Well, it’s been about 3 1/2 years since my last furniture project, and even longer since I made something for our own enjoyment. This project came about after we finally upgraded our TV from the 300 lb behemoth that I got after college to a nice, new flatscreen. With all my audio equipment, DVD, CD player and everything else sitting in disarray underneath the new TV, Maria politely suggested that we get a TV stand. Being the frugal person that I am, I decided that rather than drop a hundred dollars or more on something that would look decent, but still not match our other living room furniture, I would come up with a design of my own that mimics our coffe and end tables. However, since I didn’t have any substantial amount of mahogany on hand, or a fancy production line to make elaborate glue-ups, I had to get creative to mimic the ‘butcher-block’ table top and stain the cherry that I had to match. The result turned out great, and since I had 90% of the materials on hand, the project cost less than $30!!
This is our mahogany coffee table. It has a subtle oriental style with slightly flared, big-block legs and is topped with a butcher block-style tableThe trick to mimic'ing butcher block is how to glue up 1-1/2" wide sticks of wood without being able to clamp them end-to-end. My solution was a good 'ol pocket screw!A look at a few of the glued and screwed sticks.The entire tabletop getting glued together from a batch of 14 random length 'sticks'.The tabletop after rough sanding...quite the awesome effect!A look at the rough assembly before final sanding and staining.After applying the dark mahogany stain...beautiful!Sanding down the dust nibs after the dark brown and clear spray coats of lacquer.Starting the final assembly.Proudly posing with the final result.A close up of one side of the table. I added 'distressed' nicks & bumps to give the stand character to match the other furniture.A look at it finally in place...just awesome.Fully accessorized!
