Is It a Good Idea to DIY Your Furniture?

Are you the DIY type? Are you someone who probably gets carried away with DIYing if you actually had the chance? Well, how about furniture? Is that something that you could possibly consider? Alright, so maybe just go ahead and think about this; there’s something kind of funny about the moment someone realizes their furniture just isn’t built the way it used to be. Well, a lot of older people at least might notice this, but if you’ve never personally owned your own furniture until, well, the last one or two decades, then you might not entirely understand (or you might if you love vintage furniture). 

Anyways, it’s just not made the same way it used to be, that’s for sure. Like, maybe it’s a drawer that suddenly falls off its track, or a bookshelf that starts bending like it’s announcing its retirement. Or maybe it’s that moment someone moves a piece across the room, and the whole thing wobbles like it’s made of cardboard. And yeah, it usually isn’t far off. Oh, and it’s all flatpacks that you have to assemble yourself; that seems to be the norm nowadays, too.

Fast homeware has taken over so much that a lot of furniture is literally designed to last a couple of years, just long enough to get replaced by something that looks cute online for five minutes. It’s cheap, it’s quick, and it’s everywhere. But okay, it also makes people wonder if there’s a better option, and that’s where DIY starts creeping into the conversation again. You probably know some of the brands, like West Elm and Wayfair, for example, there are plenty of others, but those two especially have a nasty reputation for producing bad furniture (and IKEA is just hit and miss most of the time).

Furniture isn’t Built to Last Anymore

Yeah, that’s planned obsolescence for you. But yeah, just generally speaking here, it’s wild how normal it’s become to buy furniture that’s basically a temporary guest in the house. So much of it’s made from particle board or MDF. Sure, it looks fine in photos, sure, but once it’s in someone’s living room, it starts revealing exactly what it’s made of. You’ll usually see corners chip, surfaces puff up from the tiniest bit of moisture, screws loosen, and the whole thing starts aging in dog years.

And people kind of expect it now without even thinking. Buying a new dresser every few years feels normal. But older generations didn’t live like this at all. It used to be completely normal to get furniture that’d stick around long enough to become part of the family story. Someone would say, “My grandmother gave me this,” and it wasn’t weird. The furniture had weight, charm, and actual longevity. Like, that used to mean something, especially considering how expensive furniture was, so it’s really no wonder that they were heirlooms. 

And yeah, as you can see for yourself, a lot of people miss that feeling more than they admit. Or maybe everyone feels this exact way.

It Used to be Totally Normal to Build Things Yourself

A long time ago, making your own furniture wasn’t some quirky hobby. It was just… life. Okay, sure, it’s not something everyone would have done, but at least some general woodworking skills were fairly common. Like, someone needed a porch swing, so they built it, or they at least knew someone who could build it for them (which is still common in rural areas today). Need a table? Built it. Needed shelves? Grabbed some wood and made them. It didn’t have to be perfect. It just had to be solid and useful. That porch swing might’ve been there for decades, and everyone used it without worrying it’d collapse mid-summer.

And yeah, you can usually find older generations (mainly Boomers and the Silent Generation) still doing this. People in their 50s, 60s, and 70s often build things without a second thought because that’s how they grew up. It’s not intimidating for them; it’s just another weekend project. Actually, in King of the Hill, if you’re a fan of that show, the main characters on there even normalize handmade furniture. 

DIY Furniture’s Having a Whole Moment Right Now

Which is honestly pretty beautiful if you think about it. So yeah, there’s this big revival happening, and yeah, it’s obvious why. Now, social media’s full of furniture ideas, hacks, transformations, and IKEA glow-ups that make everything seem doable. And yeah, most of them are doable, like the IKEA Billy bookcase hacks you’ll see online. Plus, it helps that IKEA hacks alone have basically become their own little language. People take a simple piece and turn it into something that looks custom, expensive, and totally unique.

And okay, the accessibility now is completely different. There are videos that walk someone through every single step. There are beginner tools that make cuts cleaner and assembly easier. There are entire communities cheering people on, even if their first project turns out slightly lopsided. DIY doesn’t feel scary anymore. It feels creative and oddly fun. Well, it’s not just IKEA furniture, that’s just the best example out there, but it’s literally not just IKEA. There’s just a lot of tutorials out there online, well, that, and books, free woodworking plans, free templates, just a lot of free and helpful things out there. 

DIY Can Bring Back That Old Heirloom Feeling

Well, DIY furniture doesn’t need to be a huge project to feel meaningful. It can be something small, like a bench, a shelf, or a coffee table. These pieces become special really fast, and they’re one of a kind and not coming from a factory with questionable human rights violations. They’re sturdy because someone actually cared about how they were made. They last because they weren’t mass-produced with cheap materials. They feel personal because someone made them with intention.

And honestly, it’s kind of sweet to imagine someone building something today that might actually get passed down again. That’s something store-bought furniture almost never does now (especially with modern furniture being essentially garbage in a couple of years).