I set out to build a custom table that would be placed near a front door. So, I am calling this an entryway table, but maybe people would call it a console table or a cabinet or a wooden storage thingy.

Finished Picture

The finished table measures 73″ long, 32″ high and 19″ deep.

BUILD VIDEO

The build video is a bit long, but I spend a lot of time in front of the camera talking through the details.

Materials

• (2X) Sheets of 3/4″ plywood (oak in my case)
• (1X) Sheet of 1/2″ plywood (birch for drawers)
• 1/2 Sheet of 1/4″ plywood (for back)
• (1X) 1X8 oak (8 foot long or so for false fronts))
• (3X) 1X4 oak (7 foot long or so for edging material)
  • I don’t recall how much I actually used, but it may have only been 2 boards worth and not 3
• (2X) Quart of General Finishes Dark Chocolate Milk Paint
  • I barely used the second quart but needed it
• Polyurethane
  • I have been using water based poly by varathane
• (1X) 36″ long 1/4″ Dowel (for drawer reinforcement)
• (3X) 18″ drawer slides
• (3X) Handles/Pulls
• Glue, nails, etc

Overall Build Process

I won’t go into painstaking detail here since my video covers most of the build process. A few things never made the video and I will elaborate a bit on those below.

• Cut and Mill Edging Material
• Cut Table Parts to Depth
• Add Edging to all visible plywood edges
  • Not required except for the top edge of Left and Right Vertical “Legs”
  • You can add the edging after it is glued. If you are not going to paint this project you should add it after the glue up since I got some pretty good tearout when cutting the dadoes
• Flush Trim the edging
  • Definitely use the L or U shaped fence for this. It is so much quicker
• Cut Joinery
• Dry fit
• Finish cutting all parts to size
• Dry Fit Again
  • Mark where the rabbets have to be cut for the back panels
• Measure for drawer parts
• Cut rabbets for back panel
  • I use a rabbeting bit in my router
  • As well as flush trim bit for the center vertical divider
    • Rabbeting bit first to do half, then flush trim to do other half
• Sand and Pre-finish the internals
• Glue up
• Cut, Sand, Poly internal surfaces of drawer parts and bottoms
  • I should have waited, but didn’t
• Fill Gaps, Add Paint and Poly
• Mount Drawers and pulls

Some Build Details

When flush cutting the edging here is the U-fence I mention that is super handy. It is just screwed together from 3 pieces of 3/4 plywood. The face of the fence is flush with the saw blade, so the plywood pieces can pass through and get “flushed” up. The proud edging can pass through the gap created between the U-Fence and the table saw surface.

Here is a quick snapshot of the paint and poly used

Lots of edging was cut to cover the front and back of each piece

Rabbet Mistake

I added a rabbet to the back of the table after I had cut all my other joinery. I think this was a mistake since my bearing could “fall” into the dadoes as seen below and remove a big chunk of wood. Fortunately I was able to fix this mistake. I squared that cut up with a chisel and filled it with a piece of oak hardwood and I couldn’t even see it.

If I were to build it over again, I would cut all of the internal parts 1/4″ narrower and only rabbet the very top and sides. That would have allowed me to insert a large piece of plywood across the entire back of the table. Right now you can see the drawer boxes from the rear of the table. I think this would also require the table to be 1/4″ deeper to still use the 18″ drawer slide and inset fronts.

Drawer Mistake

During the build I screwed up my drawers. I knew that the outer two opening were about 1/16 wider than the center. Unfortunately, I still cut all my drawer pieces to the same size, duh. So I had to add a hardwood “shim” between the drawer and drawer slide. I used some CA glue to hold it in place and then assembled the slide to the drawer. The screws go through the shim and into the drawer. The glue up was pretty crazy on this table. I am thinking pocket screws would have been a smart alternative to the rabbets and dadoes in the LH and RH legs.

Finished Pictures

Overall the build took me about 41 hours to complete. Which seems like a really long time, but it went by fast and was a fun build. This paint color matches pretty well with “black brown” from Ikea and also matches pretty well with General Finished “JAVA” gel stain.