Building a Coffee Table with Myself as the Designer

As I sat at my wife's nightstand, staring at the first draft of the coffee table I had attempted to build, I couldn't help but think that it was definitely not going to work. The design was off, and the materials were too much for its own good. It looked like a leaning tower of wood, which is exactly what it felt like - unstable and unwieldy. I decided then and there that I needed to start over from scratch.

I began by taking out some of the excess wood, trying to get the dimensions back under control. The original design had been six inches by eight and a half inches, but after making some adjustments, it ended up being much larger - more like four inches by ten. It was clear that I needed to scale things down significantly if I wanted this coffee table to be anything approaching functional.

As I worked on the project, I realized that I had underestimated the importance of a good flex shaft. The one I was using at the time wasn't doing much for me, and I found myself having to hold onto it for dear life as I tried to drill into various pieces of wood. That's when I stumbled upon an Amazon product that changed everything - a flexible shaft that attaches directly to your drill. It was like a revelation. With this new tool, I was able to cut through even the toughest materials with ease.

I decided to use my flex shaft to cut out some curves in the design, trying to make it look a little more weathered and worn than usual. This would add some visual interest to the piece, and give it a bit of character that would set it apart from other coffee tables on the market. As I worked, I couldn't help but think about how far this project had come - from its humble beginnings as a giant, unwieldy monstrosity to a sleek, functional piece of furniture that would soon be adorning my wife's living room.

Of course, there were some bumps along the way. Literally. As I was trying to get the joint between two pieces of wood to fit together properly, I ended up snapping one of them in half. This happened not once, not twice, but four times before I finally managed to get a piece that worked. It was clear that I needed to be more careful when it came to fitting things together - too loose and the whole thing would come crashing down, while too tight and it would be wobbly.

In retrospect, I can see that I should have been more careful with my measurements from the start. The piece is still a bit top-heavy, which means that it's slightly unstable on its own. To fix this, I decided to hollow out a channel underneath the phone mount for the cord. This was a misguided attempt at engineering - I soon realized that if I plugged the phone in and then put it in the base, the cord would actually force down into the tabletop and cause the whole thing to rock off.

So, what did I learn from this experience? That sometimes, things just don't work out as planned. But with a little bit of creativity and perseverance, even the most disastrous projects can be salvaged and turned into something beautiful. And that's exactly what I did - took my failed coffee table design and ran with it.

Inspiration for Other Projects

As I worked on this project, I couldn't help but think about all the other ideas that were floating around in my head. There are a few t-shirt ideas that I've been kicking around for a while now, and I'm thinking of running some contests to see which ones people like best.

One idea is an Infiniti Bob design - for those who don't know what I'm talking about, it's just a funny joke about my infatuation with the brand. Another idea is a piece that incorporates some sort of weird humor or pop culture reference. These are just a few ideas - I have plenty more where these came from.

If you're interested in seeing what other ideas I've come up with, be sure to check out my discord channel. There's always something brewing there, and it's a great place to connect with like-minded folks who share your interests. And if you want to support me and see more content like this, consider joining my Patreon page - every little bit counts!

Conclusion

As I sit here now, finishing up the final touches on my coffee table project, I have to say that it's been a wild ride. It started out as a failure, but through perseverance and creativity, we've managed to turn it into something truly special. And that's exactly what this build is all about - experimentation, risk-taking, and pushing yourself to see where things can go.

If you're looking for inspiration to get out in the shop and start building something of your own, I say give it a shot. Don't worry too much about making mistakes - they're an inevitable part of the process, and often lead to unexpected breakthroughs. And if all else fails, just remember that sometimes things don't work out as planned, but with a little bit of creativity and determination, even the most disastrous projects can be salvaged and turned into something beautiful.

That's the story of how I built this coffee table - with myself as the designer, and plenty of trial and error along the way. I hope you've enjoyed following along, and I look forward to seeing what other adventures come next!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enwhat's up guys I'm Nick and this is build dad build a place where if we're bored in the shop and we're in the shop bored somethings about to get lit on fire what's up guys this week I don't know what I'm making I I'm living that quarantine life and I kind of have the equivalent of I'd say maker's writer's block there's a bunch of ideas that I have that I don't necessarily have all the materials for I'm trying to use stuff in the shop and they're gonna try to focus on one of those ideas just nothing's really sticking out so I recently had somebody reach out to me and say they're unmotivated to get out in the shop and what do I do to get motivated to get out in the shop and this is gonna sound weird but when I am I'm motivated to get in the shop the first thing I always do is I go out and I start cleaning just putting stuff away I get my hands on my tools things like that watch it but a lot of times that right there it gets me motivated to start putting things together sometimes I remember oh wow like I I bought this tool or I got a really cool one some doesn't remember oh yeah like I bought this tool and I meant to do this with it and that sparks an idea and then the next thing I know I'm building something so first things first the shop is a mess so V must clean although I don't think it's one watch this so we'll be right back whoa there we go kids all right that's much better much cleaner yeah I did not dust bust after my last time hmm oh what's that it's just a little merch baby check out the Merc shelf below if you want to buy one of your very own and help keep the build dad build boat afloat mm-hmm all right guys just like I said as I was working I was trying to prop my phone up because I was trying to watch the tick tock video well by the way I'm tick tock famous now so if you want to go check me out on tick-tock you feel free but I'll try to watch the tick-tock video I was doing some cleaning and I was trying to pop my phone up and it wasn't standing upright and that reminded me that my wife has been wondering for some time a little stand for like her watch and her phone to go on her bedside table like to charge at night so guess what we're gonna make one of those now and shoe built that build fashion I have no idea how to build one of these so let's figure it out let's see oh okay it's that's that's gonna be way today alright guys so as you can see the first draft definitely isn't gonna work on my wife's nightstand you need to figure out a way to make this a little sleeker too much of this off because that's just gonna make it lean back more so I think first thing I'm going to do is take this way down and out what I was thinking like I don't know why I went out in this far on this this really needs to be like right here so I'm gonna take a look at that and then I decided what I'm gonna do right here yeah right now well you know let's light her up one eternity later what's up guys it is day two of this one day build because only I could screw it up that bad but here we are currently I will give you guys two mentions up this here let's do the dimensions right now so whatever I started with is obviously way too big this has ended up being six inches by by eight and a half inches this piece this cross piece like four inches and I started I think the thing was ten by ten and now I'm build that build it's time for things that sound inappropriate that aren't hey you want to see my flex shaft work sure no more holding on to the drill just clamp this booger down so I will link this in the description this is just an Amazon fine it was just searching around and found this bad boy it attaches to your drill works just like my flexion app for my Dremel I didn't know they made these but it's cool tale admit it you want one right now after the die I'm just gonna come in and I'm gonna hit it with the brush again because I'm gonna get some lighter spots in there I want this to look a little more weathered than normal so that's what we're doing right yeah before you guys ask in the comments this is my Infiniti Bob don't know what I'm talking about or not if you don't know what I'm talking about just Google that so this build was supposed to be easy this build would definitely take you one day if you don't run into all the problems that I did as you see in the video actually I think I cut out one or two of the times that I just snapped a piece of wood and had to go recut it broke four of them before I finally got one that worked and that was only because I was trying to trying to really force that joint to be tight because I knew when I burnt the wood that was gonna get looser and honestly in retrospect I probably should've been so conscious about how tight that joint was gonna be because I was afraid of it would be wobbly but two pieces kind of seesaw into each other and form kind of a pretty solid base now that being said if I was gonna build this again that tail piece of sticks out in the back I would make that a little longer because it is just slightly top-heavy the other thing I would do different is I hollowed out a channel underneath the phone for the cord but what I found is that when the court came up through there if you plug your phone in and then put the phone in the base that court would actually force down into the tabletop and cause the whole thing to rock off so I ended up running the cord just through the middle of the base and around and it works fine so that that routing of that channel was completely unnecessary all that being said like I think the measurements and whatnot are kind of irrelevant at this point because you're gonna have to build around your devices kind of like I did so just take the idea and run if you guys did not stop by the discord channeling yak head on over and and say hey I'll leave a link down below there's just like some brainstorming went on that goes on in there I think I'm gonna have like one or two more I have one or two more t-shirt ideas that I need to I need artwork for so I'll probably run some contests in there if your artwork gets chosen you'll get free sure I'd like to take a second to say say thank you to my patrons blinkie's if you'd like to join head on over to my patreon page that'll be linked down below as well but all these guys are making it happen especially Stephen Mann and Nick the Greek alright guys hopefully I gave you a little inspiration to get out in the shop and get something done just a little project like that frustrating as it was for me a bad day in the shop is still better than a good day in the office if you like this video hit that like button subscribe if you haven't already and until next time I gotta get to workwhat's up guys I'm Nick and this is build dad build a place where if we're bored in the shop and we're in the shop bored somethings about to get lit on fire what's up guys this week I don't know what I'm making I I'm living that quarantine life and I kind of have the equivalent of I'd say maker's writer's block there's a bunch of ideas that I have that I don't necessarily have all the materials for I'm trying to use stuff in the shop and they're gonna try to focus on one of those ideas just nothing's really sticking out so I recently had somebody reach out to me and say they're unmotivated to get out in the shop and what do I do to get motivated to get out in the shop and this is gonna sound weird but when I am I'm motivated to get in the shop the first thing I always do is I go out and I start cleaning just putting stuff away I get my hands on my tools things like that watch it but a lot of times that right there it gets me motivated to start putting things together sometimes I remember oh wow like I I bought this tool or I got a really cool one some doesn't remember oh yeah like I bought this tool and I meant to do this with it and that sparks an idea and then the next thing I know I'm building something so first things first the shop is a mess so V must clean although I don't think it's one watch this so we'll be right back whoa there we go kids all right that's much better much cleaner yeah I did not dust bust after my last time hmm oh what's that it's just a little merch baby check out the Merc shelf below if you want to buy one of your very own and help keep the build dad build boat afloat mm-hmm all right guys just like I said as I was working I was trying to prop my phone up because I was trying to watch the tick tock video well by the way I'm tick tock famous now so if you want to go check me out on tick-tock you feel free but I'll try to watch the tick-tock video I was doing some cleaning and I was trying to pop my phone up and it wasn't standing upright and that reminded me that my wife has been wondering for some time a little stand for like her watch and her phone to go on her bedside table like to charge at night so guess what we're gonna make one of those now and shoe built that build fashion I have no idea how to build one of these so let's figure it out let's see oh okay it's that's that's gonna be way today alright guys so as you can see the first draft definitely isn't gonna work on my wife's nightstand you need to figure out a way to make this a little sleeker too much of this off because that's just gonna make it lean back more so I think first thing I'm going to do is take this way down and out what I was thinking like I don't know why I went out in this far on this this really needs to be like right here so I'm gonna take a look at that and then I decided what I'm gonna do right here yeah right now well you know let's light her up one eternity later what's up guys it is day two of this one day build because only I could screw it up that bad but here we are currently I will give you guys two mentions up this here let's do the dimensions right now so whatever I started with is obviously way too big this has ended up being six inches by by eight and a half inches this piece this cross piece like four inches and I started I think the thing was ten by ten and now I'm build that build it's time for things that sound inappropriate that aren't hey you want to see my flex shaft work sure no more holding on to the drill just clamp this booger down so I will link this in the description this is just an Amazon fine it was just searching around and found this bad boy it attaches to your drill works just like my flexion app for my Dremel I didn't know they made these but it's cool tale admit it you want one right now after the die I'm just gonna come in and I'm gonna hit it with the brush again because I'm gonna get some lighter spots in there I want this to look a little more weathered than normal so that's what we're doing right yeah before you guys ask in the comments this is my Infiniti Bob don't know what I'm talking about or not if you don't know what I'm talking about just Google that so this build was supposed to be easy this build would definitely take you one day if you don't run into all the problems that I did as you see in the video actually I think I cut out one or two of the times that I just snapped a piece of wood and had to go recut it broke four of them before I finally got one that worked and that was only because I was trying to trying to really force that joint to be tight because I knew when I burnt the wood that was gonna get looser and honestly in retrospect I probably should've been so conscious about how tight that joint was gonna be because I was afraid of it would be wobbly but two pieces kind of seesaw into each other and form kind of a pretty solid base now that being said if I was gonna build this again that tail piece of sticks out in the back I would make that a little longer because it is just slightly top-heavy the other thing I would do different is I hollowed out a channel underneath the phone for the cord but what I found is that when the court came up through there if you plug your phone in and then put the phone in the base that court would actually force down into the tabletop and cause the whole thing to rock off so I ended up running the cord just through the middle of the base and around and it works fine so that that routing of that channel was completely unnecessary all that being said like I think the measurements and whatnot are kind of irrelevant at this point because you're gonna have to build around your devices kind of like I did so just take the idea and run if you guys did not stop by the discord channeling yak head on over and and say hey I'll leave a link down below there's just like some brainstorming went on that goes on in there I think I'm gonna have like one or two more I have one or two more t-shirt ideas that I need to I need artwork for so I'll probably run some contests in there if your artwork gets chosen you'll get free sure I'd like to take a second to say say thank you to my patrons blinkie's if you'd like to join head on over to my patreon page that'll be linked down below as well but all these guys are making it happen especially Stephen Mann and Nick the Greek alright guys hopefully I gave you a little inspiration to get out in the shop and get something done just a little project like that frustrating as it was for me a bad day in the shop is still better than a good day in the office if you like this video hit that like button subscribe if you haven't already and until next time I gotta get to work\n"