Midcentury Modern Side Table With Drawer Plans

Mid Century Modern Side Tables

Maple Mid Century Modern Bedside Tables

Wood Slicer resaw bandsaw blade

I dear my clients. My clients love the Mid Century Mod way. Therefore, I also honey the Mid Century Modern style. In all seriousness, before I first started building in the Mid Century Modernistic style, I was non really a fan of information technology. I think I had seen too many "DIY" "Makers" building in this style, but not in a manner that followed good blueprint and build principles. So I think that turned me off to the fashion...until I started edifice it!

"Adult Bedside Tables"

Ane of the opportunities to build in the Mid Century Modern style came about as a result of the Inman Park Festival final year in Atlanta. I was an exhibitor at the bear witness, for the first time, and had a blast!

During the show I met a neat client who said "I need adult bedside tables! I am ill of my Ikea college tables". So, we scheduled some time to meet and go over some designs she had in mind. During that design consultation we discussed what woods would work all-time in the sleeping room likewise equally measured the bed height equally that would be a driving cistron in the overall height of the tables.

As a rule, you want a bedside table to be every bit tall as your mattress is, or just a couple inches above the mattress. The thought is, information technology is easier to achieve up for something, than to reach down. But, like with most things, it is really up to the person using the table that determines the height. Another keen reason why having someone build you a custom piece, to your specifications, makes sense.

Design Details

In the case of these bedside tables, my client and I decided on a pair of matching tables with dimensions of about 25" tall (overall height), 18" wide and 18" deep. The tables would have a shelf that split the instance in half with the upper half being an open shelf and the lower one-half being a drawer. Each of these were about 5" in peak. The tables would likewise characteristic round splayed and tapered legs. Lastly, nosotros decided to build these tables out of solid maple woods and employ a natural oil stop.

The Build - Milling the Lumber

As with all my builds, once the design is figured out I turn my attention to selecting the all-time wood possible for my builds. I mitt select all of my lumber in order to discover boards that are the width that I want, simply also so that the boards match in color and grain patterns as much as possible.

In this case, I am using 4/4 maple for the example components of the tabular array. Since the tabular array is 18" deep, I wanted to find two boards that were greater than 9" wide to reduce the number of boards and that would reduce the number of glue-ups. I am fortunate enough to accept a 12" jointer so I can get wider boards; the specific reason I bought the larger joiner in the kickoff place.

Picking through a stack of maple looking for the perfect pieces

You learn to see what lies beneath the rough surface, but you never truly know until y'all begin to mill it

After the lumber is selected, I become through the process of selecting which boards I desire to be which function of the tables. For example, the instance pieces, the shelf and the drawer front. I am doing a continuous grain pattern from the sides and across the peak so I need pieces that are nearly 40" long; xi" inches for each side and 18" for the top.

Miter saw is an easy style to interruption down your rough pieces

These lengths are then run beyond the jointer to go them perfectly flat and so through the planer to become them to their final thickness.

You can run into the cup in this lath. The jointer will make this piece perfectly flat

Then, I glued up the individual parts. Normally, I would non intermission down the tabular array into their private side, top and bottom pieces at this point; I normally do it after I have glued the total-length pieces together, but in this example I did and it came out fine. I just had to exist very conscientious about maintaining my edges when clamping the pieces together.

This is really non the best way to practise it (breaking the pieces downwards early on) because you want to do as little cutting and trimming every bit possible to aid maintain a very make clean continuous edge; I got a piddling lucky here!

Assembling the Cases

Once all of the case pieces were glued and cleaned up, I used tilted my tabular array saw blade to 45 degrees and used the Incra 5000 tabular array saw sled to cut the 45 degree bevel on all the pieces; this would give me the nice continuous grain wrapping. Next, I used a dado stack in the tabular array saw to cut a dado in the side pieces that would firm the eye shelf. Lastly, I used a Festool Domino to cut tenons into the miters. These domino tenons will provide much more support than only glueing the miters themselves. Miters like this are largely an cease grain-to-end grain glue joint, which is not a strong joint. Adding something similar a domino, a beige or even a dowel, will add much more than strength to the joint one time glued.

Miter detail on the cases

And so, I dry out fit the instance to cheque alignment and become the measurement I would need for my shelves.

Cases dry fit and ready to receive the shelf and so glue-up

Once the shelves were built, I fit them into the cases and glued them in identify. It is important to maintain the aforementioned grain orientation as the sides and the top; this will ensure the shelf grain expands and contracts in the same orientation as the rest of the case. No cantankerous-grain joints here.

The case and shelf drying in clamps and edifice the drawer boxes

One time I had the example in the clamps, as seen on my demote in the above photo, I could become the measurements for my drawer and begin building it. I used poplar wood to build my drawer boxes; information technology is a smashing secondary forest for things like this. I used my Liegh D4R dovetail jig to make quick work of the drawer for each side tabular array.

I am using total-extension drawer glides on these drawers, which are almost 16" deep. I don't want to make the drawers too long. If they are too long, there could be a tendency for the table to tip if there is likewise much weight out in the front of the drawer when fully extended.

I decided to apply a piece of figured maple for my drawer fronts on this slice. I thought it would add a really nice blueprint chemical element to the piece and draw your attending to them. Here I am using business concern cards to fit the drawers to the case. I am looking for an equal reveal (gap between the drawer and the case) all the manner around the drawer front. Whatsoever fine tuning is done with a manus plane.

Using spacers, business cards in this case, to go a uniform reveal around the drawer front

Adding the Legs

Ok, I admit it...I cheated. I did not build/turn the legs for these tables. At some betoken, I had come beyond TableLegs.com and saw a set up of Mid Century Mod legs, circular and tapered, and thought "these would be cool to use sometime". So, when this project came about, I knew I had the perfect legs in listen. What I liked most most these legs is their mounting system. They actually have a "base plate" that you screw into the bottom of your piece. It is milled in such a manner that the base plate has the angle built into it, non the legs. So and then the legs are threaded into these plates and a 90 degree angle, merely the plate gives you lot the nice flared leg you are looking for. The threaded insert in the base of operations plate, as well every bit the threaded rod in the leg itself, are very heavy duty and not flimsy like you lot see in other systems. I was impressed.

The Finish

The other piece of furniture in my clients bedchamber is very mod, light and airy. The floors are white oak, with a natural finish on them, no stain. The other furniture is likewise maple and clear. Then it was a no brainer to use a natural oil terminate on these tables.

I sanded all of the surfaces to a 220 dust and then wiped everything down with a clean rag and mineral spirits to remove all the dust. Wiping down with mineral spirits likewise allows y'all to see any glue marks y'all may have missed while sanding.

I and so used a make clean rag to utilise two coats of OSMO Polyx clear satin oil to the surface. OSMO is an oil and wax mixture so the oil penetrates into the forest, as a tung oil would, and the wax remains on the surface to provide a surface barrier. When y'all use a second coat, it "reactivates" the previous glaze, allowing the oil to soak back in again. Once the oil has set, and soaked in, for several minutes, I vitrify it dry out with either a white, non-abrasive, pad or a clean rag. This product, although expensive, really lasts a long fourth dimension in the can and a trivial scrap goes a long fashion.

Conclusion

Having now congenital several Mid Century Mod manner pieces of furniture for clients, I tin can understand and appreciate the entreatment. When built correct, the article of furniture is clean in pattern yet allowed to be complex in execution. I was very glad to be able to provide my client with her very own fix of "adult tables" for her space and I look forward to building more pieces for her!

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Inspired by a large box design, I worked with my client to customize and redesign this mid Century mod shelf unit to fit her specific needs. Fabricated of solid ruddy wood and finished with a natural oil and wax cease.