As a college student, I'm not able to buy a lot of furniture because I don't have that much money, time, or space in my room. I'm currently taking a sustainable design class in which we were given a project where we had to upcycle. I decided to make a multi-functional furniture with the use of scrap wood from the wood shop in my college to fulfill my need of having furniture while still being able to complete my assignment.

Step 1: Sketching in Rhino

I needed a piece of furniture that would serve as a book shelf, nightstand, laptop desk, and dog stairs that would be able to fit my room. I started to sketch up ideas in how I can make all of these without having to make each individual one. I worked on Rhino in order to get an idea of how I wanted it to look like and to get an estimate on how big it should be. I took into consideration the size of my room and the average sizes of each item I wanted to make.

Step 2: Cutting the Wood With Panel Saw and Table Saw

I started by grabbing some scrap wood and cutting the big horizontal pieces on the panel saw. After I cut the horizontal pieces, I switched over to the table saw in order to make my vertical pieces. These two machines helped with getting straight and precise lines.

Step 3: Making a Smooth Finish by Sanding

I then sanded each individual piece with an electric sander in order to get a smooth finish.

Step 4: Putting It Together With Glue and Nails

I then used some wood glue and clamped the pieces together overnight in order to hold it in place. Afterwards, I used the nail gun to put nails on the places where each individual wood pieces would connect to make sure it was really secure.

Step 5: Finishing Touches With Wood Fillers and Wax

In order to get an even surface, I decided to put wood fillers in some of the cracks and holes that my wood had. Afterwards, I used an electric sander and sanding paper to sand out the areas where I put wood fillers to make it blend in with the wood and create a smooth finish. Lastly, I put wax all over the wood to seal it in and protect the surface.

Step 6: Use It

Now use it! They can be used together or separately. There's endless possibilities which means it can last you for a very long time, maybe even forever! In this project I was being able to create a piece that satisfied all my needs while not spending more money, doing it during class time, making it compact, and using scrap wood in order to not have it go to waste!

Ideas on what it can be used for:

-Laptop desk

-Nightstand

-Dog stairs

-Bookshelf

-Children's desk

-Decor

And so much more!