Bedroom furniture

So i am embarking on designing and building my own bedroom furniture for 2 roos within my house

A few points.

I have decided to start off with bed side tables
the designs for these will carry through to the other pieces
these will be made out of wood
i have done some concept sketching (ill show later)
I am trying to keep the design to something i can execute with my own skills

The attached image show the mock up foam models that i am using to try and get my sizing right. (note the foam is 1" thick and i will be using 3/4" thick wood for the final)

The size feels a little "heavy " the smaller one feels to small to me, while the bigger one feels to big to me.

Thoughts and opinions are desired.



I never thought of using blue foam for furniture mock ups, great use. I’d err a bit on the larger size. You always need a little more room on those things in my experience. Also, a little web research on some furniture sites might get you a better sense of the average measurements.

Both your points are correct. Small one looks like a glorified shelf for your phone, I almost want to see a night stand under it. The big one looks a bit chunky. But what I’ve learned is that sizes are deceiving. Go to a local furniture store and see the different sizes to get a starting point. If not, make multiple mock ups and play with them, maybe simple cardboard boxes just to test out volume.

it was either that or cardboard… one of the designs may end up with 3" radi on the top corners so i was thinking of material that i could easily and cost effectively explore the sizes.

FH13 - thanks for the visual opinion, before making more mock ups im thinking ill use the shots as underlays and “shave” and “add” material via sketch.

Why are you attaching it to the wall? You will be limited by the placement of the studs.

The look of a 1-inch thick board is quite different from a 3/4-inch board. You wouldn’t think so, but just be mindful.

Will you be doing anything with the headboard? That will move you away from the wall and you will need to adjust the size of your table tops.

Not to be condescending, but have you worked with wood? It looks like both of your designs will have a drawer or two. I highly recommend using a dovetail joint for the construction of any drawer. A dovetail is not the place to start for a beginner. No worries if you know what you are doing.

Finally, as to the look & feel, hard to say anything without knowing the design of the entire room. How it will work as a whole concept. While I am not a fan of matchy-matchy, overly eclectic seldom works too. What type of wood are you planning? Grain pattern has an impact on the overall form. Quarter-sawn oak works great for the low-slung prairie style, but gets tiresome for large surface areas. Then of course is color choice and mixing different species to get color and grain changes. Granted you can stain, but if I want a different color wood, I use a different wood. Typically I use a simple tung oil finish with some paste wax. Let the wood come not, not “artificial” coloring.

  1. Im attaching to the wall as i enjoy the feel of having it “float” i will also be adding hardwood floors
  2. the variance of material i am mocking up in comparison to what i will use is a concern - i will sketch up the proper thickness and perhaps rebuild the proto’s using the proper thickness
  3. I will be doing a head board and will look to see how that effects the depth of the end tables.
  4. I would rather have someone explain a basic thing to me and risk being condescending then assume i know it and i make a mistake - i have done dovetails and was looking to do that for the drawers. i am thinking for the main exterior pieces i would use a mitered cut with a spline cut for additional strength
  5. For final finish i am still debating - to start (and since it has been a awhile since i have done wood working) i am going to build the next round out of MDF - that way it can be functional and i can live with the design for a bit bore taking it further. In the end i am currently thinking either a veneer or potentially with one room it will be a white laminate on the top and sides with a cherry trim wood and flooring- think eames chair - i am also a fan of tung oil and picking the right material with the right natural coloring vs altering it with a colored stain.

iab, i greatly appreciate all the points and notes.
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If you want to create the radius look on a foam core mock up you can make multiple V cuts or straight cuts and then remove alternating segments in order to get that round feel. Use multiple fresh exacto blades and a straight edge and you are set. This is how they make volume studies of aircraft interiors.

This kind of technique is sometimes called a comb cut. We actually make production curves in speakers that way, albeit with a cNC, but same principle. I had this great book in college about modeling its sheets of foam core. The amount of modeling that these guys could do with sheets of foam core was amazing.

I’d call that a kerf cut. You can see it here in some aluminum extrusion for a logo project on our shop at the moment. The kerf (width) of the saw blade cuts most of the way through the extrusion in order to make a relief area for the rigid extrusion to bend around a curve. In many applications there’s quite a bit of math involved to make it curve just right, while maintaining the structural integrity of the shape.

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Great idea mocking the units up in foam first and its nice to see people making their own furniture to suit rather than buying something that’s near to what they want.

As for the choice between the two, I would definitely go for the larger unit (its almost the same as one that I worked on a few months ago but the drawer is in the bottom of the unit so the shelf is easier to reach from the bed).

One thing that throws the unit off, IMHO, is the fact that it is mounted to the wall.
There are lots of websites that you can buy furniture feet that just screw in to a unit like this. Alternatively they are easy to make, depending on the design you decide upon, but this is just personal preference.

I look forward to following the project as you progress :slight_smile: