I made these tables for our bedroom. They sit on either side of our bed. The construction is mortise and tenon. I used a cordless drill and chisel to make the mortise and a router table to make the tenons. Then I used a hand saw to cut the shoulders. I cut a small dado in the sides to accept the little blocks that will hold the top to the base so the top can move with seasonal expansion and contraction.

I dovetailed the front/top apron into the legs, and used a double tenon joint for the bottom/front apron. The drawers are made with half blind dovetails in the front and through dovetails for the back. I hand cut the dovetails. And one other part I find to be interesting, I beveled the bottom of the drawer into the sides and just used one little dab of glue on the center of the drawer front to allow the bottom (solid poplar) to expand.

I sanded down to 220, then brushed on two coats of cabot poly, then used 2 cans of spray cabot gloss poly to get an even coat.

Location: Calgary Alberta Canada

Amateur or Pro: Amateur

Finish Used: Watco Danish Oil

Wood Species: Walnut and Silver Maple

Project Description:
The idea for my project started when someone I know asked me to make a side table for along side her bed. I had some thoughts of one, so off I went to the wood supplier. My original idea was to make the legs free standing then have the drawer supported by just the table top. But as I soon found out, the legs would not of been sturdy enough. I wound up using a couple pieces of Walnut to make a support to hold everything together. I did mortise and tenons on the cross supports and dowel the rest into place.

This week’s project comes from Chad. Let’s see what he has to say:

Back in 1999, my wife wanted a nice bedroom suite. I happily looked into it for her, and was shocked at the cost of a full bedroom suite. Anywhere from $3,000 to $4,500. And surely none of them were actually solid wood. I had just started my hobby of woodworking, and so I asked my wife if she was willing to have a piece made one at a time. She said she would be. I designed the first piece, the armoire, and then asked her what type of wood she wanted. She said knotty pine. Sweet, I thought, that is the cheapest wood in the world. First I made the armoire, then we moved. I then made the dresser and a few months later, I made the end tables. All of this within about 2 years. (hey, I was in the Army, and I was busy defending my country.)

Anyhow, I never made the bed because I had bought a nice and inexpensive wrought iron bed, picked up at a garage sale. Earlier this year though, I decided it was about time to finish the bedroom suite. I designed the bed to be very simple, but with the same raised panel styling I had used in the other pieces. It took me many nights and weekends, but in the end, I think it turned out pretty good. All of the lumber was purchased at Lowes or Home Depot. Each piece had three staining layers of Minwax Golden Oak. With three layers of polyurethane, semi-gloss.

Needless to say, my wife is very pleased, and I am happy to have the whole suite completed. As a side note, my wife told me a few years ago that the only reason she agreed to let me build the suite way back when was because, as she says, “I didn’t really think you could do it, so I said yes so that I didn’t hurt your feelings.” I guess it’s easy to please someone with low expectations!