Simple End Tables

This year for Christmas my wife asked if I could make her an end table for a chair she oftens sits to read in. I have been pretty busy with a lot of projects so I tried to do this as simple as possible. 

We had an old vanity that needed way to much work to make it a usable vanity so i decided to make it into two end tables (double the gifts)!

First thing was to chop this puppy in half and the legs off, something my mom taught me all to well as she often did this with furniture. 

Once the halves were cut and legs chopped off I routered the cut edges and bottoms of the legs. 

Next a little sanding, not too much as I wanted to keep the old look, and then a poly finish. 

After the finish some knobs and all done. This was very easy to do and in all about an hour, not including poly dry time.

Weekend Projects - The Buffet Table that wasn't Meant to Be

Another project that I needed to finish was a buffet table for our dinning room.

I wanted to do a farmhouse/industrial style table.

I had some old oak 1 x 8's planks, 6 x 6 cedar fir posts, some 1 x 2 1/2 metal tubing, and two old milk baskets that I planned on using.

I drew up a simple plan of what I wanted, but make sure you check measurements more than once!  I was supposed to subtract 10" from the depth of the table but ended up adding 10".  So the table that was supposed to end up being a buffet table has ended up being something different.  

The table would have the 6 x 6's as legs, the metal as banding on bottom and top with another banding on the table top, then wood in the middle of the top banding, and finally some wood across the bottom banding for the metal baskets to go on.  

I had to start with welding the metal tubing to create the banding for the bottom and the top.  

Next was the tedious task of notching the 6 x 6's for the metal banding to recess into.  

To do this I chose to use my circular saw set at 1" depth (the depth of the metal) and created several cuts.

Once the cuts are made simply knock them out with a hammer.

After that was done I took a rasp to the notches to clean them out. 

From here on I failed to take pictures, sorry.  

Next I had to assemble.  The metal bands were attached into the notches on the legs and then I welded a band to the top to create a metal edge for the top of the table.  I then attached the 1 x 8 planks to finish the top.

For the base, where the metal baskets would sit, I used some old 1x's and spaced them a few inches part on the metal.  

The finished table...

The table didn't end up becoming a buffet table but instead became a new table for our sunroom.  

Weekend Projects - Mirror

So I hope that no one else is like me in that I have a problem with starting projects without finishing the previous one first.  Because of this problem I have many projects that need to get done ASAP as we are about to have a baby girl and things need to be done!

So this past weekend I decided to get them done, or at least give it my best effort.

One of them was to finish our guest bathroom which meant making a mirror, or at least framing one.

I had an old mirror that came off an old dresser that we threw away.  It was just the mirror itself so i needed to make a frame for it.

I started with some 1x4's that were left over from trimming out our windows (another blog entry possibly) and used these for the main part of the frame.  

I cut them so the 1x4's would overlap the mirror on all sides by 1".

Once cut I made sure they would be square and then off to the table saw.

In order for the mirror to sit flush on the back I had to cut out the back of the 1x4's and used the table saw to do this.  

With all the wood cut, slots made, and an initial sanding it was time for joining them together.  

I used the Kreg system (I mentioned how this works in a previous blog) and glue to join these together.  The Kreg makes tight, square, and even joints when done correctly.  

Testing the mirror for fit...and it fits well.

Next I used some left over molding and attached it to the face of the 1x4's with some trim nails.

I then filled all the holes with Elmers wood filler.  This stuff works great.  It is made with wood sawdust, dries, fast, sands great, and can be painted or stained.

Once I finished sanded I panted the frame with Rustoleum Metallic Oil Rubbed Bronze Spray paint.  

All finished!

Tripod Lamp

I had seen several tripod lamps on different websites and wanted to try making one.  I had an old stage light that was free that would work great for the lamp.

I found the tripod at my local antique store for $45.  It looks like an old army tripod of some sort.  It is a pretty cool tripod. 

This was really pretty easy to make. 

The Light: All I had to do was take out the guts and install a UL light socket, cord, and switch (all from Lowes for $9).  The socket was attached right through the back of the light.

Light to Tripod pole:  This had to be manufacture.  I took a 1 1/2" round tube (the size of the tripod's hole) and welded a washer to the top of it so that the light could be attached.  

The finished product:

Once the socket, plug, and switch were installed, the pole attached to the lamp, and the hole thing assembled this is how it turned out.  

In all it took 30 min max to make this.  I haven't decided if I am going to sell it or keep it yet.  We'll see.

Reclaimed Apple Crates for Kitchen Cabinet

Around April of this year I began a kitchen remodel that still has some finishing touches yet to be done.  I have been wanting to share it but would rather wait until it is completed.  Until then I thought I would share a cabinet that I made for the remodel.

We were given a bunch of old Hospital cabinets from the 70's I am guessing, not sure, and they are pretty nice cabinets.  They are all metal except for the top cabinets which have glass doors which we really like.

As with any old cabinet set we had to make these cabinets work for our kitchen.  We only had 5 base cabinets and 4 upper cabinets.  

They all fit well but there was one area next to the refrigerator that was too large to leave open, and we were out of base cabinets.  I was thinking of buying a wood cabinet and painting it the same color but thought it would look like I was trying to make it match.  So I took a trip to a local antique store.  

There is this guy in Vienna, MO that has almost anything old.  He has about 5 large buildings just jam packed.  I went looking for something that would do the job and came back with three old apple crates.

This is what the cabinet looks like, it still needs the base trim put on.  

There is a small area between the crate cabinet and the metal cabinet for storing cutting boards.

The construction wasn't to difficult.  I made a simple cabinet shell out of 3/4" plywood just large enough for the crates to fit.  

Next I used 16" drawer slides to install the drawers.  These can be purchased at any hardware store and have directions on the back.

One package will include all hardware to install one drawer; two sets of slides and screws.

These are easy to install.  The slide for the cabinet is attached flush on the face of the cabinet (this has trim that was attached afterwards) and flush with the base of the drawer. 

The slide for the drawer is attached flush at the face of the drawer, or right at the back of the drawer front, and about an inch up from the bottom.

The slides have stops built into them so the drawers don't come flying out when little ones like my kids pull on them.

All I had to do to the crates to prep them for being drawers was put a few coats of polyurethane on to protect the paper advertising, put some drawer pulls on, and some trim on the edges.

The drawer pulls were all items I had laying around:

The drawer face trim (some old wood I had):

The finished product, well almost finished.