Furniture Design Ideas

This section features two time-test­ed methods for permanently joining legs to the rails of a piece of furniture: the mortise-and-tenon joint and the dowel joint. Two more contemporary ways are also featured; both involve using knock-down leg hardware—suitable for furniture that must be taken apart and reassembled periodically. To some extent, the type of leg […]

straight. The most common element of cabriole legs is the S-shaped curve, which is meant to suggest the grace and ele­gance of a horse’s leg. The design shown below will yield an attractive, well-proportioned leg strong and stable enough to support a piece of furniture. You can alter the pattern to suit your own project […]

Like their counterparts in human anatomy, legs in cabinetmak­ing serve mainly as supports. But furniture legs play an equally important esthetic role, comple­menting and setting off for display anything from a carcase to a chair. Whatever the style of legs, the chal­lenges of making them are several: shape and proportion must be per­fectly in balance […]

Slide the arms onto the mount­ing plates and screw in place (right). Close the door and check its posi­tion on the case. You can adjust the height, depth or lateral position of the door by loosening or tighten­ing the adjustment screws on the hinge arms. ATTACHING BUTT HINGES 1 Routing mortises for the hinges i&PtiLx

As ornamental as the frame-and – panel door, the veneered-panel door is much simpler to make. First of all, it does not require mortise-and-tenon joints. In fact, the frame adds no strength to the door at all; the four sides are sim­ply mitered at each end. The assembly is held together by biscuit joints that […]

panels, each holding its own pane. In addition to its aesthetic appeal, this design makes the glass less prone to breaking and also cheaper to replace. Glass is available in various thick­nesses and types. For door-making pur­poses, the most commonly used variety is sheet or window glass, available in thicknesses up to lA inch. CONSTRUCTING […]

Solid-panel doors offer the same com­bination of strength and charm as their frame-and-panel counterparts. This section features two styles: tongue-and – groove and board-and-batten doors. Sizing stock for a board-and-batten door is a matter of making the length of the boards equal to the door height; their combined width should equal the door width. Dimensioning […]

A frame-and-panel door may be built the same way as one side of a ffame – and-panel cabinet (page 48). Although the door illustrated below features stan­dard mortise-and-tenons, you can also use haunched mortise-and-tenons or cope-and-stick joints. The floating pan­el in the center of the door can be raised, as shown, divided into a pattern […]

As a fine piece of furniture nears completion, the last major task before finishing the wood is often constructing and mounting the doors. A project within a pro­ject, assembling a door demands the same care as building the piece it accompanies. Nothing is more frustrating than seeing a carefully crafted cabinet offset by a door […]