Shake ’n’ Bake

The gentle souls at Shaker Workshops are giving you a chance to find out. The Ashburnham, Massachusetts-based online shop’s DIY furniture kits allow you to put together your own graceful, unassuming Shaker-style furniture.

The store has everything from simple dining tables to ladder-back Elder’s chairs to meetinghouse benches, all priced in fair-and-square range. You pick your poison; spring for shipping; and the pieces arrive with hardware, sandpaper, and the stain of your choice.

You’ll have to apply a little elbow grease, but that’s in keeping with Shaker dictum. And a small price to pay for furniture that looks like it came from the workshop of, say, Brother Abraham.