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End Table, Cabinet, or Nightstand
Vintage, Retro, Rustic, or
Industrial Looking
Cabinet with Fold-Up
Shelves on the Side
Design and Construction
March
2019 |
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One thing I have noticed about
most furniture...... It rarely serves more
than one purpose.
An end table usually has four legs and a flat
surface. You can only set a lamp or other
stuff on top of it. The space under the table
is dead space. Unless you stick something
underneath it.
A nightstand will usually have more functions...like
a drawer or cabinet underneath to hold items.
What I wanted was, two end tables for my living room
that:
- Functioned more like a nightstand with storage
underneath.
- Had fold-up tables/shelves on the side to function as TV
trays
- Be on wheels, so they will be easy to move around.
I also wanted the style of the end table/cabinet to
have an industrial or rustic style. I wanted the end
table/cabinet to match the
Rolling DVD Cabinet and
File
Cabinet that I had already made (see below).
The
File
Cabinet has the fold-up tables that I
plan to use on the end table/cabinet. |
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Rolling DVD Cabinet (left) and File
Cabinet
(above). Select any image to visit
the
web page for this furniture |
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The other reason I wanted the
industrial style of furniture is, our dogs.
All furniture that I am making or have bought
recently, that is in an open area of the house (can
not be closed off with a door), is dog protected.
Whenever you have dogs, there will be some chewing
on the furniture or anything else that is wood.
There is also the occasional territory marking pee.
All of our dogs are trained and rarely chew or pee
on the furniture, now that they are all adults.
But sometimes there are stressor accidents......a
clap of thunder.....a squirrel in the backyard....a
horseback rider passing by.
To protect the furniture, I place
metal on the exposed edges. There are metal or wheel
legs. Paint on all surfaces, including
underneath and inside.....to protect the wood from
moisture. |
Design Time
As with my other projects or designs, I went
to my graphic program to create and work-out
the details of this end table / cabinet.
The casters I plan to purchase are 4" high
(3" wheels). I decided on an overall
height of about 26.5". So the cabinet
without the wheels will be 22.5".
For the width and depth dimensions, I
decided on 18" as my lumber cutting size.
The depth will increase when the back and
front trim are added. The finished
width of the front and back will remain at
18".
The front of the end cabinet will have a 5" high
drawer on the top and a cabinet on the bottom.
The cabinet door and drawer opening is 12" wide so
the drawers and cabinet doors will be 11.75" wide. |
Proposed design for end table/cabinet.
Front view |
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Proposed design for end table/cabinet.
Front exploded view |
The trim on the front
will measure 3" wide for the vertical pieces
and 2" wide for the pieces above and below
the drawer.
Weathered boards will be used as decor on the front
of the drawer and cupboard door.
For the back of this cabinet, it will be
decorative. The reason for this is our
"open concept" living room. The
furniture for sitting does not go against
any wall. Therefore, the back of the
end cabinets will be visible. Might as
well make it look nice.
Weathered boards will be added to the back.
The 2 end pieces of the weathered board will
be 3" wide. This is because the aluminum
angle will be covering one inch of it.
This way all of the boards appear 2" wide. |
Proposed design for end table/cabinet.
Back view |
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Each side of
the end cabinet will have a fold-up
table. The table will be
housed inside of the recessed area.
Simple folding shelf brackets will
hold the table in-place.
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Proposed design for end table/cabinet.
Side view |
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Proposed design for end table/cabinet.
Back exploded view |
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End cabinet with both fold-up tables open |
If you
are making this end table / cabinet you will
probably want to make it out of 3/4" wood.
Here are the dimension of wood you will need
in the graphic below. You will need 2
of each except for the back if you are only
making one cabinet.
Cuts for the main furniture pieces.
Cut 2 of each and one of the back for each
end cabinet, |
Proposed design for end table/cabinet.
Side exploded view |
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If you decide to lengthen or
shorten the height of the end cabinet, you will need
to adjust the measurements given above.
For the drawer, trim, and cupboard door, it is best
to assemble the main pieces first and then measure
and cut your wood for these parts. This will
allow you to tweak the measurements a bit if the
main pieces assembled are slightly off. No
matter how hard I try, I sometimes have to tweak
measurements 1/16" or 1/32" to have an exact fitting
piece.
HOWEVER.......For
this project, I used scrap lumber. Which means
the lumber I used were scrap pieces. Read
on....................... |
Time to Get Rid of Scrap
Lumber
This project will also be the project where I get rid
of all the scrap lumber I have accumulated from the
last three projects. I have collected so much
loose lumber that storing it, has become a problem.
Since these end tables / cabinets are small, this is
the perfect opportunity to get rid of most of it.
Because I am using scrap lumber, it is not as thick
as I would want for furniture. I prefer
furniture frames of 3/4" lumber. For backs,
drawers, cupboard doors, etc......thinner wood is
OK. So in areas that the lumber was thinner
than I liked, I made some modifications to the
furniture pieces. I doubled up the 1/2" lumber
on the bottom and adding a strip of lumber to the
bottom of the 1/2" sides so that there is more
contact with the bottom piece.
Because I had a lot of slim pieces of lumber, there
are two furniture pieces that are two pieces instead
of one. One part of the bottom is two pieces
and the back is two pieces.
How I used up my scrap lumber for this project is
shown below. Please keep in mind that I am
making two end cabinets. |
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Using scrap lumber I cut the following lumber pieces
for two end cabinets.
Some bottom and back pieces are half pieces. |
For the top, sides, and fold-up
tables, I had enough whole pieces of lumber.
For the each bottom, I used one whole piece and 2
half pieces. I glued the 1/2 bottom pieces to
the whole bottom piece. This makes the bottom
close to one inch thick, which means I needed to
adjust the back pieces' length by adding around
.25". This also made the cabinet a little
taller at 22.75" (26.75" with casters)
The back pieces were then cut in two pieces adding
on the .25" length. The 2 pieces will not be
noticeable in the end because the weathered boards
will be placed over the back.
For all of the other pieces needed for the end
cabinets, I used scrap wood. For the trim, I
used 3/4" lumber. For the drawers, I used the
15/32" plywood and a dry erase board for the bottom
of the drawers. For the cabinet door, I used
15/32" plywood.
I also used scrap wood for the trim support under
the bottom drawer trim which will also help guide
the drawer. A piece of wood glued to the top
that was then screwed to the side, which firmly
secures the top to the sides.
Besides the wood, I had to buy everything else I
needed: The paint, aluminum angles, drawer
pulls, upholstery tacks, spray paint, folding table
brackets, weathered wood, casters, hinges, weathered
pine trim, (for the drawer and cabinet door), dry
erase board (drawer bottom), corner protectors and corner supports.
Items were bought in-store at Lowes, or online at
The Home Depot, Amazon, or Build.com |
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Material Purchases |
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Corners
For the corners of the cabinet, I wanted a
metal bumper or guard to cover the edges of
the aluminum angles on the edges. Easier said
than done. I did finally settle on the
one pictured to the right. However, it
was not my first choice after 3 days of
searching.
These corners are easy enough to find for a
small box or a trunk, but not for large
furniture. I needed to find a corner
that was more than an inch from left to
right and up and down so the corner of the
aluminum angle will be covered.
These fit the bill. |
Antrader 8pcs Metal Box
Corner Protector Edge Safety Bumpers
Furniture Corner Guard Bronze Tone 2.8" x
2.8" x 1.2"
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/
B07CV625R7/ref=
oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 |
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Faux
Rivets
I actually wanted smaller nails or tacks for
the rivet look on the edges of the aluminum
corner angles. However, I could not readily
find them and I wanted something more
decorative looking than a regular nail or
screw.
What I did find a lot of, were upholstery
tacks. All kinds of tacks in different
colors and styles. BUT the one
consistent size was 7/16". So I had a
choice between smaller less decorative nails
or larger upholstery tacks. I went
with the tacks.
There was no way that these tacks could be
hammered through 16 gauge aluminum. So
I needed something that would punch a hole
through my aluminum angles before I put the
tacks on. So I found a hole punch for
metal up to 16 gauge steel. |
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Casters
This style of
caster has a retro look, which is why I
liked it. It is similar to the wheels on the
Rolling DVD Storage Cabinet.
It also has polyurethane wheels which are
much better for ceramic tile floors.
I would have preferred non-locking casters
for this piece of furniture, but the locking
was the only option available for this
style.
Each caster can support 100lb. The end
cabinet will never hold that much.
Headbourne 8276E Designer Casters 3 inch
Polyurethane Black Mag Designer Caster, 4 Pack
https://www.amazon.com/gp/
product/B076FGP5H1 |
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Folding Shelf Brackets
You have to be careful ordering this
type of folding bracket. I made the
mistake of looking for a cheaper folding
bracket than the one below. The
bracket shown below was perfect.
Should have stuck with it from the get go.
For the tight space on the side 1.75", you
need to make sure that the bracket, when
closed, folds your shelf and holds it flush
to the side, completely vertical. The
cheaper bracket I initially purchased for
this project, did not allow the shelf to lay
flat, it flared out at the bottom two
inches. The lever that you pull-on to
close the bracket, popped it out. The
Yumore bracket below, has a lever that
collapses flat against the surface and does
not push the bottom out. What I
needed.
The cheaper brackets I did not use? I
will use them on another fold-up shelf
project, that does not require that the
shelf be as close to the vertical wall of
the furniture or actual wall. They had
a black painted surface that got scratched
up a bit, so I could not return them. |
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YUMORE Folding Shelf Brackets 12”, Max Load: 330lb
Heavy Duty Stainless Steel Collapsible Shelf Bracket
for Table Work Bench, Space Saving DIY Bracket, Pack
of 2
Bought 4 sets of 2. 2 sets for each
table.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07F3RBFXC/
ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00__o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 |
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Assembly
Begins
Frame Construction
Because I was using a
lot of scrap lumber, I needed to beef-it-up in some
areas.
If you are using all 3/4" lumber and not 1/2"
scraps, like me. You only need to add scrap strips
of lumber to the underside of the top piece and
along the side where the bottom of the drawer and
front trim piece will go. |
Scrap lumber being added to the side to
beef-up my 1/2" lumber. If you are
using a side piece that is 3/4" thick, you
would only need to add the piece that will
go below the drawer. |
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For the
top, you will need to add some scrap lumber
or trim, at least 3/4" thick, to the
underside.
You can nail it or glue it. This will
allow you to attach the top to the sides
through the sides. On the bottom, the
screws will go straight rough the bottom
into the sides. |
Scrap 3/4" lumber being added to underside
of top pieces |
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I just used glue because adding
the back and the front trim pieces further keeps the
whole piece of furniture together. The back
and trim pieces were nailed on. |
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Basic frame of end cabinet done showing different
stages |
After this point, I neglected to
take any pictures until I was done with the end
cabinets. You can view the assembly process
for either the
Rolling DVD Cabinet or the
File
Cabinet, which were built in using the
same methods.
After assembling all of the pieces, I painted
everything. One coat of the 32 oz can Minwax Polyshade Satin finish - Espresso
(used almost whole can) and 2 coats of a 32 oz can Minwax Polyshade Satin finish - Pecan
(about half a can).
The Espresso is a very dark color. Since I was
painting mostly plywood, the wood soaked up the
paint. I used less of the Pecan because it was
not being soaked in.
After applying the Espresso and it had dried, I
sanded the wood until enough grain was showing
through. Then the Pecan was applied, sanding
between coats.
For the top of the end cabinets and the folding
shelves, I added a third coat of Pecan. This
is to protect them from food and liquid.
The casters were then added on the bottom of the end
cabinets to make them easier for me to move around
the garage while I worked on them. |
Back of
End Cabinet
When the
end cabinets were constructed, the back of
the cabinets just had two scrap pieces of
1/2" plywood on the back. One piece
was particularly gnarly with a 3 inch knot.
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Back of the end cabinets covered with the weathered
wall boards which were
cut and glued onto the plywood back. |
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Since these cabinets will be rolling around
the living room daily, the back needed to
look decent.
The weathered wall boards were
glued onto the back following the exploded view
above, with 3" wide boards on the end and 2" wide
boards on the rest. I modified the design a
little bit. After the 3" wide pieces were
added, I placed a 2" wide horizontal piece in the
middle to break up the space. Then I cut
smaller vertical 2" pieces to fill in the space.
Two coats of Pecan were painted onto the weathered
wood back. The weathered board was placed on
BEFORE the metal edges were installed. |
Aluminum Angle Edge Trim and Faux Rivets
For the
decorative and protective trim along the edges, the
aluminum angles were used. First they needed
to be cut to size with a hacksaw. I needed the
following cuts:
This is for two end cabinets. If you are only
making one, cut the amount in half.
8 - 16" - for for horizontal top front, top back,
bottom front, bottom back.
8 - 17" - for horizontal edges on the sides,
top and bottom
8 - 21" - for all four vertical edges of both end cabinets.
Of note....the angles did not need to be the exact
edge dimensions of the cabinet because the corner
protectors will be installed on top of the angles. So I cut pieces
shorter than the cabinet edges.
After they were cut, I punched holes in the aluminum
every 3", starting in the center, and measuring
towards the end.
Only the
edges that would be visible, excluding the
top, had holes
punched. So the edges that are under
the cabinet or on the back, will not have the
faux rivets (upholstery tacks).
The aluminum was then sanded down to rough-up the
surface. I sanded lengthwise kind-of creating
a grain.
The aluminum angles were then given a few
coats of Rust-Oleum Oil Rubbed Bronze spray
paint.
The
Antrader Metal Corner
Protectors were also painted so they would
match the angles.
The angles were added onto the cabinet after all of
the wood painting was done. Metal
corners were then installed over the edges of the
angles. I use clear caulk under the angles to
glue them in place. Why clear caulk?
Less runny than glue and dries clear after a few
days. |
Folding Shelves Installed
After the
angles were installed on the edges, I
installed the four folding shelves after
painting them.
The
shelves are nothing more than a 3/4" piece of
lumber cut 16" x 19" and held in place with
the folding shelf bracket.
When a shelf is open, it can be rolled
around to where it is needed. |
Side of the end cabinets |
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Folding shelf is rolled around easily where
it is needed. |
Side of the end cabinets with one shelf opened |
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End cabinet with both folding shelves open |
After using this
folding shelf as a TV tray, I have found that it is
sooooo much more easier than one of those folding TV
trays.
First off, you can move this shelf close to you as
you sit on a couch. With the folding TV trays,
you are stuck sitting on the edge of the coach and
leaning forward.
Second, it is more stable. Less chance of a
dog bumping a tray and spilling the contents.
Third. You just fold it down, and it is out of
the way. With a folding TV tray....you have to
store it somewhere when you are done with it. |
Drawers and Cabinet Doors
The
drawers are nothing more than a simple box.
I used scrap 1/2" plywood for the sides and
the dry erase board for the bottom of the drawers.
I originally had 4" high drawers in the
design phase but changed it to 5". The
width of the drawers are 1/4" smaller than
the 12" opening. No glides were used
because the drawers are small and
lightweight.
See
File
Cabinet
drawers
for more details.
For these drawers, I used glue and screws to
hold them together. |
Drawer in place showing white
dry erase board surface. |
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For the cabinet
door, I just used a rectangular piece of 1/2"
plywood, cut to fit just inside the opening.
For the decorative front of the drawers and cabinet
door I used:
Severe Weather
(Common: 1-in X 2-in x 8-ft; Actual:
0.625-in x 1.375-in x 8-ft) #1 Treated
Lumber - Yellow Pine
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Severe-Weather-Common-1-in-X-2-in-x-8-ft-Actual-0-625-in-x-1-375-in-x-8-ft-1-Treated-Lumber/50441838 |
This
trim was glued and nailed directly onto the
drawer front and cabinet door, after cutting
it to size to frame the surface with mitered
cuts on the corners. The drawers and
cabinets doors were then given one coat of
the Espresso paint on all surfaces.
The weathered wall board was then cut to
fit. For these surfaces, I cut the
weathered board 1.5" wide. This way, I
had an even amount of boards in the space
between the frames.
The drawers and the cabinet fronts were then
painted with the Pecan |
End table / cabinets complete |
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All images on this page are
copyrighted |
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