The Benefits of Making Furniture Yourself

Furnishing an apartment is not a cheap matter. And although the furniture market is quite wide today, it can be difficult to choose the necessary elements that match an existing design or a set that meets all the requirements.

And here a wide field of activity opens up for home craftsmen. At the same time, as practice shows, it is not necessary to have great skills as a cabinetmaker or carpenter.

You can make interesting items yourself without much material expense and difficulty: just pay attention to the simple things that surround us and see the possibilities of transforming them or using them to create new furniture elements.

No one will claim that it is possible to make a high-quality furniture set of sufficient complexity at home, even without experience in such work. But it is quite possible to make simple, convenient and inexpensive furniture that will be convenient and beautiful.

Creating it yourself has a number of advantages that any home craftsman will definitely take advantage of:

• significant savings in budget funds;
• independent selection of the most suitable material at an affordable price;
• the possibility of using items available in the household that can be used to make new furniture elements;
• color scheme in the required design solution.

How cabinet furniture is constructed: furniture materials and components

Our apartments are furnished with items that reflect various style preferences and financial possibilities, but the most acceptable option for furnishing residential and office premises has become the use of cabinet furniture:

• it is relatively inexpensive;
• has high functionality;
• looks aesthetically pleasing;
• is compact and has good capacity;
• It is easy to install and maintain.

The basis of cabinet furniture are boxes (boxes) of different sizes and configurations with or without doors, depending on the purpose, so home craftsmen most often make exactly these furniture elements themselves.

However, this is not a simple matter and requires serious preparation of the necessary materials and components. The initial elements for its manufacture will be shelves that will be connected with fasteners.

To make cabinet furniture at home you will need:

• slabs of various sizes for shelves and drawers;
• fasteners;
• glue;
• other materials.

The components for creating cabinet furniture are:

• lifting mechanisms;
• loops;
• extension and guide structures;
• separation systems;
• special products and fittings.

Lifting mechanisms are available in several types.

Main material: laminated chipboard

Laminate (LDSP) is considered the most accessible and inexpensive. It is widely used in the manufacture of furniture, and due to its low cost, it has almost completely replaced wood. It is also used for decorating structures.

The production of laminated chipboard is based on the use of wood processing waste, which is converted into boards using hot pressing. The components of the products are bound with urea-formaldehyde resins.

The material is used for the production of various types of furniture and individual parts, in particular, tabletops, taking into account the properties it has:

• it can withstand high temperatures;
• Some of its types are moisture resistant;
• available in a wide range of colors and shades;
• easy to process;
• withstands heavy loads;
• sold at an affordable price.

However, laminated chipboard is not an ideal material and has its drawbacks. It is not suitable for creating shaped parts and reacts negatively to high humidity: when water gets in, the non-moisture-resistant type swells and deforms.

In addition, it requires careful handling when sawing, otherwise, the varnish coating is damaged. A certain skill is also necessary when drilling a laminated surface.

Other materials

In addition to laminated chipboard, other materials are also used to make furniture with your own hands. These can be:

• other types of wood boards – fiberboard, MDF, veneer;

  

  

• various types of wood;

  

  

• willow twigs and reeds;

  

• leather.

  

Wood fiber products are produced in the form of pressed sheets. Fiberboard is suitable for the production of:

• back walls of cabinets and cupboards;
• sofa shelves;
• drawers;
• various partitions.

Fiberboard is elastic, so it can be used to make bent-glued elements.

MDF is also manufactured in boards. They are produced using a dry method, which is more modern and efficient.

Veneer is made from solid wood; it is produced by peeling or planing. It is used for covering various surfaces or in the production of plywood.

What tools will you definitely need?

Depending on the type of model you choose to make yourself, as well as the material, you may need a different set of tools. However, there is a list that you cannot do without, no matter what type of furniture the home craftsman undertakes. It includes:

• screwdriver;
• jigsaw;
• roulette;
• drill, screwdriver;
• a set of the necessary fasteners.

Learning to make furniture

Any home craftsman can learn to make various pieces of furniture on his own. However, you should not expect that this work will be easy and that everything will work out the first time. Failures are possible, but to avoid this, you need to know how to make furniture with your own hands. And you need to start with the simplest: benches, small tables, you can make a cabinet, the design of which is quite simple.

The process begins with a sketch and drawing, which must be done taking into account the location where the homemade furniture will be located, and the parameters of the room and the product itself.

Then you need to decide on the material from which the furniture will be made. Experts say that it is better to take laminated chipboard for these purposes - the cheapest and most accessible.

The next step is to prepare the tools that will be needed to complete the work.

Once the preparation is complete, you can proceed directly to production:

• prepare the parts according to the specified dimensions (cut);
• assemble the elements, connecting them with fasteners;
• check the assembled structure for strength;
• install in the chosen location.

If you wish, you can decorate the finished product in accordance with your aesthetic preferences.

Recommendations for furniture made of chipboard

Despite the fact that chipboard is an accessible and cheap material, this does not mean that it does not have its own characteristics that must be taken into account when using it. If they are ignored, then mistakes and failures cannot be avoided.

The main difficulty in working with chipboard is cutting the sheets. This is usually done on special machines, which home craftsmen most often do not have access to. It will be a great success if you can agree with a company that has such equipment so that the material can be cut to the required dimensions.

But at home, this work will most likely be done with a jigsaw, which will inevitably lead to chips and wavy irregularities. The resulting "open wound" is exposed to moisture. And if it is not eliminated in a timely manner, the material will absorb moisture and very soon begin to swell and lose its shape.

To avoid these troubles, you need to use a special edge that will cover the cut area. Today, you can find several types of it on the market:

• melamine edge;

  

• PVC edge;

  

• ABS edging;

  

• mortise T-profile;

  

• overhead U-profile.

  

The cheapest is melamine edgebanding. It can be easily glued with an iron. However, it is not of high quality.

ABS edging is very similar to the previous one and has the same technical characteristics, but is made of the best materials that do not contain any hazardous or toxic components.

The use of a T-shaped mortise profile, which is inserted into a groove made with a milling cutter, is a rather rare occurrence.

The overhead U-profile is convenient for home craftsmen. It is easy to stick on with liquid nails. The only downside is that the edges will protrude by several millimeters, so dirt gets stuck under it, which means you need to keep the edges clean and clean them in a timely manner. But such a profile can hide a poor-quality cut.

Features of assembly from natural wood

Wooden furniture is durable, reliable, long-lasting and environmentally friendly. If you choose it, remember that when assembling, you need to take into account the features of the material:

• assembly must be carried out strictly according to the drawings;
• for self-production, it is better to choose such species as pine, birch, spruce, linden: their wood is softer and easier to process and assemble, but it is important to take into account that coniferous species must be well dried to stop the release of resin;
• Before installation, the structural parts must be treated with compounds that prevent rotting.

Features of braided options

Furniture can be made not only from wood or wood-chip materials. Durable and beautiful products made by weaving have long been known, for which the following are used:

• branches of willow, pussy willow, willow and other plants;
• roots of coniferous trees;
• birch bark (birch bark), used for weaving decorative elements;
• rattan - shoots of the rattan palm;
• bamboo;
• bast - linden bark
• and any climbing plants with a sufficiently dense and flexible base.

Weaving can be used for furniture:

• made entirely from plant materials using various types of weaving methods;
• wooden, for making decorative braiding;
• combined, where various materials and furniture elements made from them are used.

Weaving is used to make various items: from chairs and stools to wardrobes and chests of drawers.

Frameless furniture with your own hands

Recently, frameless products have become especially popular. They are very convenient and can provide comfort and coziness. At the same time, they are easy to make with your own hands, even if you have no skills in the work.

It consists of two bags that are easy to sew by stitching the fabric of the required size on a machine. Filler is poured into one of them; usually it is polystyrene foam in round granules, which easily restores its shape after exposure to stress. The second bag is used as a cover. It is made of various dense fabrics of different colors, natural or artificial leather, or a combination of different materials. To make it easier to tuck in the bag with filler, a strong zipper is sewn into the side of the cover.

It is very convenient in children's rooms, as it has no sharp or hard surfaces, and also easily restores its shape. It is used for various holidays, parties, if there are clearly not enough chairs.

How to make furniture from laminated chipboard with your own hands

Home craftsmen who have even minimal experience in furniture manufacturing claim that making furniture from laminated chipboard is not that difficult.

The simplest option in this case is to order the material cut into the necessary elements from the company according to the drawing, then purchase the finishing edge in the store, then connect the parts in a convenient way (using fasteners or special glue) and glue it.

If professionals can't cut the blanks, you'll have to do it yourself.

How to Avoid Mistakes in Furniture Manufacturing

The main problems when making furniture with your own hands arise in the following cases:

• the dimensions of the parts are determined incorrectly;
• the material was chosen incorrectly;
• The dimensions and set of fasteners do not correspond to the parameters of the furniture.

To avoid unpleasant surprises, it is important to take these features into account.

The final stage is decoration

When the furniture “masterpieces” made with your own hands are completely ready, the final touch remains – decoration. And here – full scope for imagination! Depending on the material from which the furniture is made, it can be decorated:

• painting with acrylic paints;
• mosaic panels;
• with transfer pictures, covered with varnish;
• carry out artificial "aging" using the craquelure method;
• use the possibilities of decoupage

and other ways to decorate products.

Video: DIY Furniture

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