Another case for making models
We need a small side table to go beside a new lounge chair we recently bought.
My wife didn’t even have to ask; I know my role in this relationship. Side tables clearly fall into my territory. I was also more than happy to take on this little project.
Small furniture projects like this are probably my favourite. They don’t require a lot of material, so the cost is low. They don’t take a long time to make, and I’m not going to wrench my back lifting heavy parts. And in this case, the table will be front and centre in our living room, so it will get a chance to shine.
There’s no reason to go overboard with complex details, wild grain or overly bold colours. This will be a fairly simple table, have a unique design element (or two) to give it some style.
The area it’s destined for doesn’t lend itself to a square or rectangular table. A triangular top with three legs was what I wanted, and my wife agreed.
Start with a model
Proportion is critical with a smaller piece like this. If one of the parts is slightly too thick, too thin or otherwise wrong it will stick out like a sore thumb. Rather than jump right into the hard maple selection I have, and potentially throw money out the window, I grabbed a few 2x6s and started sketching. I had a fairly well-thought out design in my head, but I still needed to see it in full size to make sure.
With about an hour left in the day, two days ago, I made the curved legs, narrowing as they approached the floor, then cut a few short aprons to act as visual placeholders under the table top. I then made a simple top out of plywood to place on top of the legs. There was no real joint between the legs and aprons; each leg was screwed to the top, then the aprons were butted up against the rear edge of the leg and screwed in place.
The thing with models is that they don’t have to be strong. As long as they stand up, they’re strong enough. Screws and nails are usually enough, though sometimes hot-melt glue, CA adhesive or maybe even wood glue is needed. I don’t like wasting time at this stage. Cheap materials and super-fast joints are what I use. If I want to explore a different colour, I’ll whip out the brown, light tan or dark red spray paint and do what’s needed. Because the legs required a bit of hand shaping to further refine their shape, I spent about five minutes adding a touch of style to each leg with hand tools.
How’s it look?
I put the parts together, sat it on the workshop floor, stood back and didn’t like it one bit. Some more refining and it still didn’t really “speak” to me. I didn’t hate it, but I wasn’t inspired. It was the end of the day anyways, so I tossed it in the car. When I got home, I set it in place and called my wife. I didn’t even have to ease her mind by saying something like, “Now, be honest. Tell me what you really think.” She said, “It’s good. Well, it’s okay.” Not exactly a glowing review, is it? We left it alone for a few hours, then went back to it. Neither one of us loved it, and we both quickly talked each other into disliking it.
Maybe it was too chunky. Maybe it was too tall. Maybe this, maybe that. Hard to say.
Back to the shop
Yesterday I did a bit more refining, changed a few angles, adjusted a few details and set it back up. Still no. Not only did I not like the amount of negative space under the table, but I thought the legs looked too much like a spider creeping across the floor. Back to the drawing board.
I wondered if adding some thin strips of wood between the inner face of the legs and the aprons would help alleviate the negative space problem, so I added these pieces, too. Back home at the end of the day, and still nobody really loved what was going on.
Back to the shop…again
As I stood there earlier today, scratching my head, I remembered a coffee table I made years ago. I’ve had a set of six legs sitting around the shop from that project for the past seven years or so. I like their shape and thought they might work nicely in this situation. I ran up to grab them and started working with them. I quickly fashioned a tenon on the end of each of the aprons and loosely joined the legs to them. Mortises were already machined into the legs from the previous job, which was nice.
Because of the legs’ tear-drop cross section, they sat too far away from the tabletop. I notched the top to accept the legs and readjusted the aprons. Things were looking good. The negative space problem was gone, it was less spider-like and I really liked the overall design. It was unlike the typical “top sitting on a base” design, which I also liked. The legs weren’t fully refined yet, but I’d let my wife know they would look sleeker than this. Thankfully, I still had the spruce leg I used to refine the shape of the leg years ago, so I could show her what the more compete leg design would look like.
With another 45 minutes under my belt, I put this model on hold and got back to another project. The plan was to bring it home tonight and see what my wife thought. After spending the day at the shop, I’m home now, eagerly awaiting her return like a puppy dog.
While we wait for her reaction, check out this article on making models I wrote a few years ago. It covers all the basics and shares a few tips and tricks on how to not waste time or money, yet end up with a full-sized 3D model you can put in your home and live with for a short period of time while you decide if you love it or not.
First Try
This was what I took home to my wife at the end of round one. It’s not awful, but it just didn’t inspire us.
Keep It Simple
Rather than spending time and money creating real joints, fake everything you can. This through tenon was nailed on in about 60 seconds.
Second Try
This is round two with a thinner top, slightly adjusted legs and thin strips between the legs and the apron. It was okay, but not what we wanted to look at for who knows how long.
Third Try
Different legs, notched corners on the top and different aprons. The spruce leg in the centre is the more refined shape. I hope she likes it, because I do.
Keep Waste Down
This is just a small percentage of the parts I created over the past few days. It’s much cheaper to do this with spruce than hard maple.
I appreciate you sharing your design process with us! I’m always thinking to get it right the first time and of course never do.
You left me hanging! I look foward (anxiously) to see the final product. So far I agree with the rejections.