Season 15

Norm's original router station is the most popular shop project he's ever done. So why change it? Well, in the years since he built the first one, he's been thinking up ways to improve it. Now comes the deluxe edition of Norm's router station with an improved storage system, a more stable and easier-to-use fence, an improved top, and updated electrical hookups. These small changes add up to a more useful and versatile upgrade on the original.

How about a coffee table that once served as a portable platform to shear the wool from sheep? We're not sure how well it worked at that task, but Norm reinvents it as a handsome platform for books, plants, puzzles, canapes, and all the other things that clutter today's coffee tables. This is definitely a conversation piece. Made of recycled pine, this unusual table is easy to make and comes with a good story.

It would be hard to imagine a more graceful dining table than Norm's new Queen Anne pedestal table. The beautiful round solid cherry top sits on a sturdy turned pedestal and is supported by three elegant legs. This is a perfect size for an animated dinner table conversation. Woodworkers will enjoy the challenge of building this heirloom of tomorrow.

Norm happened to mention to a reporter that he had never made an upholstered piece of furniture. This led to an invitation to partner with Lee Industries of Newton, North Carolina, one of America's most highly regarded furniture makers. In the first of a special two-part program, Norm visits the Lee Industries factory to understand how upholstered chairs and sofas are made. He gets a tour with Norman Coley whose family has been making furniture in North Carolina for 40 years. Coley suggests Norm try making a "cigar" chair, which can be made without sewing and stitching. Back at the shop Norm starts by building the hard maple frame, the skeleton underneath this handsome chair. This is part 1 of 2.

Norm happened to mention to a reporter that he had never made an upholstered piece of furniture. This led to an invitation to partner with Lee Industries of Newton, North Carolina, one of America's most highly regarded furniture makers. In part two, Norm cuts the leather using patterns and tackles the padding and other steps before showing his new-found skill at applying the rich looking leather to the frame. It's all about stretching, tacking, stretching, and re-tacking until the desired look is achieved. This is part 2 of 2.

This jewel of a display cupboard will provide attractive storage for any bathroom. The top of the cabinet, with its beveled glass panels and adjustable shelves, is a perfect place to display attractive objects in a protected space. The display top sits on a closed cabinet for more useful storage accessed by means of a flat paneled door. Painted a glistening white and conveniently sized for limited space, this project is a winner.

Organizing today's electronics is a challenge with ever-larger televisions, DVD's, amplifiers, speakers, CD collections and all sorts of other paraphernalia. Finding useable storage for everything can be difficult. Norm is inspired by a beautiful antique cupboard his friend Jeff Jenkins of Leonard's Antiques shows him. In this special two-part program he builds a large media cupboard made of maple and outfits it with swing-away doors, adjustable shelves, and four roomy drawers below that should answer just about every need for a home media center. The project includes finishing steps using aniline dyes and polyurethane to protect and enhance the beauty of the piece. This is part 1 of 2.

Organizing today's electronics is a challenge with ever-larger televisions, DVD's, amplifiers, speakers, CD collections and all sorts of other paraphernalia. Finding useable storage for everything can be difficult. Norm is inspired by a beautiful antique cupboard his friend Jeff Jenkins of Leonard's Antiques shows him. In this special two-part program he builds a large media cupboard made of maple and outfits it with swing-away doors, adjustable shelves, and four roomy drawers below that should answer just about every need for a home media center. The project includes finishing steps using aniline dyes and polyurethane to protect and enhance the beauty of the piece. This is part 2 of 2.

Years ago on This Old House we featured the installation of a wooden flagpole on our Napa, California project. Now Norm has taken up the challenge on making one in The New Yankee Workshop. Made of strong Douglas fir, glued with epoxy, painted with marine paint and mounted on a welded steel ground anchor designed by master welder Bob Diorio, this flagpole is easy to maintain because the whole pole can be lowered to the ground whenever necessary. Be the first in your neighborhood to make your own flagpole.

In lieu of a great bedstead, sometimes all you need is a headboard. On this program Norm builds a beauty out of mahogany that will lend substance and elegance to a simple metal frame with a mattress and box spring. Again with help from Leonard's Antiques and Jeff Jenkins, Norm finds some interesting variations on this popular alternative to a full bed frame. Norm builds this headboard, sized for a king-sized bed, from top grade mahogany veneer plywood and uses solid mahogany to form the posts and mouldings.

This narrow corner cupboard will be extremely useful in today's home where space is sometimes limited. The top section of the cupboard has several shelves behind a glass-fronted door, perfect for decorative china or glassware. The sturdy lower section houses additional storage behind closed doors. Made of poplar and fashioned with interesting detail, this cupboard can be painted to match any decor.

Norm finds a handsome dark wood French side table in a private collection on Nantucket. Made of dark hardwood, probably walnut, this single drawer original is straightforward to make; even the curved legs are easily managed in a well-equipped shop. Best of all, its elegant style and good proportions will fit nicely in any room of your home and suit many purposes.

You can find Norm using hand tools in The New Yankee Workshop, but we are not proud of the way they are stored. That's about to change when Norm builds a woodworker's hanging tool chest. But it won't be like the one he finds in a private collection in Wisconsin. There he discovers one of the most magnificent examples of a wall mounted tool chest ever made, so impressive in fact, that it has been displayed in the Smithsonian Museum. Returning to the shop, Norm builds his version of a hanging storage chest for the hand tools he regularly uses.