MCM Console Table

The house I was renting at the time in Portland only had two south facing windows, so I really needed to make good use of them for my succulents. One happened to also be the ideal location for a window AC unit to help survive the 100+ F summer days. So I thought it would be prudent to try to design an attractive, easy to build console table which could hold my plants and allow the AC to operate unobstructed.

I found the angles and clean lines of the mid-century modern style to be very appealing. To that end, I went through a few iterations of the design in my “Maker” copy of Solidworks until I found proportions that I really liked. Unfortunately that resulted in some pretty whacky measurements and angles in the end. I am sure that it wouldn’t have been hard to make some of the number round, but that wasn’t a big worry for me. Here is a link to my shop drawings..

I wanted to experiment with a different domestic species of hardwood, so I went with cherry. It was cheap and really easy to work with, particularly with hand tools. The only annoying part was that it burns super easy, so it pays to make sure that blades and router bits are completely clean from built up wood sap.

To make this project move quickly, I thought it would be a great opportunity to try out an alternative joinery technique to the traditional mortise and tenon. This table should never see any exceedingly heavy loads so I decided to try doweled joints. I picked up a relatively cheap doweling jig like the one shown below.

This jig worked really well, but the collars left something to be desired. They tended to break loose way too easily. Replacing them to a split-ring style collar would be a great upgrade.