sofa side table

shortly after designing and buying my custom sofa i noticed a c-shaped table from crate&barrel. it's a great design. the table is just high enough to clear the arm of a sofa, and the c-shape allows the table top to be pulled over the sofa. the $350 price tag quickly deterred me picking one up. "shit, for $350 i can make one of these".

and that's what i did.

i can't take all of the credit, dad is the one who built the wood shop in his home. he also purchased all of the wood. and most importantly provided the beer. it all started with some back and forth sketches.



first step, measure out the wood. there was enough scrap wood to make three tables. two would be made from mahogany, and one from cherry. this includes the feet, legs and arms only. tops will be figured out later.


marking the wood with chalk assures we've accounted for all the pieces we need. remember to measure twice and cut once!


here are the cut pieces for all three tables. can you tell which is the cherry and which are the mahogany?



we decided to use morties and tenon joints. it's a strong yet simple joint, and when done right can be pretty nifty looking. the morties are made with a router.





the tenons are cut on the table saw with a dado blade.


loosely assembled the tables are taking shape.


non load bearing joints were connected with pocket screws


each table was glued and clamped. we used pieces of wood at right angles to assure that the legs and arms were set perpendicular (nobody wants a crooked table).



a close up of the glued joints followed by the two mahogany frames with dry glue all ready to go. time to get these topless tables some tops.


because the table was my concept, i was able to claim the cherry table as my own. and since dad had made a kitchen table with cherry (and this project was using the scrap wood from that project) he was okay with that. the piece on the right is a 1" thick piece of cherry that i wanted to use for the top. i would re-saw the piece, resulting in two 1/2" thick pieces. then those two pieces would be book-matched. dad had created the left most piece while learning to veneer. this is 4 pieces of sequentially cut walnut veneer pieces on a piece of mdf. the third table was initially going to use part of the large center piece, which was also a veneering piece my dad created earlier. we later scrapped that idea.


dad made a frame out of walnut. he then used a router to carve out a groove where the walnut veneer piece will sit. the knot will be filled in with clear epoxy come finishing time.


my re-sawn and book-matched cherry top was then glued to a piece of plywood for added strength and rigidity. the bag is attached to a vacuum that sucks the air out, applying uniform pressure for a perfect glue. the white board underneath is grooved so that no air pockets form. air pockets could infect our perfect glue job.


a solid cherry frame was glued to the edge of my cherry top. thumbs up was given.


the two table tops sitting atop their respective frames. at this point everything fits and the final dimensions are to the specs we designed for. if you're wondering about the third table, don't worry it got a top too.

the tables were sanded and finished. unfortunately i wasn't able to partake in this process i had to go back home. but i must say, mom did a fantastic job with the finish! when the table was complete they shipped it to me.


please, have a seat! chips and salsa anyone?
[notice the coaster underneath the salsa]