For both professional and hobby woodworkers, designing and creating a completely new piece of furniture from scratch can be a fairly daunting task. The old adage ‘Fail to Plan, Plan to Fail’ is definitely applicable. While there are a small number of people that can just sketch out a quick design and then build it, for most of us a decent plan is required. 

Now, there are plenty of ways to obtain plans - Internet, Books, etc. But what do you do when you want/need to make something completely different to what is available? While drawing out a rudimentary furniture plan is not all that difficult, especially using a Computer and one of the multitude of CAD programs available, getting inspired and knowing what does and doesn’t work is where most of us come unstuck. This is what Jim Stack's book is all about and I would like to give you a brief tour.

Chapter One – Design Elements
Jim begins the book with a discussion of the different items you need to think about when designing a piece of furniture. To quote from Jim’s book “I define design elements as all the things that determine what a piece of furniture will look like and how it will function.” 

The author discusses past and present styles such as Arts & Crafts, Shaker, Queen Anne, Art Deco, Modern and others. The choice of materials (other than wood) and hardware are also covered.

Chapter Two – Creating a Drawing
In this chapter, Jim shows us the basic of drawing out a plan on paper. We are taken through the thought process and then the drawing of an initial rough plan for a small table. This initial plan contains various different methods of joining the table as well as options for materials. As Jim points our, the idea is to get all your thoughts down on paper and you can then sort through them until you have your final design. We are then shown the completed table and each of the special features is explained along with the ideas behind them.
 

Chapter Three – Creating a Materials List
Jim shows the reader how to go about estimating the amount and sizes of material required for a project. Following on from the previous chapter, the table plan is used as the example. From this material list, Jim describes how and why to generate a cutting list from a plan.

Chapter Four – Sizing from a Photograph
Have you ever been asked to make an item of furniture similar to one in a photograph? If you have, you will appreciate the difficulty in obtaining the correct measurements of the piece given, usually, such a tiny example. Jim shows us a few methods we can use to ensure that we get measurements that are useable and will result in a very close reproduction of the piece.

Chapter Five – Small Shop Considerations
As Jim points out, his book is not about designing workshops but the size of your workshop needs to be taken into consideration when you are looking at building an item of furniture. This is particularly important if the piece is, say, a dinning room table. As the Author mentions, over the years, several other woodworkers have said to him that they would like to build a large piece but do not have the room in their shop. Jim says that by doing some planning at the design stage, the limitations of your shop can be taken into account. This may mean that you will look at the cutting list and determine an order of cutting that will allow for any shop space limitations.

Chapter Six – Putting it all together
This chapter takes all we have learned in the previous chapters and brings them all together in building a new piece of furniture. We are shown a full color picture, with descriptions, of each of the steps required in building an Entertainment Unit (or Media Center as the Author calls it).

Chapter Seven – Beds, Dressers, Sideboards and Hutches
In this and the following chapters, the various type of furniture and their characteristics are explained. Beds, Dressers, Sideboards and Hutches are shown with the Author pointing out the areas that we need to look at when designing these items.

Chapter Eight – Freestanding and Built-in Bookcases and Media Centers
Continuing on from the previous chapter, Jim shows us quite a few different designs for Bookcases and Entertainment Units. Jim also includes two little sidebars called “bookcase facts” and “media center facts”, which gives us the particular measurements that we should use when designing and building. Items such as shelf depth, material thickness and spacing are shown with an explanation of the reasoning behind the measurements. The chapter contains an abundance of beautiful color photographs showing various different pieces.

Chapter Nine – Tables
As before, a large selection of photographs are used, giving the reader quite a bit of food for thought. The sidebar fact feature makes another appearance and gives us the important measurements and features for most types of tables.

Chapter Ten – Chairs, Stools and Rockers
Building a chair is something most woodworkers will shy away from due to their complexity particularly when it comes to creating a design that is both good looking, comfortable and, above all, very strong. However, Jim takes us on nice journey from designing and building a basic chair then a tall and short stool. From here, the Author goes in to the details of the steps he took in designing and building a dining style chair for a woodworking show. This is quite an elegant piece and incorporates quite a few design elements using a curved back and legs. Lastly, Jim explains the intricacies in making rocking chairs.

As before, quite a few pictures of various types of chairs ranging from antiques to garden are shown and the facts sidebar again makes a welcome appearance.

Chapter Eleven – Wall and Base Cabinets
Cabinets are all basically boxes that have doors, drawers and shelves. Jim shows us the things we need to think about so that this basic box can become a functional and beautiful piece of furniture. Easy methods of building cabinets are also explained in particular the 32mm European System and, once again, the facts sidebar is present.

Chapter Twelve – Desks
The last chapter is on Desks and shows quite a few samples ranging from antiques to modern designs. Jim explains some of the areas that we need to look at when designing a desk but mainly concentrates on describing special features of the various desks shown in the photographs.

Summary
The Author presents quite a well structured and written book that I found a very easy read. At 128 pages and lots of full color photographs of furniture, the book is not overly consumed with text, but does cover the subject very well. I particularly found the sidebar facts feature most helpful and was pleased to see it appear in most of the later chapters on the different furniture types.

If you are thinking about creating your own furniture but don’t know where to start, I think that Jim’s book will definitely help you along the way. And even if you have been designing for a while, I am sure you will find quite a few items that may help you move to the next level.

So, if you are looking at designing furniture, check this book out, it might be just what you are after.