Confession: I was a big power tool phobia who never even used a drill, until about 6 months ago!
I have always wished to design and make furniture pieces that are uniquely meaningful and beautiful for our home. Finally my wish became irresistible, so I took a deep breath, jumped into a 16 week woodworking class at our local college which happened to have one of the best programs in the country, and made this cabinet which I designed from scratch.
I understand most of us don’t have all those fancy shop tools. I just want to share with you what the class was like, and the detailed plan here for those of you who would like to make it. It can totally be done with a few tools most people have, such as a table saw and a jig saw.
This is what I started with! A little background story – the college has an amazing Urban Forestry Program where they save those felled tree from going to landfill, and use them in our woodworking classes!
*Some resources in article are affiliate links. Full disclosure here.
So our cabinet is made of our local Torrey Pine: “the rarest pine species in the United States, an endangered species growing only in San Diego County and on one of the Channel Islands”-Wikipedia.
It has special meaning to us because Jeff and I love hiking at the Torrey Pine State Reserve! And the purple one is poplar, which I used on the sides.
The design is inspired by early American jelly cupboards and shaker cabinets. We wanted an open cabinet with shelves so we can see and appreciate those pretty bowls and potteries we love.
We also love the charming country style of those primitive furniture pieces.
First step is planning out all the piece, roughly cutting them into shorter length, and getting the wood all nicely smoothed and squared.
I learned to use a lot of machines in this step, which I will skip because most of us can get finished wood at Homedepot, etc! Each piece is cut, joinery added with a router, and dry-fitted to make sure they all fit.
It’s a good practice to use the plan as a guide but use actual measurements as you start building to make sure all pieces fit tightly.
The face frame is made slightly larger than needed. Put it on top of the dry fit cabinet, trace with a sharp pencil the sides, and sand the face frame on a belt sander to match the pencil line.
The grid pieces for the door glass was cut on the router table, but you can also get ready made trim / molding pieces for that! Mark the hinges on the flush inset door and face frame, and cut out the thickness of the plates with a chisel. Attach hinges to door and face frame with screws.
I decided to paint the hinges and door knob blue for a bit of color. Attach the door knob, drill a hole on the shelf where the screw of the knob is and glue a magnet inside to hold the door closed.
The back panel is the only place where small screws are used to allow wood movement – 1/8″ every 8″ across the face grain.
The entire piece was sanded with the slurry method : sand with 220 -400 grit sand paper and create a oil + fine saw
dust slurry mixture, which fill in the pores of the wood and create a marble like finish after doing it daily for 7 days. Honestly I did 3 coats and was happy with it already!
I learned a lot from this class. I met some great people, and went from a phobia to a lover of power tools! I also gained a much deeper appreciation for the fine craft of woodworking. There is so much to learn!
If you are thinking about taking a woodworking class, go for it! You will feel a door just opened to many new creative possibilities, and, no worries – you won’t be the only girl in the class! =)
xo
What a gorgeous DIY cabinet with great instructions! I love how you made it from scratch, such beautiful design too.
Wow! You did such a great job with this, it’s beautiful!
This is so cute! I love the colored accents. You did a really great job !
ananda this is truly amazing, go you for going to class and learning this. I have power tool phobia it’s pretty bad I mean I’m scared of hammering nails into walls, so probably way more extreme than yours was but I keep thinking I should get over it 🙂
thank you sarah! i can see you enjoy woodworking one day ! =)
Great job! This looks amazing and I bet it feels AWESOME having it in your home knowing you made it
THAT is so impressive! Beautiful work and inspiring!!!!!
wow!! i am so impressed! I can’t even imagine making that. I have issues putting my ikea furniture together. But that seems like a fun project to try one day!
Love it! It looks great on your wall. I would get too impatient with making it.
This new wall cabinet looks amazing! You did a wonderful job! I totally want to make one of these.
Those are absolutely gorgeous. And good for you for getting over your phobia!
What a great wall cabinet! Love it!
I have always wanted to learn more about woodworking because I love DIY. I never thought about taking a class at my college! I will so have to try this!
That’s so beautiful! I’m not sure I’m skilled enough to pull that off but maybe on day 😉
Oh my gosh this is beautiful!! I could never make it myself but maybe I could convince my husband to make me one… or two!
This is my dream to build something myself…. and hopefully it will look as pretty as the stuff you create. Great job. It turned out awesome!
dreams do come true michelle! xx
Wow I am amazed, firstly it’s scary for me as looks so technical but then again I want to try it out. It’s beautiful, you did a great job
try it! i was nervous too, not any more! =)
I LOVE this! I am bookmarking this because I am moving soon and would love to make this (well have my boyfriend make this) for our new place 🙂
yes put him to work! =)
I helped my fiancee build the bookshelf in my office. He is super handy and I was so nervous but so proud at the end.
that must have been so much fun!
Wow, that looks wonderful! I don’t think I’d ever be able to make it myself, I definitely don’t trust myself with power tools, haha! Maybe I should check out a class like this for myself!
thank you brooke! i was hesitant until the last minute – it was sooo fun, you’ll like it! =)
Wow! I am in awe! I have always wished I could do woodworking. Furniture is expensive and if you made it yourself you could customize it. This cabinet looks so great. I am so impressed.
thank you christen! yes when we make furniture we can make it gorgeous and still save a ton! =)
Wow, that is truly impressive! I am happy that you saw something you wanted and figured out a way to make it happen. I have been meaning to get some more DIY under my belt as well, but have just been putting it off because I am intimidated with the unknown. This post definitely shows that if we truly put our mind to doing something , it really can happen. Awesome job.
Thrifting Diva
wwwthriftingdiva.com
thank you ayana! love love what you said about embracing the unknown! xx
Very impressive. This looks like something that would be sold in the anthropologie catalog!
oh i love anthro!! thank you alexa! =)
Okay, that is just too cool! Beautiful – seriously! This would be perfect for above the toilet in the bathroom too!
great idea! thank you kendall! =)
This is fabulous! I’m so impressed that you made this from scratch. it’s so beautiful! I may have missed it, but where will this be featuring in your house?!
Katie <3
thank you katie! it’s in the guest room right now, but eventually will be in the kitchen! xo
I did a wood working class in High School, and I thought I would’ve enjyoed it but I actually ended up really hating it lol. 🙁 I wonder now that I’m older, and High School is a faint memory, if my mind has changed at all. Your cabinet turned out great. When I visited your site and glanced at the image you took before reading the title or the blog post, I honestly thought it was store-bought. So there’s that, right? Nice job on it! Go make a few more and sell them for big bucks on Etsy! 🙂 🙂
thank you nancy! i am still far from being a good woodworker! =)
Such a cool project! I don’t use power tools often but when I do, I feel like a total bada**.
haha i love how you put it katie! yes i feel the same way – total bada$$ haha!
This is so great. Thank you for the directions!
You did such a beautiful job on it, and how special is it that it has a meaning behind it for you and your family! <3
I love re-doing older pieces of furniture but have yet to make a piece of woodwork on my own and this looks like fun! You made it look easy though! 🙂
Gorgeous! You mKe it look so easy!
thank you! i learned how much time traditional woodworking takes! xo
It’s unique and looks so fabulous! Thank you for sharing the experience in your class!
thank you sophia! =)
Thanks for the tutorial!!! Yours looks ideal!!!
Have a good week!!!
Besoo
thank you and have a lovely week sofie! xo