Beautiful Entryway Table W/ Dovetail Drawers

This entryway table is made with a hardwood counter, matching tapered legs and knobs, as well as a plywood frame. I needed something rather small to fit the area next to my front door, so this is what I built. It has two drawers, both of which are dovetailed, and two shelves.

Step 1: Making the Top

I started with the top. I had some extra ipe I had cut up for a media stand I built a few weeks back, which is matching

First I'm arranging the wood, drawing the lines to remind myself which side is up, marking out where the dowels need to go, and then using the doweling jig here to drill holes. I figured three dowel holes accross the piece should be plenty, so just going down the line on each board. Putting down some glue, and clamping the whole thing together.

Then I let that set up. Now, the next day I realized the crack which previously was quite small in one section, had drastically increased, so I mixed some epoxy, fixer of everything, and clamped it up, and it actually worked out really great.

Step 2: Finishing the Top

Once the epoxy had dried, I set up the circular saw and cut the piece to size. And then started the process of thorough sanding. To chamfer the edges, I used a block plane, and I really like using the hand tools here, it gives you great control. Then time for more sanding and finally finishing. I'm using a wipe on gel urethane which gives the pieces a really nice feel without being overly glossy, totally I put on three coats.

Step 3: Building the Base

Now let's focus on the base. I started with cutting the plywood to size. Then I began building the base here, and corner clamps really make it easy to get perfectly square corners. For the construction I'm simply using glue and screws, and I'm pretty much building a box. So putting in a middle shelf here, and then separator and I'm using a clamp to keep it in place.

Then painting the unit, and I'm also adding some additional support in the back with some pocket screws.

Step 4: Finishing the Base

Now the drawer fronts are going to go on the outside here, so I've got some thin strips of plywood that I'm going attach to the sides to create an even look. And I'm just cutting these to size, and then attaching with a nail gun.

Once that was complete I brought the piece out and I started with adding some spackle on the sides of the plywood. And this actually makes a huge difference when you want to create a nice smooth surface including the end grain, when using plywood. So I put on a pretty liberal amount, let it dry and then sand it. And then I gave the whole piece a couple of coats of paint, and it's looking good.

Step 5: The Feet

Now, let's move on to the feet. So I'm making tapered legs out of ipe, these are matching the pieces in the media stand, however they're a touch shorter. This time I was a little smarter and I cut the pieces the perfect length first, and then shaped that one piece, so I didn't do any cutting which was a lot faster. I actually really like these legs - both making them, and the look of them.

Then after drilling a hole in each leg, I epoxied in a bolt. Then I used a clamp to attach a tee-nut in each corner of the bottom shelf.

Step 6: The Drawers

OK, so I have the drawers to work on now. I'm actually using some really nice maple here that I'm cutting to size. Now to connect the drawers together, I'm using a dovetail jig, and once you have this set up right, it's really fun to use, and it makes for very handsome drawers. I could definitely see using this more, especially if I was making a lot of drawers.

For the bottom of the drawers I have some 1/4 inch maple glued up here. Now to hold the drawers in place, I'm routing out a 1/4 inch groove in the sides. Then to make the drawer slide in easily, I'm chamfering the edges with a block plane here, and this is so the bottom can float freely. Then it was simply a matter of gluing the drawers together, inserting the bottom, and gluing on the final piece.

Step 7: Finishing & Attaching the Drawers

I decided to finish the drawers with a water based polyurethane, which is really nice because it dries so quickly.

To attach the drawers, I'm using some really nice drawer slides, and this jig makes it easier to attach. The sound when they click in place is just awesome. And both the drawers are in.

Now to attach the drawer fronts, I first put on some hot glue to fit them perfectly, and then I used some of these really handy clamp before screwing it in from the back.

Step 8: The Knobs

Only one last thing missing - the hardware. So I'm making some matching ipe knobs on the lathe here. So I've got a 2 inch block here, with a 15/64 inch hole drilled all the way through. Then I'm forming a knob, making sure it's the right size, sanding and finishing with some shellac before cutting it off. And then repeating with the second one. Then I've got some really cool hardware, that makes it very easy to create this and attach it to your project.

And for a final touch, I'm adding some of my tung oil beeswax polish on all the hardwood parts with some steel wool, and it just makes it super smooth. And it's done.