Norm travels to the island of Nantucket off the Massachusetts coast to look at a handmade blanket chest in a sea captain's house dating from 1790. Incorporating elements of this antique in his own design, Norm builds a blanket chest of pine, lined with aromatic cedar panels.

Norm constructs a bedside table inspired by one found at the Hancock Shaker Village in western Massachusetts. Norm's design, made from pine, features a shallow drawer, table legs tapered on the inner sides and a table top with a breadboard design (glued boards edged with wood on two ends).

Norm builds a bathroom vanity whose design is inspired by a dry sink he found at Fruitlands, a 1790 Shaker house and museum located in Harvard, Massachusetts. The vanity, constructed of oak, features dovetailed joints, a high-pressure laminate top and Shaker-style double doors with a flat panel on the outside and a raised panel on the inside.

A visit to the "Stone Bank" at Old Sturbridge Village inspires Norm to build a freestanding bookcase with a cornice detail at the top, adjustable shelves and a removable base made of pine. Norm makes his bookcase from birch plywood, which is more stable than solid wood and offers a smooth surface for painting.

Norm draws inspiration for a chest of drawers from a piece he inspects at the Hancock Shaker Village in western Massachusetts. Norm constructs his own chest of drawers from Ponderosa pine, demonstrating how to cut and plane the wood, glue the boards for the top and sides and build the drawers, drawer case and frames, and base.