Matching Mid Century Modern Bedside Tables
Building Matching Custom Mid Century Modern Bedside Tables
These matching Mid Century Modern bedside tables were a custom commission for another amazing client of mine here in Atlanta. They had recently moved into a new house and were in the middle of some major home remodels and wanted to add some custom furniture into the mix to reflect their own style. They saw a photo on Instagram of a similar mid century modern table I had recently done and reached out to me about designing their own custom size tables for their bedroom. This is the process by which I helped make this happen!
Wood Selection and Design
Since I had made a similar mid century modern side table in the past, and I still had it, I took it with me to their house to see how it would look next to their bed. My prototype was too small for their space, but gave us an excellent reference to design a set that would be exactly what they needed.
First, we wanted to decide on the right size for them. My prototype was too short so they needed something taller. Also, they have a California King bed so it is very tall and quite large so we needed something to help match the scale of the bed.
We decided that tables with overall dimensions of 26 inches tall, 20 inches wide and 20 inches deep would be perfect. These dimensions allowed for about a 6 inch opening as I was going to be using 1 inch thick material and using 18 inch long hairpin legs for the base. The case is also going to have a continuous grain pattern up the sides and across the top.
The material choice the client decided on was cherry wood, my personal favorite, with a natural hand rubbed oil finish and hand rubbed wax topcoat. This is my go-to finish for cherry wood and one I recommend to all my clients.
Milling the Cherry Wood
Since we were going with cherry wood, I went to my local hardwood supplier and picked up some rough sawn 5/4 solid cherry. I went with the 5/4 because I wanted the finished thickness of the boards to be 1 inch; nice and sturdy and it would look more robust next to the California King sized bed.
I love the color this cherry is already showing, even before milling it. I think it is going to look amazing!
I start the milling process by cutting the case pieces to their rough lengths. In this case, I must include the sides and the top into this rough length as I am going for that continuous grain pattern up the side, across the top and down the other side. I then run all the pieces across the joiner to get them perfectly flat on one side.
Once one side is perfectly flat, it is over to the planer to plane the opposite side parallel and then mill it down to the final thickness; one inch in this case.
Once the milling was done, I could work on gluing up the pieces that would make up the cases. Because the cherry pieces I got were so wide, I only had to glue two pieces together to get my desired depth of 20 inches.
Building the Cases
Once the panels were out of the clamps, I used a card scraper to remove some of the glue high spots and then I ran they case panels through through my SuperMax 19-38 drum sander to get the rest of the glue off and clean up the panels. This machine is awesome and definitely a luxury, but it saves me a lot of sanding time in the end.
Ok, so I kind of messed up here in the documenting of this project...it happens. I get heads down on the task at hand and forget to take photos of some processes before it is too late. I will try and explain the next part of what I did though…
Ok, so the overall height of these tables is going to be about 26 inches. The legs are 18 inches tall, so this leaves me with 8 inches for the overall height of the cases. That means the inside compartment will be about 6 inches tall (remember, the top and bottom of the cases are 1 inch thick).
Ok, so knowing that the sides of the cases will be 8 inches tall, I square the left edge of the panels. In my case, I am using a Makita track saw to square the edge, but this can be done in any number of ways; on a table saw or a circular saw and a straight edge to name a couple.
Once I have a square edge I mark over, from the left edge, 8 inches and make another straight cut; this measurement makes the left side of the case. Next, I measure from the left edge again, 20 inches for the top, and make another straight cut here. Lastly, measure over another 8 inches, from the left edge, and make the last cut which will become the right side. Now I have cut the pieces for the left side, top and right side, all in sequence. Since you will not see the bottom, it is not as critical (in my opinion) to do a continuous grain on it so I just make sure I get it to the same dimension as I did on the top (20 inches).
Next, I want to cut a 45 degree bevel on every edge that I just cut above, making sure to not remove anymore material. Meaning, I want that 45 degree bevel to hit exactly on my straight cut line. My table saw is a right tilting so it makes it a little more difficult so I use an Incra 5000 miter sled on my saw. Once I have all my long miters cut, I lay the pieces back on the bench, face side up, to make sure I maintain the continuous grain pattern and label the pieces to keep them in order.
One other design detail was to create a bevel on the inside edge of the case pieces. I did this on the table saw with the Incra 5000 as well. It adds a nice design element to the overall look and eases the opening to the case where you would reach your hands into.
The next step, before gluing, is to reinforce the miter joints as just glueing these end grain to end grain may not be strong enough. In my case, I used a Festool Domino to cut some slipped tenons and reinforce the joints. You can also use a biscuit joiner or cut splines in your joints. Then it is just a matter of gluing, clamping and making sure the cases are perfectly square!
Hairpin Legs
Once the cases were done, sanded and finish applied and dried it was time to attach the hairpin legs. I used hairpin legs from, well from www.HairpinLegs.com. I have used their products on several projects and they are great. You can get them in several different sizes and finishes. In this case, I went with the 18 inch legs in a raw finish as I was going to be painting them with a flat black paint. Their standard legs are 3/8 inch thick and their Heavy Duty line are a full half inch thick; very strong, very sturdy.
The legs come with mounting holes drilled into the mounting plates, but no hardware. You simply need #10 panhead screws, pre-drill your holes and mount the legs. My client also opted for the 3 rod version of the hairpin legs, which I think looks great and adds even more strength.
Conclusion
Building these mid century modern tables was fun and my client really loves them, which makes it rewarding for me. This particular style of mid century modern table is also a challenge when you are doing the long mitered corners and the continuous wrap-around grain pattern. I really love the look of the cherry boards I was able to select and I cannot wait to see these in a few years and watch how their color deepens and grows more rich!
Thank you for checking out my blog. I would love to hear your feedback about the project. If you like the content, consider subscribing to future posts. If you are interested in your own custom furniture piece, feel free to contact me via the form below. Thank you - Derik
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About Me…
Welcome to my blog. My name is Derik VanVleet and I am the owner/builder of VanVleet Woodworking llc. I hope you find this blog useful and insightful. Feel free to leave a comment in the bottom. Thank you!
