You are totally right about furniture, though if you enjoy it; it can certainly be worth while. With practice you can save money over higher end places like Cr

You are totally right about furniture, though if you enjoy it; it can certainly be worth while. With practice you can save money over higher end places like Crate and Barrel or Pottery Barn that might have more interesting design than Ikea. Any furniture you build should be because you enjoy the process, saving money can be elusive. For things like the railing the original poster mentioned, that really falls under home improvement. For those things which are generally site built by a carpenter, you can absolutely save money even factoring in a few tools.