I gave up on doing furniture until I have about $10,000 to spend on a good
shop with good power tools in it and I can just Norm out.

It can be done for much less than that, don't give up on building a good shop
full of tools. Over the last 10 years I accumulated a Unisaw, 6 inch Grizzly
joiner; delta lathe; sears RAS; delta 14" bandsaw; sears 10" band saw; dewalt
scroll saw; bosch CMS, Jet floor size drill press (yes, it is a very versatile
machine) delta 12.5" surface planer and built me Norm's router table, and this
cost me no more than $4000 over the years, and the Unisaw and bandsaw were the
only things I specifically saved up for and bought new and these two
represented about half of the total amount. Keep your eyes open for used
equip., size it up as to quality and state of repair, and act quickly. I have
sold furniture I made for about $5000 over the years, so I figure I am even.