George Nakashima inspired coffee table

newbie22, member

17 users recommend

Taylor Bowers

Taylor Bowers

Taylor Bowers

Taylor Bowers

Photo: Taylor Bowers

Add Comment
Print

Designed the project a year ago trying to figure out a base for a piece of cypress that I had gotten from my grandfathers garage. Came up with a beautiful base that was inspired through the works of George Nakashima, but wouldnt quite fit with the table top. Later showing my woods professor of my design he gave me a slab of butternut that would go great with the base. So here it is after a year in the making, a week from now I should finish the other coffee table that I recieved from my grandfathers garage. Really unique piece of wood and simple design.

Add Comment Print

Tray and Easel

Back to List

Shaker style coffee table with hinged top

Comments (5)

jroth33139 writes: Nice piece. I think people should judge studio furniture on slightly different criteria than everyday furniture. That being said, perhaps some of the issue is whether the top may be out of proportion to the base -- that is "seems"/looks unbalanced, which leads to the criticism that it is insufficiently stable.

I love the elegant design of the base, particularly the subtle concave shape of the bottom runner. Just wonder whether coupling it with a 70" slab gives it the right proportions.

For what it is worth....
Posted: 4:59 am on December 3rd

newbie22 writes: Fair enough, thanks for the insight. It is my first piece of furniture that I have ever done, the finishing was definitely a learning curve but I got it down. I plan on giving it to my parents as a Christmas gift, keep it in the family. I did give it a thought about a few things dealing with the integrity of the table but It should hold up fine as long as nothing as stated above happens to it!
Posted: 8:50 pm on November 17th

Peter_rcf writes: I agree with John, ut does look great, but I do have a little friendly criticism, which is that in my opinion furniture needs to be more than just beautiful, but solid as well. You never know where your piece may end up in the future, and if a child were to sit on the end or a clumsy adult were to fall across it, the balancing screw act will never hold. Think about possibly inserting a couple of 1/2 x 6" dowels through the bottom, or in future projects, two legs closely spaced (which may not detract from the design). Id hate to see your beautiful piece ruined by a preventable accident!
Posted: 12:12 pm on November 17th

newbie22 writes: Thanks, just a simple tight lap joint on the top and bottom with a deck screw to add strength. The top is connected by alignment dowels and doweled purple heart pins. It is stable for its size overall length is 70" at the top. Its not going to fall over if you sit on the end but I don't recommend it.
Posted: 11:22 am on November 17th

John_Schaalje writes: Great looking piece. How stable is it? It looks like there might be some hidden joinery on the bottom that gives it some nice stability. The top looks really good also.
Posted: 8:05 am on November 17th

You must be logged in to post comments. Click here to login.