How to Make Children's Bedroom Furniture

Find or design plans for your children's furniture. Do a search online for the furniture piece you have chosen to build, or visit your local home improvement store to find plans. You may wish to make a bed, dresser, toy chest, or storage shelf. Using wood as your material of choice is the least expensive option, and the end product often looks the best as well.

Measure and determine amounts and sizes of wood required for your project. Shop around to get the best prices. Remember that the exterior of your furniture is the only part that you should use high quality wood. Since the interior of the furniture piece is hidden, such as the inside of the drawers on a dresser, it's not necessary to use the same high quality wood. Instead, you can save a few bucks and use a lower-grade wood.

Measure and cut your wood to match your plans to make children's bedroom furniture. Measure twice, cut once. You should expect about 10% scrap with any project, but that figure can be greatly reduced if you take care in measuring accurately.

Assemble the furniture according to plan utilizing wood screws and/or nuts and bolts for durability. Fasten trim and assemble drawers using finishing nails or carpenters staples. If the head of the screw or nail is visible on the exterior of the furniture, make sure to countersink it just below the surface of the wood. Then fill the gap with wood filler and let dry.

Sand down all the children's bedroom furniture to create a smooth, splinter free surface. You may want to start with a low grit sandpaper, such as 120 or 150, and work your way up to 225 grit sandpaper for an ultra-smooth finish.

Paint or varnish the furniture to your child's liking making sure to apply a primer coat if painting. Using a more expensive paint can actually save you money in the long run. High quality paints usually only need one coat, while less expensive paints often need two or three coats to get equal coverage. So, higher quality paints can save time, and they require less paint overall to get good coverage.

For even more customization, add decals or use stencils to further personalize the furniture. Include your child in this step. Children who participate in making their own bedroom furniture are more likely to care for it and make it last.