

Why You Should Try These Easy Woodworking Projects

The most intimidating thing about woodworking is learning how to use power tools.

Once have you feel comfortable with power tools and have a good understanding of lumber sizing than you are good to go!

If you are new to woodworking then you will find woodworking plans helpful to guide your through the project. Plans take the guess work out of the project and can make a project feel less overwhelming.

How to Get Comfortable with Power Tools

To get comfortable with power tools, I read the manual and watched some videos to get an idea of what to avoid. It also, helped that I could ask my husband questions and have him demonstrate how to use the tools.

The most important thing to learn is how to prevent injury. Always read the instructions included with your power tools, and be sure to keep yourself safe with personal protective equipment.

Even if you feel like you are a pro with tools, you should never rush around with power tools. Take your time to prevent injury and to be more accurate with your project.

Every time I have rushed to finish any project it looks sloppy. I end up redoing it anyway, so remember to slow down because you really aren’t saving any time!

What Tools Do I Need to Start Woodworking Projects?

Do not your rush to the home improvement store and buy thousands of dollars in power tools. If you have the budget to do that then go for it, but you don’t have to spend a ton of money.

When we first started we had a good quality drill and basic items like hammer, screw drivers etc. One of our first big projects was installing laminate flooring. Instead of buying a saw for this project, we borrowed a jigsaw from a friend.

If you don’t have a friend or family member that you can borrow tools from, you can rent tools from most home improvement stores.

Not only do you save money by borrowing or renting tools, you learn what tools you like and don’t like.

My husband realized that he didn’t love the jigsaw that we borrowed, but it got the job done. After using this tool he found that he preferred another brand with different features.

Asides from saving money, you will get a better idea of what tools are worth owning and what tools aren’t.

If you don’t see yourself using a certain tool all the time then don’t waste your money and buy it. Not only is it a waste of money to buy things you won’t use that often, but after a while it becomes hard to store all these items.

We only have a one car garage, so we are overwhelmed with tools now that we have taken on quite a few projects.

Understanding Lumber Sizing

Asides from learning about power tools, you should read about the sizing of lumber. A 2×4 is not really a 2×4, so when you take on your next project you should be aware of the nominal size vs the actual size.

We simplified the lumber sizing with this guide.

After you complete a few easy woodworking projects, the lumber size will come easy to you because you have it memorized.

You can also take a tape measure to the store or borrow one from the shelf at the store to measure lumber, if you aren’t sure.

Easy Woodworking Projects

Here are some of our most popular easy woodworking projects. Some of these projects were completed using scrap wood, so these can] be made for free.

Remember to always save extra piece of wood because you never know what you can turn it into!

DIY Coffee Table

This coffee table design can be customized to fit your space and personal style. We made this coffee table with scrap 4×4 legs because we had extra wood from our kitchen table.

So, if you prefer a different design these legs can easily be swapped out for something else.

Kitchen Table

Another easy one of my favorite woodworking projects is building a kitchen table. Building a kitchen table can feel intimidating, but the design is straight forward without intricate cuts.

Instead of buying a new kitchen table we made this farmhouse kitchen table to fit perfectly into this small dining area.

Floating Picture Shelves

These picture shelves are another easy woodworking project idea to make and cost under $20 to make a set.

This is a prefect project if you want to get used to power tools before taking on a larger woodworking project.

Farmhouse Console Table

Our friends surprised us with this farmhouse console table that they made when we moved into our first home. We think this is where the beginning of our love for diy projects started.

If our friends could build this console table, then we figured we could take on other easy woodworking projects too!

Scrap Wood Desk

We made this desk from scrap 2x4s and plywood that was taking up space in our garage. I needed a small desk to place a laptop on, so we built this small desk to fit in a corner of our bedroom.

This diy desk comes with woodworking plans to make your project even easier!

DIY Night Stand

Here is another easy woodworking project idea to use up scrap plywood in your garage. The hair pin legs can be found online or at Lowe’s then simply attached to the nightstand.

You can even take this a step further and buy plywood banding that is ironed directly over the edges of the plywood to clean up the look.

The banding is stainable and paintable, so you can match the look of your nightstand design! For more instructions and easy woodworking projects, take a look at Manmadediy.com.

Standard Heights for Woodworking

If you are getting ready to start building your own furniture, you should know the standard heights of furniture.

Everything you need to know when it comes to standard bar height, counter height, coffee table height, and more!

DIY Home Bar Plans

This is home bar is the biggest woodworking project that we ever took on. My husband wanted to build this home bar when I was 6 months pregnant with our first son.

At the time I rolled my eyes and thought what about the nursery?! Then I thought when else will he be able to build this project because once the baby is here there won’t be much free time.

My husband built this bar without any instructions and minimal woodworking skills. He started off taping out the ground to see how large the bar should be.

Then he built a frame of the bar and figured out the rest as went. He may have made 792 trips to Home Depot, but he got it done before the baby arrived.

We joke that our first son could sleep to the sound of power tools because I helped my husband build this while I was pregnant.

I remember sitting in front of this bar in a folding chair while holding pieces of trim, while my husband drilled the wood in place.

After we completed this bar, we shared it with our readers and they loved it. We received so much positive feedback, that we decided to create bar plans for this exact bar.

Bar Woodworking Plans

If you need more basement bar ideas to get started with your bar then check out our customer’s bars. All of these bars were built using our DIY bar plans.

What Are You Afraid of?!

I was afraid of power tools and made my husband do all of the cuts and drilling. My husband started to get tired of me asking him to do all these projects, so I had to learn how to do things myself.

I stopped and thought what was I even afraid of? After thinking about it, I realized I was afraid of hurting myself with the power tools or cracking wood while drilling.

I was afraid because I never gave myself the chance to learn how the tools worked, so I just avoided them because my husband would cut things for me.