There’s no control-Z for wood. This occurred to me as I stood over multiple jagged saw cuts in a pristine plank of raw pine – a mangled box shelf. You know, a box shelf: one of those Pinterest projects in which you simply nail four independent pieces of wood together to form a larger piece of wood. It’s an open box you mount to the wall and fill with items, causing your significant other to notice your sharply-defined muscles and acutely artistic sense of decor for the first time.

At least, that’s how it’s supposed to go. In reality, you might ignore the fact that you don’t have a miter saw, as well as the fact that you have no idea how to use a miter box properly, discard said box after failing to use it correctly, convince yourself “you got this” as long as you cut with the hand saw straight and true, like Pa from Little House on the Prairie, and then ruin everything.

There are a lot of benefits to getting into the DIY game. There’s satisfaction in doing something that completely bypasses the App Store. With tools in your hand, you can play master of whatever happens (for better or worse). You can spend $25 on materials for a piece of furniture that would cost you $250 at a vintage goods store. And, of course, there’s the benefit of crossover skills and tools that enable you to fix broken stuff around the apartment when you're not building new features (see: box shelf).

But as with any plied skill, most of the learning comes through failure rather than success. And there are a few things to think about before you even open your toolbox that can help tilt the odds in your favor when beginning a project.

Do you actually want to do this?

But seriously. If you’re a beginner, this will take more time and effort than you anticipate. And that’s great… so long as it’s not like the time you thought you really wanted to get deep into fly fishing and then decided to eat lunch instead. There will probably come a moment during this project when you legitimately think, “Why did I start this? I’m not a project kind of guy – I’m a Target kind of guy.” And you’ll need to have a good reason to fall back on as an answer.

Pro tip: Make this project a surprise for someone you like who also has a low threshold for being impressed. Then, if it ends up being a learning experience (note: we say that instead of “abject failure”), no harm, no foul.

Do you have access to the right tools?

Reference aforementioned mitre saw example. If a project calls for a good deal of cutting, and you think “I can definitely cut a straight line,” just let it be known that no, you can’t.

That being said, don’t give up. Craigslist is full of hand-me-down drill presses, power saws, and belt sanders. If you don’t have room for an impromptu workshop, look into neighborhood maker spaces. Most cities have giant shops where you can buy a share, granting you a regularly scheduled work slot. If you’re interested in making a bit of an investment for little projects around the house, start by buying a toolbox, then fill it with these:

Hammer (because you’re a man, damn it)
Screwdrivers of varying sizes (both Phillips and flathead)
Box cutter
Electric drill with bits (a small starter set is good, and bits are less expensive than you think)
Wire cutters or tin snips (one of those weird tools you keep needing but never actually get around to buying)
C-clamps and wood glue (a lot of home projects are just gluing and clamping)
Random orbital sander with a variety of sandpaper grits

Do you have what it takes to see the project through?

This is not like your high school football/soccer/track coach asking if you have what it takes to win state. DIY projects work on a curve. If you’ve never tried something simple, like sanding down and repainting/staining a coffee table, chances are you shouldn’t try to build a floor-to-ceiling bookcase. As Frank Lloyd Wright once said, “There’s layers to that shit, player.” (Or maybe that was Macklemore.)

If you’re serious about building stuff, consider gradually working your way up. Start with that old simple box shelf, then move up to an industrial coffee table. Before you know it, you’ll be tackling that reclaimed barn wood dining room table with hairpin legs that seats ten with room for a high chair. Not sure where to start? Here are a few basic techniques that will help you with almost any project.

Planning sequentially. It may seem painfully obvious right until you realize the caster wheels you bought have zero chance of fitting on the crate coffee table as you layed it out. Or that by not sending your boards through a planer, you made it almost impossible to wind up with a level tabletop (true story right there – if you ever come over, avoid setting full drinks on the one with plumbing fixture legs). Think about the final product then work backward step by step. No detail is too small to take into account.
Pausing before you do something you can’t take back. Wood does not forgive your mistakes, so carefully consider if driving in that nail will crack your 2x4, especially if you have a limited supply. If so, maybe pre-drill the hole with a bit slightly smaller than the nail. Before slapping that stain on there, is this going to darken? Do you have to put a coat of polyurethane over the stain? And if so, how will that affect the color? Think it through before you start cutting, sanding, or whatever – not after.
Sanding. Nothing conceptual about this one. You’re going to be doing a lot of sanding to make surfaces nice and smooth, and it takes practice to learn what impact different grits have on a project. Start with 80, then move to a medium grain like 120, then something really fine between 200-320. Be careful not to sand corners that have to glue or nail flush with other surfaces. Make sure you sand with the grain or else scratches will become apparent, especially after stain is applied.

The most important thing to remember when taking on a new project is to be patient and enjoy the process as well as (or more than) the end result. Focus on that, and your build-outs will get better every time.

Also, don’t be shy about asking literally any question about this stuff online. There are so many forums filled with leather-aproned bearded men who smell of sawdust and bourbon (at least that’s how I picture them) that any question from any skill level won’t take long to get answered. As long as you don’t expect to be a swarthy expert hand-hewing his home from the splintered confines of mother nature, you should have a lot of fun ahead of you.

The Three Things to Consider before Starting Any DIY Project