What’s more masculine than creating the furniture for your man cave yourself? It saves money, is very fulfilling and you’ve got a place to put the end result of your projects. What do you need to start creating your own furniture, where can you do it and what is a good place to start?
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Why DIY your own furniture?
Why would you build your own furniture? There can be several reasons for that. Many men like to build things with their own hands. It’s a great way to spend your free time, you get tangible results and something to be proud of. If you enjoy DIYing it’s also just plain fun.
Making your own man cave furniture, also solves three problems many men come across.
- A low budget for your man cave.
- While DIYing isn’t completely free, once you’ve got everything set up, it can certainly save some money. This is money you can spend on other things for your man cave. Saving a couple of hundred bucks is money you can spend on a kegerator or pool table.
- No space to put your finished DIY projects.
- The other problem is that, if you just start out making your own furniture, it might not be the most beautiful. Everyone needs some practice to get good at something. Your first projects need a home too though. A man cave is a place where things that are a little rough can find a home. As long as it’s functional it only adds to the character of your man cave.
- Not finding the furniture you like
- If you’ve got a certain look in mind for your man cave, it can be difficult to find exactly what you want. DIYing your man cave furniture can solve that problem. You can create what you want. The wood, color, style, etc. are all up to you.
What do you need?
All beginnings are difficult. You can’t expect to be a master carpenter from the start. With the right tools and help in place, it’s certainly not impossible though. A lot of DIYing is just starting something and getting some practice. You’ll learn from your mistakes and improve quickly.
The right equipment and preparations makes things a whole lot easier though. Here are some things that you need, and make your life easier.
1. Workspace
Having a place where you can work on your man cave furniture is very important to being successful. You want a space where you can work in peace and store your project while it’s in progress.
You can choose to turn your man cave into a workspace (CLICK) or you can create a workspace in a separate room. Choosing a space where you can spend some time in peace, make noise, make a mess is important. For many people the garage or basement are obvious choices.
A separate shed is also a good option since you can build it any way you want. You might need a workshop before you can build a shed however. That’s a bit of a circular problem.
2. The right tools for the job
Any job becomes very difficult if you don’t have the correct tools for it. While the correct tool doesn’t make it easy, it certainly makes it easier.
Many men already have a collection of tools. For making furniture you might want to get some specialized tools however. A complete collection of power and non-power tools is very useful for this purpose. This can be very expensive. Check out below how to do it cheaper.
3. A plan
Having a plan of what you are going to make and how, is fundamental to your success. Especially when you’re starting, it’s important to think about how you’re going to do things.
If you’ve got a good plan, you know;
- What the end result is going to be
- How you’re going to get there
- What materials you need
- Which tools you need.
Having all these things will greatly improve your chances of stress-free success.
4. Right materials
All the previous points are useless if you don’t have the materials. You can’t make steak from a cabbage. Luckily, anyone with a hardware store nearby can get most things you need. Good planning helps prevent you having to run to the shop 20x a day.
Wood is the material most people will start out with and it’s a material you can stay with. You’ll need some metal parts but many of those you’ll be able to buy ready-made.
Once you’ve got the plan you and know what you need, the materials are easy. Hardware stores are everywhere. Wood, screws, bolts, mounting hardware, etc. is so ubiquitous, there really should be no problem getting everything you need as long as you can find a hardware store. Knowing what you need is the hard part. Getting it is pretty easy.
In the beginning you’ll have to buy everything. Once you progress, you’ll have more and more materials in stock or leftover from previous projects.
5. Help and/or advice from someone with more experience
What will help you the most is advice and help from someone that knows what they’re doing. Figuring things out by yourself can take a lot of time and money.
If there is anyone you know that likes to DIY and knows more than you do, ask them for help. I’m sure they’ll be happy to share their knowledge and skills with someone who’s willing to learn.
Need some help?
Do you need some more help with setting everything up? It can be difficult to know:
- How to set up your workshop
- Which tools to get
- Where to set up your workshop
- How to make your shop as comfortable as possible
- How to keep the price down
If you know someone, that can help you, that’s great. Not everyone does however. Here’s how you can prevent spending too much money and get it done right from the beginning.
UltimateSmallWorkshop.com has a great guide that covers everything you need to know about setting up a workshop. It’s aimed towards people that aren’t professionals but like to have a good workshop.
Not only does this guide show you how to set up your workshop, it also shows you how to do it for under $1000. Everyone that has ever bought tools knows that they are expensive. So while you have to pay some money to get this guide, it’ll save you money and many mistakes in the long run.
Get your workshop guide here now (Click)
Easy first DIY furniture projects
Even with everything in place, it’s a good idea to start easy. Don’t discourage yourself by starting your DIY journey by trying to build a cathedral. Build some confidence in yourself, competence with your tools and proficiency in reading plans, before you take on a huge project.
What are some good projects to start off with? Here are some ideas that are easy and also useful in your man cave;
- Shelves
- A very easy project. Just cut the shelves to the size you want. Get some mounting hardware and mount on the wall.
- Coffee
table
- A coffee table is a piece of furniture you’ll likely need in your man cave. Luckily you can create on pretty easily.
- Steel
legged bench
- It’s like a shelf to sit on. You can buy a plethora of pre made steel legs that just screw on to the wood you choose. Super easy.
- Storage
box
- Why not build a storage box to keep your tools, materials or other small man cave items. It’s a straight forward project.
- Step
stool
- Some of the vertically challenged under us might need a step stool to do certain things. Another easy and useful first project.
These are some projects that don’t take too much of your growing skills.
Which furniture can you DIY for your man cave?
Above I’ve listed some EASY projects. But what do you actually need. Some of them are already listed above, but there are some other pieces of furniture that are very useful in your man cave.
- Poker table
- Bar
- Chairs
- Personalized welcome sign
- Bar tables
These are five projects that man men will want in their man cave. They are a bit more challenging to make but if you can, you’ve got some awesome and unique furniture for your man cave. It’ll be really personal and exactly how you like it. Since they’re a bit more complicated, you might want to look for some good building plans.
Where to find good building plans?
Building something from an image you’ve got in your mind is not easy. Some people might be able to do this but, for most of us it’s not something that comes natural. Having a building plan can make your life a whole lot easier. It also makes your success rate much higher if you know exactly what to do. Not many things are as frustrating as having to do something again because you screwed up.
Where can you get good building plans though? You’ve got two options:
- Google and Youtube have quite a few free building plans available. Just Google the piece of furniture you intend to build + DIY plan/building plans. There are plenty of good building plans to be found this way. Obviously the quality and usability of these plans depends on the author.
- The second option is a TedsWoodWorking.com It has a database with thousands of different woodworking building plans. It comes with everything a good plan should have. Material list, plans, cutting instructions, step by step guidance and sometimes even videos. Since there are so many plans on the site, it can be a bit difficult to decide what you want to build. If you’re not sure it’s something for you, there is an option to try it out.
Click here to get your 50 free building plans.
Getting these plans will help you a lot when you’re starting out since all the guesswork is taken out. You just have to concentrate on building what you want.
Hi there. I’m BetterDaily. I’m a man in his early thirties that likes to travel, ride motorcycles, work out and write. Usually I write about men, things related to masculinity and things men like. Teacher by day, blogger by night.
