So, now that the Cotterman is done, it’s time to (literally) turn my attention to the new table for the front room in our home.  Now, in the back room, I had no problem going with a rectangular, rustic looking piece (which, by the way, has ended up being a great piece), But, for the front room, Rhonda was thinking something round to make it look a little more elegant.

A logical choice for a coffee table might be one large turned column It would free up some leg room underneath, I could get creative with the feet and it would certainly showcase my turning skills. Only a few problems. I don’t turn. I don’t have a lathe, and I really don’t (yet) have the skills to make something like this even if someone did hand me a lathe.  Besides, columns like the one I showed above are more for dining tables.

Rhonda also had the idea originally of doing something with a shelf underneath – a place for us to tuck books, baskets and all of the other stuff you might expect to see in a living room, I dunno. There’s something about an elegant round table with a shelf jammed under it that doesn’t do anything for me.

Of course, I could go modern with bent legs – almost an Eames looking piece – with a ‘modern’ feel to it. But, something tells me I wouldn’t like it. Plus, you know, Ikea makes a lot of that mid-century modern looking stuff.

So, I got to thinking… Why not go for something a little more simple, yet classic? Something strong yet pleasing to the eye? In other words, how about some type of cross bracing connecting the legs under the table?

I had posted this picture a few weeks ago, and it really caught my eye. Nice, strong looking piece with a simple base, ample top and clean lines?

I will have to sketch out some ideas – maybe based on this, or maybe with a simpler x brace across the bottom. Either way, it will be something that will be a piece that guests will see first when they come to the house, so it’s going to have to look good.

No pressure, right?

OK, so the name is a bit of a portmanteau between a coffee table and an Ottoman, but you get the idea – it’s a table for our family room that I built out of some beautiful, clear Southern Yellow Pine.

That’s right – the piece came from a pair of 2 x 12 Southern Yellow Pine framing timbers and a 12 foot length of tongue and groove boards for the bottom shelf. After building the piece and placing it in the living area, both Rhonda and I agreed that the piece needed some under table storage for magazines, our chess and checkers set and some other goodies.

The tongue and groove boards were sweet, clear pine, and I had the option of either having them at their full six inch width or flipping them over and exposing a bead halfway down the middle of each board. I decided to go with the more plain looking side. I glued the tongues and grooves together, and secured them to the frame with a single Miller Dowel at each end, square in the middle of the center board. The two outside boards fit snugly between the frames, and with the glue dry, they won’t  knock free.

The finish started with the boys sanding the pieces with some 100 grit random orbit sanders (they need something to do during their summer break) until the parts were nice and smooth. Since it’s more of a rustic piece, I rounded over the edges with some rasps and sandpaper. Makes it look a little more weathered that way.

From there, I wiped on a coat of spar varnish. There’s something about that yellowed finish on the pine that really makes it look about 100 years old right off the rag. Once that dried, I sanded it down with some 320 paper, wiped it down with some mineral spirits, then put three coats of wipe-on polyurethane over the top to protect it against the spills that are bound to happen on a table like this.

With it in its place in the family room, I can see us using it for family game night, snacks for the big game, homework or whatever for years to come. It’s going to be a piece we use and appreciate every single day.

For the coffee table (the Cotterman, as Rhonda likes to call it. She’s still torn between calling it a coffee table and an Ottoman), the next step is to build a base for it. After all, if the top just sits on the floor, it’s going to be too low to hold my coffee. Right?

So, I cut four legs down to size. Since most coffee tables want to be about 16 inches high, I cut them a little longer than 14 and a half inches long to have the top land at the sweet spot. Fortunately, there was lots of extra wood left over from the original 2 x 12 to work with for this operation.

I also cut some rails for the sides of the table and cross rails that would help to hold the frame together and provide a strong surface for the table top to bear against and be screwed to. How did I attach them?  Sure, I could have gone all mortise and tenon on them, but, meh, with the shop as hot as it was and Rhonda wanting the piece as soon as possible, I opted to go the pocket screw route.

There’s a lot to be said about how fast projects go together with them. And, believe me, for what this table will be doing, they are plenty strong.

After just a little bit of work, I was able to get the frame together and just set the top on it to give it a test run.

I dunno… looks pretty good perched up there on top of the workbench. Since it won’t be there forever, I had to make sure the measurements were going to be perfect on this, so I trimmed the ends even with my track saw, screwed the top into place through the battens and set it into the living room. Then, the moment of truth. I called a young, strapping lad in to give me a hand.

So far, I’d have to say that the table is pretty strong to handle this much beefcake. Now, to build a deck for the bottom part of the table for magazines, board games and the like, and this one will be ready for the finish.