Farmhouse Coffee and End Tables

Some of my first woodworking projects were quite rudimentary. I had limited tools and even less precision, so I often vied for a rustic aesthetic. This allowed any mistakes to blend in and add character. So after making a pair of end tables a couple years ago, the time had come to update one of my first ever projects, a coffee table, to properly match the same style.

Over the last decade, I’ve gradually improved my tools and though I’m still a hobbyist, certain upgrades have significantly improved my finished products. This project marked a nice milestone for me to see just how far I’ve come.

Pausing to Reflect & Chart Growth

In the first edition of the coffee table, I sought a picnic table style with angled legs, while the top was tongue and groove pine that I distressed and stained myself.

Over the years, I have experimented with dowels and miter joints, but I’ve never dabbled in true hand joinery like dovetails or box jonts. Chalk it up to my projects already being behind schedule from day one. Any slowdown in my production process to appease the purist in me never feels like a worthwhile tradeoff.

Looking back, it’s easy to see that Pocket Holes were easily the single most impactful upgrade to my skillset. They delivered the confidence I can build sturdy, long-lasting joints fairly quickly by simply adding some glue and clamping pressure. The fact that they can be concealed easily means I can ignore any risks to aesthetics. And, while I’ve never needed to disguise any pocket holes, plugs are easily added & sanded/stained to provide some finesse.

The OG Accelerators

My woodworking mentor—who also happens to be my dad¹ jokes that I should always make a handful of whatever project I have in-mind, and keep the last one for myself because it will naturally be the highest quality of the bunch. Unfortunately, I typically craft only one (or in the case of end-tables two, as one set) piece, so I’ve yet to really test my ability to increase production speed.

The alternative, though, is what woodworkers have been using for centuries; jigs. Jigs make specific tasks, whether cuts or assembly easily repeatable with high precision. The most impactful jig I’ve added to the shop is my table saw cross-cut sled. Of course, the Kreg Pocket Hole jig was the backbone for the new table base. I have my eyes on a tapering jig for cutting tapered legs on the table saw.

One other area of opportunity is templates. With templates, you can easily produce identical yet custom shapes and curves without ever free-hand sawing any material. Just rough cut with a bandsaw or jigsaw, and finish on the router with a flush trim bit. I first need to figure out what project² actually makes sense to reproduce many times over. Stay tuned…

Inflated Ideas & Tool Hoarding

There’s a recurring theme among hobbyist woodworkers, I need this new tool so I can build this thing as an endless loop to justify sinking hundreds of dollars into tools you might use once.³ One of the newer tools I was excited to use on this project was a 1HP trim router to round over the legs of the new base. Not only would this soften the look, but also soften any knicks to toes as the coffee table would be front and center in the living room.

However, I must confess that I have committed the cardinal sin of buying tools that may only be used once and then collect dust for years to come.⁴

Delivering the Farmhouse Style

Even though I was matching the base style of my new end tables, I already matched the stain of the end table tops to my coffee table. To match the bases, I envisioned the same painted 2x2 frame and legs, but I wanted to leave the bottom partially open to not crowd the floor space while still creating functional storage. I also sought to retain the two-way drawer of the original design.

Three quarter inch dowels added some support and style, while 2-way drawer slides allowed me to widen the drawer from the original which leveraged leftover tongue and groove scraps.

And there you have it!