Hey, everyone!! Kieran and I (mostly Kieran) made two identical console tables for our living room! At the moment our house is literally a blank canvas with hardly any furniture. We figured it would be better and more fun to design furniture that perfectly fit our space rather than gamble on store bought items. This post will give you a picture tutorial on our first furniture project!
I was going to share a post on Cuban Mojo Pork, but I’m not satisfied with the recipe yet. It’s good, just not Shock Munch good. I’m planning on tweaking the recipe and sharing it soon. Also, we’re going camping again this weekend so I’m hoping to have another awesome camping recipe too!
In the meantime, Kieran will explain how we made DIY Console Tables! Our Tudor style home is charming AF but also bare AF. When we moved from Chicago to Portland we sold, donated, or gave away much of our furniture. Rather than load up on Ikea furniture, we wanted to dabble in making our own. We figured DIY Console Tables would be a great beginner project because if we fucked them up, no one would notice since the tables would live behind the couch.
I should note our garage is a shit show at the moment. One of the previous owners turned out two car garage into 3 separate little rooms. Our car doesn’t fit in the garage nor do we have a proper working bench or station. We had to improvise and either work on our outdoor seating tables or the ground.
So, without further adieu, here’s Kieran’s tutorial on we made our own DIY Console Tables!
Finished pictures first. We had some extra room behind our couches and needed a spot for people to put their drinks, so we decided to build a pair of identical console tables.
First planning. After measuring the couch we came up with some ideal dimensions. We had some spare 2x4s from when we tore down our kitchen wall. Those legs were used for (Parts A & B). We needed some 2x2s and 1x4s for the sides and top (Parts C & D).
We mocked up the plans in SketchUp so we could see what the finished product might look like and to make sure all our measurements were right (they weren’t). I had part A down as being 6 1/2 inches, I just needed to correct it to 7 1/2 inches. You can actually see the correction on the whiteboard photo.
Lumber manufacturers typically cut a tree into dimensional lumber very shortly after the tree is felled. Then, the newly-sawn (but soaking wet) lumber is kiln-dried until it reaches the desired moisture level. As lumber dries, it shrinks (as the moisture in the wood is reduced, the wood cells shrink, particularly across the grain). While the 8′ length won’t change much as the wood dries, the 2″ width and 4″ height (cross-section of the grain) will shrink considerably.
Because of this shrinkage, a typical 2×4 will usually measure out to around 1-1/2″ x 3-1/2″. These numbers can vary slightly, but modern lumber manufacturers are pretty adept at delivering consistently-sized supplies of dimensional lumber. This is a very different type of measuring wood when compared to the board foot method used in measuring hardwoods.
Click here to read the entire article from Chris Baylor. Another helpful article about the subject can be found here.
Measuring and cutting the legs.
A miter saw may have been better for this job, but since I didn’t have one, a jigsaw with a clamped combination square did the trick. Once I found the offset measurement for the square this went pretty quick.
Finished cutting the side pieces.
Instead of marking up the wood with a pencil, I used bits of painters tape to mark off measurements. Here is 4 1/2″.
We clamped some of the extra 2×4 while drilling and screwing the legs together to help keep everything flush.
Finished legs.
First test fit of the top.
Gluing the top boards together.
Clamped and weighted to keep everything straight.
We cut the top to size using a straight edge and jigsaw (not pictured). Then we were ready to glue and screw on the top.
Painters drop cloth helped protect the surface while we worked.
Fully Assembled.
We sanded both tables once they were fully assembled.
We picked a nice dark Red Mahogany stain. Once dry we sealed the tables with some polyurethane.
Finally ready to move into position behind the couch!
Done!
Christina here – that’s a wrap on Kieran’s tutorial on our DIY Console Tables. Leave a comment if you have questions about how the tables were made, Kieran would be happy to answer them!
I love how our DIY Console Tables turned out. They are so stinking cute I can’t stand it! In my opinion, the best part about the tables are the legs. Right before we moved into the house, we tore down the wall between the kitchen and dining room. We salvaged the wall studs during the process. We used the studs for the legs of each table. It’s fun knowing the wood from 1938 has new life in 2017.
Kieran and I enjoyed the process of making our own console tables. Our house is literally a blank slate so it’s fun to design and implement pieces of furniture that will fit perfectly in each room. We’re hoping to make a coffee table next.
Thanks for stopping by,
Christina
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