For this project, I went into it knowing I was going to paint it. As such, I wasn't going to build it out of hardwoods. Since I don't have an easy way of reducing thickness of wood by hand, I wanted to use what I could easily find. At the time I was looking for wood, the local company that will mill wood to my specifics was closed due to Covid. So, off to Lowes I went.
For the main carcass, I chose 1x12 "pine" that was 3/4" thick. The boards they had weren't quite as good as I would have liked but they were suitable. For the skirting, bottom, interior drawers, and wherever, 1/2" was the desired dimension, I used the 1/2" thick 6" wide poplar. A few boards had some nice mineral streaking which I really like for a project such as this.
I knew for the inside lid, I wanted something that would be nice and I had some scrap cherry and a 1x1 of ebony. If I needed any other wood bits, I would just scrounge through my scraps and cutoffs.
When I finish a project, and before I start a new project, I like to clean up and then sharpen up. I sharpen my three primary hand plans (#4 for removing bulk, #5 for finishing up, #3 for smoothing), my four chisels, and any other tools that saw use in the prior project. It makes me feel really good when everything is in order and nice & sharp & ready to go. I am by no means fast at sharpening but I feel good when it is done.