DIY: Rustic X End Table

Hello everyone!

Even before the hubby and I signed on our house, I've been collecting Pinterest Pins on different subjects: decoration, organization, and yes, DIY projects. Watching Fixer Upper and other HGTV shows made matters worse, so now I have something to say: Hi. My name is Viviane and I'm a Pinterestoholic. That's it, I'm addicted. I've got a fever, but more cowbell won't do it for me. I need to build something!

A couple of months back I bought a Kreg Jig. I had never used one and figured that would be the one tool I should have handy when building anything. Finally, I was able to give it a try and that thing is magic!

"But what did you build, Vivi?" Alright, alright. I got excited with the background story part of this post. Anyway... I found Ana White's Rustic X End Table plan one day and decided I'd recruit Chad to help me building it. I love the farmhouse style of this table and it looked somewhat simple. Below is our experience building it. Enjoy it!

Material list*: 
2 - 2x4 @ 8 feet long
1 - 1x12 @ 3 feet long
2 - 2x2 @ 8 feet long
2 - 2x6 @ 8 feet long
Corner bracket hardware
Decorative bolts
2 1/2" and 1 1/4" PH screws

Cut list*: 
a) 8 - 2X4 @ 22 1/2"
b) 4 - 2X2 @ 16"
c) 2 - 1X12 @ 16"
d) 2 - 2X2 @ 26 1/2" (long point to short point, ends are parallel, 50 degrees off square)
e) 4 - 2x2 @ 13 1/4" (longest edge, one end cut at 50 degrees off square, other end cut at 10 degrees off square)
f) 5 - 2x6 @ 27"

*both taken from Ana's site


First, we built the frame of the end table by attaching the 2x4s (a) boards in a shape similar to a squared letter "A" and then connecting both "As" with the 2x2s (b). During this step, make sure you're checking the square and level after each attachment.

Note the squared "A" shape. Distance from the top of the bottom board to the floor is 2"

We used the Kreg Jig to attach the boards. For the 2x4s, we drilled holes A and C and used 2 1/2" PH screws to hold them in place.

   

Only top and bottom boards need holes drilled on both ends. You will use both to attach the side boards

For the 2x2s, we drilled B and C holes and also used 2 1/2" PH screws.

Drill holes on both ends of all 4 2x2s

Attach all 2x2s to one side of the table, then attach the second side using the pre-drilled Kreg Jig holes

Stress test!

At the end of this step, you will have the frame of your table. Feeling accomplished, we took a break to enjoy the beautiful weather and wonderful view:

But back to work!

The next step was to add the bottom shelf of the table. For that, attach both 1x12s (c) to create a tray. Again, we used the Kreg Jig and drilled three sets of holes A and B (right, center, and left) on the board. One of the boards will have holes on both sides to attach to the table and to the other 1x12:

We used the 1 1/4" PH screws for this step

In this step, it is likely that your tray won't fit perfect into the bottom part of the table. We tried using some force to make it fit, but we were afraid we would damage the board, so Chad used a sander to smooth out the end of the boards (the 16" end, that is). After some trial and error, it fit perfectly.

Finished step. There's a little gap on the bottom left corner, but we are going to put some wood filler later

The next step is to cut and assemble the X on the side of the table. We were a little anxious about this step, but it was surprisingly easy. One part of the X will be a longer piece of 2x2 (d) and the other part will be two smaller cuts of 2x2 (e). As specified on the cut list, both ends of (d) will be at 50 degrees off square, while for the smaller pieces (e), the end that connect to the table will be at 50 degrees square and the end that crosses the longer piece will be at 10 degrees off square. We used a miter saw to measure and cut the boards. As usual, MEASURE TWICE AND CUT ONLY ONCE. There were a few trips back to the saw to adjust the smaller pieces to make sure it was a perfect fit, but we took our time and all turned out fine.

Here are some pictures of the process. We attached the two long sides first and used a 2 1/2" PH screw to attach them to the 2x4. Make sure to place the screw at the widest part of the corner of the table so the screw doesn't pierce through the wood. The smaller piece piece connects to longer piece with a 1 1/4" PH screw and a pocket hole done with the Kreg Jig.

One side complete and step finished

Next step is to build the top of the table. Just like the bottom tray, we assembled the 2x6s (f) and built the whole top piece before attaching it to the frame. We drilled three sets of pocket holes with the Kreg Jig (A and C).

We attached the top to the table from the underside, using 2 1/2 PH screws. We used two screws for each side.

TA-DA! The table assembly is completed! To finish up, we sanded the whole thing using first 150 sand paper and finishing up with 220 sand paper. To prep for staining, we used Minwax Pre-Stain Wood Conditioner (water based) and stained with two coats of Dark Walnut Stain + Poly from Varathane. We thought it was going to look darker and maybe we didn't mix the can very well, but honestly, we do love the color. A nice addition was the L bracket we placed on the 4 corners of the table. We bought a 4" pack from Home Depot. It was silver, but we used Rust-Oleum Oil Rubbed Bronze spray paint to get the color we wanted.

This wasn't a very difficult project and we are planning on building the coffee table and the console table to complete the set. I hope you enjoyed it!

Project 1: Make the Chairs Great Again! - Part 2

Putting the fabric on the chair was a little more challenging than I thought. As I mentioned in part 1, save your templates. It will make this project so much easier. We made a couple of mistakes here and there (I'll let you know what they are), but for the first time trying something like this, I think the first chair turned out pretty good. We will definitely apply our learnings when we are ready to work on the second one--but not yet; I need a couple of days off and a big glass of wine.

We started with the seat portion. Get enough fabric to cover the whole seat, with some to spare. Start by stapling both sides in one spot (right in the middle), just so it's easier to handle the fabric. Mistake 1: I had barely enough fabric towards the back to tuck between the seat and the back--leave more fabric than what the picture shows.

Around the leg posts, make a slit on the fabric and tuck one part between the seat and the back and wrap the other side around the legs. Cut the excess and staple the fabric behind the chair. Mistake 2: our slit was too towards the middle of the chair, not the ends. When was time to wrap the fabric around the legs, we almost didn't have enough fabric to cover the seat (see photo below). We were able to move things around and make it work, but it created some tension in the corner.

Continue to staple the sides from the back to the front. Mistake 3: make sure you are pulling the fabric towards the back of the chair and not straight down when stapling it. If you pull it straight down, you will have too much fabric to work on in the front of the chair and it will be difficult to create a clean front corner.

For the front corner, we were so stressed to get it right that I forgot to get a picture. After you staple both sides from back to front, you will end up with some folded fabric on the corners. Fold it towards the back of the chair very tightly and staple that side. Cut any excess fabric, pull the remaining fabric (also tightly) over the fold you just created and staple the bottom part. I only have a finished photo in which I placed a tack to hide the staple, but it will give you an idea.

Moving on to the back. Just like the seat piece, we covered the front with enough fabric to fold on top, sides, and between seat and back. Also cut a slit so fabric can be tuck between seat and back and wrap around leg posts. Make sure it clean and neat around post as this is the part of the chair that will be visible. We started stapling the top, then the sides, from bottom to top. On the corners, use the same method used for the seat corners.

Finally, we covered the back. We were wondering how we were going to do that in a way that it didn't look crappy and we weren't satisfied each time we just played with the fabric before stapling it, but at the end we don't think it was bad. We used a few staples to hold it in place. We knew we were going to cover it with tacks afterwards. Also, we added the dust cover to the bottom of the chair.

Can't say it was the most fun project I've ever worked or the one with the best results, but I like it! Like I said, it is definitely better than it was and we will make improvements to the second chair. Final results:

Project 1: Make the Chairs Great Again! - Part 1

Hi everyone! :)

I won't have many updates on the house for about another week, so I decided to share one of the projects we've been working on. Chad and I will give our old Parson chairs a new purpose in life: decorating our new living room! Our sofa is charcoal and we want to have blue accents in that space, so this original burgundy color has to go. Also, what's up with the fabric-covered legs? Nope.

The first thing we did was carefully cut the fabric around the legs and back using an x-acto knife in order to expose the staples used to hold the fabric together. And holy crap, staples WERE plenty on this darn chair. We used a heavy duty staple remover we bought at Joann Fabrics for $10--you can probably use pliers to do the job, but it will require a lot of time and patience. The investment was well worth it. We were cautious not to remove staples holding the seat and back cushions. One thing we didn't think of until later in the process was to keep the fabric as intact as possible. It will help you tremendously when it's time to cut the new fabric as you can use it as a template.

Once the chair was completely naked (hehe), we fixed the legs. They were unfinished underneath the fabric and all the staples left it with more holes than Swiss cheese. We used wood putty ($5 at Home Depot) to fill the holes and fix any imperfections in the legs. We let it dry for about 4 hours and used 180 grit sandpaper to smooth it all out.

After the legs looked smoother than a baby's butt, I used two coats of Rust-Oleum Gray Spray Primer to prep the legs for paint. Make sure to really clean all the sand dust with a damp cloth and let it dry it completely before applying the primer. It was cold, dark, and windy, but I toughen up and made it work.

After letting it dry for a couple of hours, it was time to paint. We choose Black Rust-Oleum Gloss Paint for the job. Here are some pictures after 2 coats; I actually put another one later in the day, just didn't capture a photo.

Excuse the bathroom photo--this is the bad thing about living in an apartment :P

The next step is to apply the new fabric. I will create a different post for this part. See you then!