4 Easy and Enjoyable Woodworking Projects for Beginners

Woodworking is a great stress-relieving hobby for people of all ages. Immersing yourself in a woodworking project can bring many health benefits, such as elevated mood, reduced stress, and improved fine motor skills. Working with wood can also improve math skills since weighing, measuring, calculating, and cutting are all essential to creating a woodworking project.

Woodworking does not have to be difficult either; to get started all you need is a few common tools and the desire to get your hands dirty. Beginners don’t need years of woodworking experience or the most expensive toolboxes to make something beautiful or useful. The most common tools you need to begin woodworking are a ruler, a hammer, a drill, sandpaper, wood glue, nails, and a saw. Once you have those in your arsenal, you are ready to attempt the following four easy woodworking projects.

1. Wall Shelf

Possibly the easiest beginner woodworking project, the wall shelf only takes about one hour to complete and is not labor intensive. Wooden pallets are a great type of wood to use for this, but any type of wood is fine.

To begin, measure the space where you want to hang your wooden shelf and then measure and cut the wood accordingly. You will only need one piece of wood to attach to the wall and one piece to attach to the main board. Rub sandpaper around the cut edges to give the boards a more polished look.

Once the wood is cut, drill in some wood screws to attach the pieces of wood, forming a shelf. Simply attach the shelf to the wall wherever it looks best in your house. This easy project is sure to give a confidence boost to even the most inexperienced amateur carpenter.

2. Photo Holder

Photo holders are easier than photo frames because they are simply blocks of wood with a clothespin attached at the back. These cute blocks can be painted, stained, or left unfinished to give a more natural look. To complete this project, you must have a ruler, a saw, sandpaper, wooden clothespins, and strong wood glue.

To start, measure out the pieces of chunky wood and saw them into small blocks. Sand and wash the wooden blocks to prepare them for painting. Let your creative juices flow and paint the blocks however you like. Once the paint is dry, use wood glue to attach wooden clothespins to the back of the photo block, clamp side up. Once everything is dry, simply clip a photo of your choosing to the clothespin, and there you have your very own customized photo holder.

3. Coat and Hat Rack

This super simple project is a good way to organize your indoor entryway and only requires a few 1x4 wooden boards, a level, a screwdriver, some coat hooks, and a saw.

The 1x4 wooden boards can be measured and cut to whatever length fits your entryway space best. Consider staining or painting the boards to add a pop of color to your entryway as well.

Coat hooks can be bought from a hardware store in hundreds of different colors, shapes, and styles. The hooks are then easily screwed onto the wooden boards and can hold hats, coats, and purses. Once the wooden boards are finished to your liking, anchor them to the wall in your entryway — using a level to make sure the boards are straight — and admire the new clutter-free space.

4. House Number Wall Planter

This is a great project if you’re tired of the plain old house numbers on the exterior of your doorway. You can dress them up by putting them on a wooden board and adding a flower planter to give your doorway a shabby chic look. A drill and an electric sander are the main tools you will need for the job.

Cedar boards work best for this project, but really any kind of flat wooden board will work. Select some new stylish house numbers from the hardware store, or take the existing ones off your house and drill them onto a stained wooden board.

From there, use some more small pieces of wood and nail them into the shape of a small rectangular planter on the main wooden board, underneath the house numbers. It might be wise to drill a few small holes on the bottom of the planter for water flow. Then, fill the planter with soil and plants of your choosing.

Succulents add a more bohemian look to this project, but any sort of low-maintenance plant will look great. This house number wall planter should take about one hour to complete and is a super easy project for people who want to dress up their house’s entryway on a budget.

Some other easy-to-make woodworking projects for beginners include a pen/pencil holder, bookshelf, wooden doormat, and bathtub tray.