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This second build stage finishes the console table’s basic construction: the author corrected the leg placement, added the lower shelf, built six drawers, and installed homemade wooden guides. It does not finish the furniture. Filling, sanding, staining or painting, and installing the final hardware remain for a later installment.
The account is a first-person project log rather than a fully dimensioned, independently tested plan. It gives the joinery sequence and material choices, but not the table’s overall measurements, a consolidated cut list, project cost, load rating, or a safety assessment. Use it to understand the build and develop your own measurements before cutting stock.
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What Part 2 actually completes
The author built the console upside down, then made a correction before moving on: the large leg pieces were inset farther from the corners than desired, so they were repositioned closer to the corners. Trim was added around the underside of the top case. With that upper structure adjusted, the lower shelf and its supporting leg sections could be installed.
After the table was turned upright, the author built six drawers sized to their individual openings. Each drawer received a plywood front, solid-lumber sides and back, a 1/4-inch MDF bottom captured in grooves, and a simple wooden guide system. The result is a usable basic carcass, not a finished piece ready for paint, stain, or final presentation.
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The primary build post was published August 1, 2018 and updated September 16, 2023. A related completion post, published August 6, 2018 and updated September 16, 2023, documents the later decorative and finishing work.
Materials, tools, and the limits of the plan
| Item | Use in the author’s build |
|---|---|
| Plywood | Drawer fronts; the later completion post identifies birch plywood for the top and lower shelf. |
| 1×6 lumber | Drawer sides and backs. |
| 1×2 lumber | Four pieces forming the lower-shelf frame. |
| 1/4-inch MDF | Drawer bottoms. |
| Wood glue | Lower-shelf and drawer assembly. |
| Pocket screws | Joining drawer sides to the fronts. |
| Brad nails | Securing drawer backs after the boxes were checked for square. |
| 16-gauge, 2-inch nails | Attaching the lower shelf to the leg sections. |
| Scrap wood | Ripped into strips for the homemade drawer guides. |
| Table saw | Cutting the bottom grooves and ripping guide strips. |
This is not a complete shopping list. The post does not provide measured overall dimensions, a consolidated cut list, a complete quantity breakdown for every board, a price, or a load-capacity claim. It also does not identify a table-saw or pocket-hole-jig model. Those omissions matter: the drawer fronts, shelf length, and guide positions must be determined from the openings and frame you build, not copied from a universal measurement.
Construction sequence for the lower shelf
1. Correct the large-leg placement
The initial upside-down assembly revealed that the large leg pieces sat too far inward. The author moved them closer to the corners before continuing. This is a project-specific adjustment, but it illustrates why dry-fitting the leg sections against the top case is valuable: the apparent proportions are easier to judge before the lower shelf locks the structure together.
Once the legs were in their revised positions, the author installed trim below the top section. The trim gives the underside of the top case a finished edge and establishes the visual transition between the top and the open area containing the drawers.
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2. Make the lower-shelf frame
The shelf was assembled from 1×2 pieces around all four edges. Rather than treating the shelf as a loose panel, the author built a perimeter and attached that frame to the leg sections with wood glue and 16-gauge, 2-inch nails. The exact shelf dimensions are not stated, so the pieces must be cut to the width and depth of your own leg layout.
Shorter leg pieces were then attached beneath the shelf. In the author’s sequence, the shelf and its lower supports were assembled while the table was still upside down. The table was turned upright only after this basic lower structure was in place, making the drawer work easier to access from the front.
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Before sizing drawer parts, inspect each opening for consistent width, height, and depth. The author’s fronts were fitted to the openings rather than cut from a universal schedule. Any change in leg position, trim thickness, or shelf placement can alter the available drawer space, so measure the actual case you built.
How each of the six drawers was built
1. Cut a front for its opening
For every drawer, the author cut a plywood front to fit its particular opening, leaving roughly 1/16 inch of clearance at each side. That figure belongs to this project account; it is not presented as a universal cabinetmaking standard. Confirm the opening and the intended reveal before making all six fronts, especially if the openings are not identical.
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2. Prepare the sides and back
The sides and back were cut from 1×6 lumber. The source does not give the resulting drawer-box height or the overall front dimensions, so those measurements depend on your case and on how much reveal you want around each front.
3. Cut the bottom grooves
A groove was cut in each drawer side on a table saw, positioned 3/4 inch from the edge. The author made two passes to widen the channel until it accepted the 1/4-inch MDF bottom. This two-pass method is part of the reported process: the first cut established the channel and the second enlarged it to match the actual bottom thickness.
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4. Assemble the box around the captured bottom
The drawer sides were glued and attached to the plywood front with pocket screws. The MDF bottom was cut to the drawer’s interior dimensions plus 1/2 inch in both directions, then slid into the grooves in the sides. With the bottom in place, the back was glued and secured with brad nails after the box was checked for square.
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Checking square before nailing the back is important to this sequence. The back closes the box, so correcting a twist afterward is difficult. Work one drawer at a time and verify that the bottom has entered both side grooves before fixing the back permanently.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.The homemade wooden guide system
Why the author used wood instead of commercial slides
The author chose simple wooden guides because these drawers were not expected to see daily use. The post does not provide an independent durability or cost comparison with commercial metal slides, and it does not claim that the wooden arrangement is suitable for heavily used storage. Its stated rationale is limited to the expected light-use duty of this particular console.
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How the strips were arranged
Lumber was ripped into strips 1 inch wide. On each drawer, strips attached to the drawer sides were positioned 1.5 inches from the drawer bottom. Matching strips were mounted inside the case so the drawer-mounted guides could slide between them.
The account says each side of each drawer used three strips and totals the build at 36 narrow strips for six drawers. That total includes the drawer-side and case-side pieces across all six boxes. Keep the guide pairs aligned from front to back and test the fit before installing every strip, because the available space is determined by the actual drawer width and case opening.
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What to verify during a dry fit
- Confirm that the drawer front maintains the intended side clearance without rubbing the case.
- Check that the MDF bottom remains seated in both side grooves as the box moves.
- Slide the drawer through the wooden guide pair before adding permanent fasteners to the case-side strips.
- Look for racking or binding and correct the alignment before repeating the layout on the remaining drawers.
Finishing is a separate stage
Part 2 stops after the basic construction. The author specifically leaves filling, sanding, staining or painting, and hardware for later. Treat those operations as a new phase rather than assuming the build log describes a finished console.
The related completion post reports that the top and lower shelf are birch plywood while the rest of the table is pine. For the finish, it names Varathane oil-based Golden Oak stain, Briwax liming wax, and 000 steel wool. The drawer fronts were later covered with leftover grasscloth using wallpaper adhesive; cabinet trim frames and adapted ring pulls were also added. Those choices belong to the subsequent decorative treatment, not to the construction steps above.
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- Measure the space you intend to fill. Record the finished width, height, and depth you need, then decide how much of that space belongs to the top case, lower shelf, legs, and drawer openings.
- Draw the leg and trim layout. Mark the corner position of the large legs and the thickness of the trim below the top before cutting shelf parts. The author’s correction happened because the original leg inset looked too far from the corners.
- Create a cut list from the frame you actually design. Include the four 1×2 shelf-frame pieces, shorter pieces below the shelf, six fronts, twelve sides, six backs, six MDF bottoms, and the guide strips. The source gives the material types but not the dimensions for this list.
- Build and inspect the case first. Assemble the upside-down leg and shelf structure, turn it upright, and measure every drawer opening. Do not assume that nominal lumber sizes or a repeated opening will produce identical finished dimensions.
- Make one drawer as a test box. Cut its front with the planned side clearance, machine the groove, fit the MDF, attach the back after checking square, and test the wooden guides. Use what you learn to adjust the remaining five.
- Decide whether the guide choice matches your use. Wooden guides follow the author’s light-use rationale. If the console will be opened constantly or carry heavy contents, the project account does not supply evidence that this guide method will meet that demand; choose and engineer an alternative separately.
- Plan finishing only after the construction is sound. Fill fastener holes, sand, select a stain or paint system, and choose pulls after the drawers operate correctly. The later completion post provides examples, not a required finish schedule.
Common trouble spots in this sequence
Legs look too far inboard
The author encountered this before the shelf was built and moved the large legs closer to the corners. If your dry assembly has the same proportion problem, correct it before fastening the lower shelf and adding shorter legs.
The MDF will not enter the groove
The reported solution was to make two table-saw passes so the channel widened enough for 1/4-inch MDF. Measure the actual panel thickness and widen the groove gradually rather than forcing the bottom into a tight cut.
A drawer binds or sits crooked
Recheck the box for square before attaching the back, then inspect the paired guide strips. The drawer-side strips and case-side strips must leave a continuous path from front to back; a small alignment error can become noticeable across the full travel.
The six fronts do not share the same reveal
Measure each opening individually. The roughly 1/16-inch side clearance reported for the project was applied while fitting fronts to their openings, not as a promise that every cabinet opening will be identical.
Is this a complete plan?
It is complete as a narrative of the author’s basic-build method: reposition the legs, trim the underside, frame and attach the lower shelf, add the shorter lower legs, build six captured-bottom drawers, and fit wooden guides. It is not a standalone dimensioned plan. Anyone reproducing the console needs to supply the overall dimensions, detailed cut list, joinery layout, hardware decisions, and finishing schedule for their own space and tools.
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