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My first woodworking project was designing and building this bookshelf to take advantage of a small corner in my Santa Monica condo. I had no tools or building experience beyond assembling Ikea furniture, but all the quotes I got for a custom bookshelf were over $2000.
So I drew what I wanted on a sheet of paper, had the pieces cut by a local lumberyard, and put everything together using screws and elbow brackets. Total cost was about $100.