BUILD A CONSOLE TABLE

7 Materials
I can cross another item off of my ‘DIY Bucket List’! After I stencilled my office, reupholstered a chair and built this console, I’m pretty sure I could change the carburetor in an airplane…piston-powered off course. As a habitual maker, nothing is more empowering than having an idea in your head and then bringing it to fruition. And here’s the deal…I have never built anything like this before, so if I could build this console, then you can build a console table too!


And maybe I should put wee quotes around the ‘build’ part, because if I hadn’t had these most groovy legs from Osborne Wood, this would have been an entirely different project. They are the Country Squire Dining Table Leg in Knotty Pine and are THE reason that this console table really rocks my socks!


For the top of the table, I used a really lovely Cypress which looks very similar to the Knotty Pine of the legs…in fact you can’t tell they are different types of wood. I bought one 10 foot long piece of 2″ thick, 5.5″ wide cypress, which was cut in half. They had thinner options, but I really like the 2″ thickness for the top, especially given the chunkiness of the legs. 


Once you have your legs, you clearly need wood for the top and bottom. Before you bring your wood home, check it over to make sure it is as flat as possible.






The first thing I did was to glue the two pieces of cypress together, side by side, for the top of the table


I used the wood glue and clamps every 6″ for the length of the boards and put scrap wood between the clamps and my good cypress to prevent the clamps from leaving dents in my cypress. In total, I used 8 clamps; the 3 Kreg clamps I owned and borrowed the rest of the clamps from a friend.  I really like the autoadjust feature of the Automaxx. 


The boards sat undisturbed for about 24 hours to make they were firmly glued together.







While the top was being glued, we started on the base. The first thing we did was cut the thinner, 1" cypress boards into 9.5" sections.  I wanted the base to be a little shorter than and not quite as deep as the top. 


Here's a good 'do as I say and not as I do' moment. If you have access to a table saw, this is the time to use it. We did have access (my parents who live 1.5 miles away) but didn't even think to ask them. As it turns out, it 's a bit harder to get a precise cut with circular saw and we needed precise cuts. 


We also made the base frame out of the 2' by 4's. I wanted the frame to be slightly shorter and thinner than the actual base, so I cut he 2" x 4" s to 45". Each 2" x 4" is actually 3.5", so I added one 1" piece to make the frame 45" by 8". We just used the wood glue to hold the frame together.







Then we glued the base to the base frame. Once again,the frame (8" X 45") was slightly smaller than the actual base dimensions of 9.5" X 46.5".







We weighted the base by placing bricks on top of it while the glue dried and cured.







I used a belt sander, with 36 grit sanding belt, to even out the top where it was glued together. The belt sander was also very useful in leveling the base boards which were a bit wonky as a result of our 'not true' cuts.







Then I used a fine sandpaper (120 grit) to give the whole piece a good sanding.


Once everything was all sanded and level, it was time to put this beauty together! We used a Kreg Jig R3 to drill the pocket holes into the legs. This was the first time I had used the Kreg Jig and it made the whole pocket hole thing so straightforward and easy.


The Kreg Jig R3 comes with everything you need, including several sizes of screws, to complete a project.







Before we attached the legs to the top, we lined up the legs on base and then on the top.







Once we had the legs attached to the top, we again lined up and attached the legs to the bottom with 4″ screws







The legs were 5″ wide, but we drew 3″ wide squares based on the center of the leg. We wanted to avoid our screws coming through the side of the leg and figured that an inch margin on each side would help ensure that. We drilled one hole in the middle of the leg and then 2 more on either side of that center screw.


Once everything was attached, I glued the wood plugs that came with the Kreg Jig R3 into the pocket holes. 


Then I went over the whole thing again with fine grit sandpaper. If you have to sand anything that’s not a flat surface, the flexible sandpaper from 3M is a dream come true. It made sanding the round and grooved surfaces on these legs so much easier.







I went over the whole thing with a tack cloth before I put my finish on it. I really went back and forth on what finish to put on this (the whole Baskin-Robbins 31 flavors syndrome…so many choices…who can chose just one!). I finally decided I just wanted a very simple finish and at the recommendation of a local woodworker, just used a spray lacquer in a clear, satin finish.


I did lightly run 0000 steel wool over the over the wood between coats and after the last coat. 







I am thrilled with the way this console table turned out, though I can’t say I won’t change the finish at some point. What do you think…keep natural like this? Age it? What would you do?



Suggested materials:
  • Wood for top and bottom
  • 2 legs   (Osborne Wood)
  • Belt Sander, Drill
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Lynn @ Nourish and Nestle
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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2 of 48 comments
  • Hi Lisa...I didn't! I didn't even stain it...just left the wood natural with a clear protectant. I do love it and can't imagine painting it.

  • Joanie Joanie on May 22, 2018

    I like it natural, but I like what ever makes me happy....GO for it, whatever blends with what you like!!

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