The Elements of Furniture Design is a resource of information gathered from 30 years of working as a professional furniture designer. These elements of design are essential, and there is no other resource where they are available in one place. The reader will gain a comprehensive knowledge of how furniture is designed, and can use this information to create new and exciting design concepts. This knowledge is provided in four sections:

- A brief history and quick designer references (woods, veneers, wood joinery, comfort, architectural references, and drawing tools)
- Illustrating furniture construction
- Historic ornament used on furniture (molding, turning, carving)
- The typical design process with a new client

The work of cabinetmaker Thomas Day (a free man of color in the South in the mid-1800s) is used to tie the story together, and the reader will learn trade secrets of furniture design that have been lost to outsourcing and offshore manufacture.