Rustic Media Console

Difficulty

Intermediate

This was our very first build. I had spent many hours on Ana-White.com checking out plans, looking at the details of how things were built. I even downloaded Sketchup and learned it fairly quickly. The only thing left to do at that point was to buy some lumber. Well... that was going to be tough because my husband and I live off of social security disability (at the ripe old age of 34 3/4) so money was pretty tight.

My friend was commenting on how she felt she was being robbed blind by the retail furniture website that was selling this console she wanted for her home. Two hundred and sixty five dollars to have the console shipped to her!!! Not to mention the cost of the piece itself. I piped up and said, "Well heck, I can build that!"

She put her money where my mouth was (very kind and very brave gesture) and we began our little furniture building adventure.

I built the entire thing on sketchup before we built it in real life so I was confident that it would turn out as the inspiration piece. I think it turned out beautifully! So, after promising for weeks that I would post the plans, here they are!

62" wide x 25 1/2" high x 22 3/4 deep

Preparation

Shopping List

· (2) ¾” 4x8 sheet of plywood

(6) furniture feet, we chose bun style feet

(6) mounting brackets for the feet

(8) 1x2 pine – 8ft long

(1) 1x4 pine – 27” long

(4) Furniture pulls/knobs of your
choosing. We chose rustic furniture
pulls imported from Mexico

(8) Cabinet hinges

(1) ¼” 4x8 sheet of plywood

(2) Glass pieces (you can use lexan if
desired) 12 ¾” x 21”

(8) Mirror clips

Optional:

(4) decorative molding, 3 feet long

(2) decorative rope molding, 3 feet long

Common Materials

3/4 inch finish nails

1-1/4" Pocket Hole Screws

Elmer's Wood Glue

Elmer's Wood Filler

120 grit sandpaper

primer

wood conditioner

paint

paint brush

Cut List

3/4" Plywood

1 @ 60" x 22" (A) Bottom piece

1 @ 62" x 23 3/4" (B) Top piece

4 @ 22" x 24" (C) Sides/dividers

1 @ 27" x 21 1/2" (D) Fixed center shelf

4 @ 14" x 21 1/2" (E) Adjustable shelves

1x2 Solid Pine

2 @ 24 3/4" (F) Styles for face frame

2 @ 57" (G) Rails for face frame

2 @ 21 3/4" (H) Inside styles for face frame

8 @ 21 1/2" (I) Door styles

8 @ 10 1/4" (J) Door rails

1/4" Plywood

1 @ 60" x 25 1/2" (K) Backing

2 @ 13 1/4" x 21 1/2" (L) Door backing

Tools

General Instructions

Please read through the entire plan and all comments before beginning this project. It is also advisable to review the Getting Started Section. Take all necessary precautions to build safely and smartly. Work on a clean level surface, free of imperfections or debris. Always use straight boards. Check for square after each step. Always predrill holes before attaching with screws. Use glue with finish nails for a stronger hold. Wipe excess glue off bare wood for stained projects, as dried glue will not take stain. Be safe, have fun, and ask for help if you need it. Good luck!

Instructions

Step 1

Attach brackets and feet to bottom side of (A). Make sure the feet you choose will fit completely under the unit, no part should stick out from the sides/front/back.

Step 2

Take all of pieces (C) and mark 3” from the front and back sides and 8” from the top. Here is where you will drill the holes from your adjustable shelving. You will need a drill bit the same size as the shelving pins (in our case it was a ¼” drill bit) and a lock collar or a piece of masking tape. Measure from the end of your drill bit ½” and set your lock collar or place your masking tape to act as a depth guide. We don’t want to go all the way through the board! Keep track of your pieces as you will need to make sure that the holes for the adjustable shelving are in the inside of the end sections. See diagram for hole drilling details

Step 3

Attach a (C) piece on each end of piece (A). Use glue and 1 ¼” pocket-hole screws or 2” screws. If using regular screws, you will need to pre-drill from the bottom side. Attach two more (C) pieces as shown in the illustration. Your sections from inside to inside should measure 15”, 27” and 15”

Step 4

Attach (D) 12” up from the bottom of the center section.

Step 5

Step 6

Now comes the face frames. These you can either assemble apart from the console, or attach directly to it. Attach two piece of (F) to either end of the console across the front as seen in the image above. Next attach two pieces of (G) between pieces of (F), make sure everything is flush.

Step 7

Add the inside styles with either 1 1/4 pocket holes or 1 1/4 finishing nails if attaching directly to the front.

Step 8

Attach the top using glue and 1 ¼ pocket-hole screws.

Step 9

Now come the doors. Attach a piece of 1/4" ply (L) to your frame for the doors (you should make these frames by using pocket hole screws - using pieces (I) and (J). When it is all square, attach (L)to the back. Use glue and 1 1/4 pocket hole screws.

Step 10

To make the center doors, follow the frame instructions from the previous step, attach 4 mirror clips on each door to hold either glass or lexan.

Finishing Instructions

Preparation Instructions

Fill all holes with wood filler and let dry. Apply additional coats of wood filler as needed. When wood filler is completely dry, sand the project in the direction of the wood grain with 120 grit sandpaper. Vacuum sanded project to remove sanding residue. Remove all sanding residue on work surfaces as well. Wipe project clean with damp cloth.

It is always recommended to apply a test coat on a hidden area or scrap piece to ensure color evenness and adhesion. Use primer or wood conditioner as needed.

Finish Used

If staining, make sure that the type of stain you use doesn't require a conditioning coat. If it does, you will need to apply as directed.

We used water based Minwax in Coffee and then applied a coat of furniture wax by Minwax to add a bit of luster.

Project Type

Console Table Plans

Room

living room

Style

Primitive or Early American Style Furniture Plans

Comments

Sonya (not verified)

Mon, 03/21/2011 - 10:16

Beautiful piece! You did a

Beautiful piece! You did a great job! Did you have to use edge banding since plywood were used?

tracysmith

Mon, 03/21/2011 - 11:17

Edge Banding

What we ended up doing on this particular piece was making the top a bit smaller and using 1x2's to edge it. However, edge banding would be the option I would choose if we did this piece again. It looks great, is simple to use and it prevents you from having to adjust the measurements and deal with any gap issues since the top is the thing you will look at most. Thanks for the question!! :-)

KSchmalz (not verified)

Sat, 12/17/2011 - 16:10

lumber sizing

This is beautiful! I'm actually going to use it as the base for an aviary for my finches- the aviary will fit on top. I have a question regarding lumber sizing- are the lumber dimensions true to size (ex, 1x2 is actually 1" by 2"), or are they the slightly-smaller-than-advertised size (ex, 1x2 is actually 3/4" by 1 3/4")? Thanks!

tracysmith

Mon, 12/26/2011 - 15:20

Thanks for the Question

It's a great question and the answer is a 1 x 2 is actually 3/4" x 1 1/2" - usually. Those dimensions can be different depending on where you are in the world and where the lumber is from. It also depends sometimes on the grade of lumber but generally, those are the dimensions. When I post the dimensions for the plan, the 1x material is actually 3/4" and the width is usually a 1/2" smaller than listed, ie a 1x4 would be 3/4" x 3 1/2". Hope that helps!

Guest (not verified)

Sun, 02/19/2012 - 11:22