Eric's Woodwork

06/05/2026

✨ Bay windows don't have to be wasted space.

These are two custom storage bench projects we built for homeowners who wanted to add both functionality and character to their homes.

✔ Hidden storage
✔ Extra seating
✔ Custom fit to the space
✔ Built to look like it was always part of the home

Every angle, panel, and trim detail was custom built to match the home's architecture and maximize the space.

It's amazing how much storage and seating can be added without making the room feel crowded.

Which one is your favorite?

🅰️ A or 🅱️ B?

Drop your vote in the comments! 👇

📍 Southwest Florida
🔨 Custom Built-Ins • Entertainment Centers • Storage Solutions

Message Eric's Woodwork for a free consultation.

06/05/2026

06/04/2026

What started as an empty bay window became a custom furniture-grade built-in. 🔨

Every angle was measured.
Every piece was custom built.
Every detail was designed to look like it came with the house.

Hidden storage.
Custom fit.
Built to last.

Watch this bay window seating come together from layout to final installation.

Designed. Built. Finished.

By Eric's Woodwork.

👇 Would you put something like this in your home?

06/04/2026

✨ CUSTOM BAY WINDOW SEATING ✨

What started as an awkward unused space became a custom furniture-grade built-in designed specifically for this home.

Every angle of this bay window was measured, laid out, and built from scratch. There were no stock cabinets, no prefabricated parts, and no shortcuts. Every section was custom fit to follow the architecture of the room while maximizing storage and maintaining clean, symmetrical lines.

Swipe through the photos to see the journey:

📐 Layout & Planning

🔨 Structural Framework

🪚 Cabinet Construction

✨ Face Frames & Trim

🎨 Finishing Touches

🏡 Completed Installation

The goal was simple: create something that looked like it came with the house.

The result is a custom bay window seating area with hidden storage, furniture-grade craftsmanship, and a timeless built-in appearance that adds both beauty and function to the room.

Designed. Built. Finished.

By Eric's Woodwork.

What would you store inside these hidden compartments?

06/04/2026

✨ CUSTOM BAY WINDOW SEATING ✨

What started as an empty corner became a custom furniture-grade built-in designed specifically for this home.

This kitchen bay window had great natural light and beautiful architecture, but it wasn't being fully utilized. Our goal was to create something that looked like it had always been part of the house while adding functionality, storage, and comfortable seating.

Every angle was measured, modeled, and built to fit this space exactly. From the initial design and layout to the custom framework, face frames, trim details, and final finish work, every step was completed with precision and attention to detail.

The result is a custom bay window seating area with hidden storage, furniture-quality craftsmanship, and a seamless built-in appearance that complements the home's architecture.

One of my favorite parts of this project is how the finished piece doesn't look "added on." It looks like it belongs there.

Designed, built, and finished by Eric's Woodwork.

🔨 Custom Built-Ins
🔨 Bay Window Seating
🔨 Hidden Storage Solutions
🔨 Furniture-Grade Millwork
🔨 Designed & Built to Last

What do you think? Would you add something like this to your home?

06/03/2026

🦝 Another week, another Grey adventure...

This week's episode is *loosely based on actual events* while building a custom breakfast nook with hidden storage for a Southwest Florida homeowner.

What started as, "Let's build a simple kitchen nook bench," quickly turned into a crash course in octagon geometry, custom angles, plywood templates, and a few questionable decisions along the way.

Fortunately, Eric showed up before Grey accidentally reinvented trigonometry.

Whether you're looking for a custom breakfast nook, banquette seating, built-in storage bench, dining nook seating, mudroom bench, entertainment center, floating shelves, or custom cabinetry, one thing remains true:

The YouTube video always makes it look easier. 😆

Watch this week's comic reel and see how *The Octagon Incident* unfolded.

📍 Serving Lehigh Acres, Fort Myers, Naples, Estero, Bonita Springs, Cape Coral, and surrounding Southwest Florida areas.

🔨 Eric's Woodwork
Custom Built-Ins • Entertainment Centers • Banquette Seating • Custom Cabinetry • Storage Solutions

05/29/2026

🔴🟡🔵🟢

If you've worked in the trades for more than five minutes, you've probably witnessed a Tool War.

The Red guys say Yellow is overpriced.

The Yellow guys say Red overheats.

The Blue guys appear from nowhere speaking exclusively in torque specifications.

And the Green guys?

Apparently they're only allowed on a jobsite if they're prepared to be judged. 😂

I've been hearing this stuff my entire career.

Meanwhile, the customer doesn't care what color your drill is.

They care if the cabinet is level.

They care if the shelves don't sag.

They care if the trim looks flawless.

I've seen people ruin projects with tools that cost more than a mortgage payment.

And I've seen true craftsmen build incredible work with basic tools and years of experience.

The truth?

The most important tools aren't Red, Yellow, Blue, or Green.

They're the ones between your ears and at the ends of your arms.

So if you're just getting started and Green saves you some green... buy Green.

Then go build something.

Skill beats tool color every single time. 🪚

05/29/2026

Most floating shelves online look easy…

Until gravity joins the conversation. 😅

This comic reel started as a joke about DIY floating shelves… but it actually highlights something most people never realize:

A properly built floating shelf is NOT just a hollow box screwed into drywall.

There’s real structure involved:
✔ Internal framing
✔ Pocket screws & glue
✔ Precision bevel cuts
✔ Proper anchoring into studs
✔ Wood backing for metal stud walls

And unfortunately… those tiny drywall anchors included in cheap online kits are not magic. 😂

Could you build them yourself? Absolutely.

But there’s a BIG difference between:
“Mounted”
…and
“Structurally Correct.”

Huge thanks to everyone following along with these comic reels. We’re having way too much fun making them. 🪚

05/26/2026

What makes this ceiling tricky is that it looks like a simple pattern, but the geometry underneath it is actually pretty complicated.

Most people would assume:

“Just cut everything at 45° and repeat the pattern.”

That works on a perfect square.

But this ceiling is 12'3" × 11", which means it’s a rectangle, not a square.
That tiny difference changes everything.

In a square, the diagonals are true 45° lines, so the pattern repeats evenly on all four sides. Every board lines up the same way.

But in a rectangle, the diagonals are different.
The corner-to-corner lines are no longer true 45° relationships.

That means if you use the exact same board width all the way around, the layout slowly drifts out of alignment as it moves toward the center.

At first, I tested a uniform 5" offset everywhere.
On paper, it sounded correct.

But SketchUp exposed the problem immediately.

The joints didn’t repeat evenly.
The geometry started fighting itself.

That’s where the solution came from.

Instead of treating all four sides the same, I treated the ceiling as two matching pairs:

North/South sides:
5" wide
approximately 42°
East/West sides:
4½" wide
approximately 48°

Those two different dimensions work together mathematically.

A 5" cut on a 42° line matches perfectly with a 4½" cut on a 48° line.

That keeps:

the intersections clean
the beam relationships square
the pattern repeating correctly
and the same number of shiplap runs in every direction

In this case, the layout repeats with 13 runs from the center to the edge on all sides.

That was the real goal:
not making one corner look good,
but making the entire ceiling system repeat consistently.

This is also why I used custom-made shiplap from 1/4" birch plywood instead of standard tongue-and-groove boards.

Normal tongue-and-groove materials have fixed widths.
If you rip them smaller, you destroy:

the tongue
the groove
the reveal pattern
and the way the boards lock together

So with traditional material, the geometry has to obey the board size.

That usually forces builders into compromises, like:

center rectangles
transition boxes
beam interruptions
or layouts that only “mostly” line up

That’s why many diagonal ceiling designs stop at a rectangular center piece instead of truly converging.

But because I fabricate my own shiplap from birch plywood, I can control the widths precisely.

That means:

the material obeys the geometry instead of the geometry obeying the material.

That freedom allowed the beams to cross cleanly through the center without needing a transition box or rectangular connector.

SketchUp helped solve all of this before a single board was cut.

That’s the real value of modeling:
not just drawing something cool,
but solving construction problems before they become expensive mistakes on the jobsite.

05/25/2026

Ever put together IKEA furniture… and halfway through realize the dresser has the structural integrity of a wet cracker? 😂

Most “put it together yourself” furniture isn’t actually terrible… it’s just assembled exactly according to the instructions.

Here’s the secret they never tell you:

🪵 Use GOOD wood glue anywhere wood touches wood.
🔩 Upgrade cheap plastic connectors when possible.
🧽 Keep a damp sponge or cloth nearby for glue cleanup.
⚠️ Don’t overtighten particle board.

A few small changes can make cheap furniture last WAY longer and feel way more solid.

No, Eric’s Woodwork doesn’t assemble flat-pack furniture…

…but we do believe homeowners should know useful stuff. 🔥

Tag somebody currently losing a fight against IKEA instructions. 👇