Not every woodworking project is worth selling

Some take too long to build for what they'd realistically fetch; others just don't have consistent buyer demand. The 15 projects below are different — they're simple enough to produce in batches, popular enough to sell reliably, and beginner-friendly enough that you don't need a decade of experience to make them well.

Here's the list, organized by category.

Kitchen & Home Items (Fast to Build, Easy to Sell)

1. Cutting boards — Low material cost, quick turnaround, and strong gift-market demand year-round. End-grain versions sell for a premium once you're comfortable with basic glue-ups.

2. Coasters — One of the easiest "batch" items to produce. Great for using up offcuts and scrap hardwood.

3. Knife blocks — Higher price point than boards or coasters, with repeatable, straightforward joinery once you've built your first one.

4. Spice racks — Compact, functional, and easy to customize in size for different kitchens.

5. Utensil holders — Simple builds with room for creative shapes and finishes, which makes them easy to differentiate from competitors.

Shelving & Storage (Reliable, Repeat-Worthy Sellers)

6. Floating shelves — Consistently one of the most-searched home décor items online; simple to build in multiples.

7. Bookshelves — More material and time than floating shelves, but a strong price point and steady demand.

8. Wall-mounted key/mail organizers — Small, functional, and popular as both personal purchases and gifts.

9. Storage crates and bins — Rustic-style crates in particular have stayed popular for organization and decor simultaneously.

Furniture (Higher Price Points, Longer Builds)

10. Farmhouse-style side tables — A consistently popular style with buyers, and a manageable build for an intermediate woodworker.

11. Coffee tables — Bigger commitment, but a strong margin item if you have the shop space to produce them.

12. Benches — Entryway and dining benches both sell well, and the joinery scales from simple to advanced depending on the design you choose.

Outdoor & Garden

13. Planter boxes — Seasonal, but strong demand in spring and summer, and forgiving if your joinery isn't perfectly tight.

14. Adirondack chairs — One of the most recognizable and frequently repurchased outdoor furniture styles; pairs well as a set.

Gifts & Décor

15. Personalized signs — Especially strong around holidays and for events like weddings or new homes; easy to customize per order, which helps justify a higher price.

Why These 15 (And Not Just "Whatever Looks Fun")

The projects above share a few things in common: they don't require an advanced shop, they can be produced more than once without redoing all your planning from scratch, and buyers already look for them — you're not trying to create demand from nothing.

That said, "knowing what to build" is only half the equation. The other half is having a plan that's actually reliable enough to build from more than once without hitting a measurement error or a missing step halfway through — which matters even more once you're building the same item repeatedly for paying customers.

This is where a properly tested plan set makes a real difference. TedsWoodworking includes plans for the vast majority of the categories above — cutting boards, shelving, tables, benches, planters, and more — all organized and searchable by project type, with every plan physically built and verified before it's published. That matters more once you're selling: a plan that's wrong costs you materials and a customer's patience, not just your own Saturday.

The library includes over 16,000 plans in total, exact materials and cutting lists (useful for costing out a project before you quote a price), and multi-angle schematics so you're not guessing how a joint is supposed to come together.

Browse the plan library here if you want a reliable starting point for any of the 15 project types above.

Affiliate disclosure: Some links in this article are affiliate links, meaning we may earn a small commission if you make a purchase through them, at no additional cost to you. We only recommend resources we believe are genuinely useful for woodworkers looking to build and sell their own projects.