The Shaker ladder back chair is probably the most widely recognized pieces of furniture around and has been copied by other craftsmen since the originals were first marketed by the Shakers in the late 18th century.
There are collections of Shaker furniture in many museums in the USA and England, where they appeal to the modern eye and traditionalists alike. They weren't all hand made either - the shakers were adept at using the best technology of the day and in fact invented the circular saw blade, a tool that we take for granted today.
Bean Bags Chair
Its not that hard to own your own piece of shaker style furniture, however few of us could afford the originals today even if they were for sale. But you will be amazed how simple it is to build your own Shaker furniture by using a well thought out set of woodworking plans.
You probably have many of the tools and materials needed already, also the rest of what you need can be got easily at your local lumber yard or home improvement store.
One of the most important aspects of making your own shaker furniture is to use a good set of professionally prepared Shaker furniture plans. For the best chance of success, these plans should contain:
1) Blueprints & Instructions - It's critical to your success to get plans that have detailed blueprints and good clear written instructions. It's a lot easier to follow along a step by step guide and know what to do, referring to the drawings along the way. Some of the better sets even have videos.
2) A Complete Materials list - It's most frustrating to find halfway through a project that you have to go off to the store to get that little piece not mentioned before. Having a complete bill of materials will save a lot of time and ensure you have everything you need at the start.
I've seen far too many poorly put together sets of plans that have neither good easy to follow drawings or detailed materials lists. It's not a plan for success but a recipe for disaster!