Bedside table in the bedroom or a cabinet next to the chair in the living room - an integral attribute of the interior of many apartments. Of course, now you can buy any cabinet in stores, but will it be unique? We present to your attention 10 unusual ideas how to make an original bedside table with your own hands from different objects and materials.
1. DIY nightstand made from drawers
Place a wooden box for vegetables, fruits or postal parcels on legs or wheels. Attach a shelf inside the box. The box can be placed both horizontally and vertically, and you can also make a tall cabinet from two or more drawers.
The box can be decorated, for example, with branches. Read how to make such a bedside table with your own hands.
2. DIY nightstand with rope shelves
From an ordinary wooden box or box, as well as ropes, you can make a bedside table with a flexible design. You can customize your own shelves and different rope holders depending on the items and things that will be stored in the cabinet. To do this, you need to drill rows of holes in the side walls of the cabinet and even on top. Pull strong natural or synthetic rope through the holes and make different shelves and compartments for things.
3. DIY bedside table made from books
Unusual and original project bedside tables for the bedroom or living room. Secure stacks of books with straps, ties, or tie them with thick ribbons. In this case, place wooden modules, square or rectangular boxes between the stacks. It may even be dense carton boxes from shoes or small household appliances. Old books, vintage leather belts and wooden elements will add unique charm and style to your nightstand.
4. Nightstand from a chest
The chest has long been the main piece of furniture in huts and huts. Nowadays, antique or modern chests are a rare phenomenon in the interior. However, if you are the owner of your grandmother's old chest, then you can make a vintage nightstand out of it with your own hands. The spacious space under the lid of the chest will allow you to store many things, including bedding or toys in the children's room. In addition, designers offer exclusive versions of cabinets in the form of expensive leather chests. These ideas can be used as a basis and inspiration. Turning a chest into a nightstand lies only in the decor of the chest itself. It can be either updated or aged, left in natural form or color it.
5. Nightstands made from suitcases
Unlike antique chests, old suitcases are much easier to find. A DIY bedside table made from a vintage suitcase will decorate the interior of the room and also provide additional closed place for storing things. You can even hang a small combination lock on a suitcase bedside table and store intimate items there. To make a cabinet, you can either stack several suitcases on top of each other, or put one suitcase on legs, for example, on a stool or table.
6. DIY cabinet made from a barrel
A DIY bedside table made from a barrel will look very unusual in a bedroom or living room. A round wooden barrel is a ready-made cabinet. The main condition is that the barrel must be clean and free of foreign odors, such as wine. You can also cut a door into a barrel, put it on hinges, and attach a shelf inside. Another option is to make two bedside tables with your own hands from one barrel, simply by sawing the barrel into two even parts.
It can also be useful as a cabinet metal barrel, especially if it is old.
7. DIY bedside table made from a chair
Very often a chair serves as a bedside table. We propose to improve it by turning it into a real bedside table with a drawer. For this it is advisable to choose wooden chair without soft upholstery. Purchase special fittings for drawers and the drawer itself in the store according to the size of the chair. Attach the entire system under the seat. You can also nail another shelf under the box from a square sheet of chipboard.
8. Bedside table made of mirror and stool
If you have a stool as a bedside table, we suggest improving and decorating it. In the same way as with a chair, you can attach a drawer or shelf between the legs of the stool, and you can use a framed mirror as a tabletop.
9. Stepladder bedside table
A small ladder - a stepladder or ladder for cabinets - an excellent solution for a bedside table. There is no need to do anything additional; if desired, paint or age the staircase.
10. DIY hanging bedside table
A nightstand, or rather a bedside table, can float in the air! How to make such an unusual project for the bedroom - read.
There are a lot of things that should be at hand at the right time - for example, a mobile phone, a cup of tea, a newspaper or book, a pen, glasses, etc. A bedside table is intended for such things, in which dozens of useful little things. How to make a bedside table with your own hands will be discussed in today’s article.
If you choose the right bedside table, it will fit perfectly with the bed and look like a single ensemble with it. Although we note that the color of the cabinet may contrast. Dimensions are in in this case need to be selected from special attention– it is important that the bedside table is not “sandwiched” by the bed and the wall, since you should always leave enough free space. But if free space is in short supply, then it is better to give preference to a hanging cabinet– in this case it will suit better.
On a note! A cabinet with closed and open shelves is perfect for the bedroom, which will allow you to hide your personal belongings from others, while a vase with flowers or various kinds decorative items can be placed on open shelves. As an option, you can make a coffee table with your own hands.
A few words about the functionality of bedside tables
If you plan to store a large number of small items, then it is better to give preference to a cabinet with many drawers. If only a few books are stored there, then you can get a lightweight non-standard design, abandoning the massive traditional “cube”.
The optimal location for the bedside table is near the bed. It’s not even worth talking about the benefits of a bedside table - you can store books here, and put an alarm clock or, say, a glass of water on top. In addition, in the nightstand there may be a place for linen - both underwear and bed linen - or a first aid kit, cosmetics and other essential items. Everyday life of things. And for the most convenient and ergonomic arrangement of all this “good”, the selection of a bedside table must be taken with full responsibility.
Obviously, the floor design is the most common. In addition, such a cabinet can be of two types:
- without legs;
- with legs.
Original version — open bedside table without legs A slightly less common option is hanging. She, by virtue of her design features, looks weightless, as if floating in the air.
In any case, you will have to decide for yourself which cabinet to buy/make yourself - it all depends on the interior features of the bedroom and your personal preferences. But note that the hanging cabinet still has significant advantage in front of the floor - it allows you to install some objects underneath (say, a basket for various small items or a box).
Also, bedside tables are classified depending on their shape. Let's take a look at the most common options.
Rectangular/square. Such designs are universal, and therefore will easily fit into any design. In addition, they can be located anywhere in the room.
Corner. The best option for small spaces.
Oval/round. They look, of course, elegant, but are not universal, so they will not be appropriate in every interior.
Important! There are also more exotic cabinets - such as a design in the form of a pyramid or chest. Yes, such bedside tables can hardly be considered universal and functional - they are rather decorative interior items.
Another classification is based on the purpose of the cabinets. Medical care, which should be in every home, deserves special attention.
Features of choosing a bedside table depending on style
Yes, each interior style has its own type of bedside table. And it is not surprising, because we are talking not only about a useful thing, but also about an element of the interior that can emphasize the stylistic direction of the room or, alternatively, negate all efforts. How to organically fit a bedside table into the interior? Let's get acquainted with the most popular styles and find out which designs are suitable for each specific case.
East style. In this case, the ideal option is a bedside table with small legs made of rattan. Frequent weaving, natural colors, and a traditional rectangular silhouette will look great.
Classic style. Here preference should be given to furniture made of natural wood. You can, for example, use a large and squat cabinet with curly handles as decorative elements. As for color, classic style will look good dark colors. A bedside table that meets all these requirements will emphasize the aristocracy and fundamentality of the classics.
Palazzo. The main thing in Italian style– this is attention to detail (aged or varnished shelves, forged iron elements, etc.).
Scandinavian. The best option for him would be a white cabinet made of natural wood and without unnecessary decorative elements. The design should be as simple as possible. A good option is a bedside table made of unpainted beech. Give preference to massive legs and narrow simple shapes.
Interior in Scandinavian style - rational, but very attractive Provence. Wooden cabinets are suitable for this style, preferably with graceful outlines and narrow curly legs.
Minimalism, hi-tech. Obviously, for these styles designs with metal frames. An excellent addition would be glass doors. It is important that a minimum of unnecessary parts be used.
What material should I use for the bedside table?
Most often, the difficulty in this matter is the choice of material from which the bedside table is made. Let's take a look at the most popular options.
Is it possible to save money somehow?
Any renovation work– this is, first of all, a blow to the seed budget. Yes, it is at least impractical to save on building materials, but the situation can be saved by making furniture with your own hands - by the way, even a non-professional can easily cope with this, having detailed step-by-step instructions. Undoubtedly, this applies mainly to simple subjects. A bedside table, for example, can be made quickly and inexpensively with your own hands.
On a note! You cannot skimp on materials for DIY production. After all, everyone knows that the stingy has to pay more than once. If you use low-quality consumables, the work may have to be redone.
Making a bedside table - drawings and preparation
First you need to decide on the design of the future bedside table. You can draw a drawing on paper, although it is easier to use special computer programs(Google SketchUp, T-FLEX Furniture, Astra Furniture Designer). In any case, you need to know exactly the design parameters - height, length, width...
Blanks can be ordered from the nearest carpentry workshop. Here, of course, it is better to trust the specialists, but you can still save money. So, you can glue the edge to the end of the boards with your own hands using a regular iron. To do this, you need to purchase tape and, using an iron, fix it on the ends of the workpieces. You can go even further - make your own blanks using chipboards. But in this case, the workpieces will have to be processed additionally. grinder to make their surface smoother. Also, all elements should be treated with stain to protect against harmful effects environment.
Now all that remains is to assemble all the elements into one structure using glue and screws. The blanks ordered in the carpentry workshop must be connected with hexagon bolts - for such fastening it is necessary to first make holes of the required size.
At the end, the selected fittings are installed. By the way, when choosing it you need to be guided by both external attractiveness and functionality. The edges need to be glued.
On a note! Now let’s take a closer look at the process of making a bedside table with your own hands. Below are step-by-step instructions for making a few easy options you might be interested in.
Video – Bedside table
Option No1. Simple DIY bedside table
This example will look at the assembly process from blanks ordered from a carpentry workshop. So, for work we will use:
- 6 furniture corners (plastic double);
- 1 tabletop;
- 2 drawer bottoms;
- 2 sidewalls;
- 1 back wall of the bedside table;
- 1 internal lower shelf;
- 4 guides;
- 4 front/back walls for drawers;
- 2 handles;
- 2 drawer fronts;
- 2 facades of the lower part.
We also note that chipboard sheets were used to make the bottom shelf and drawers, wood (pine) was used for the fronts and sides of the drawers, the countertops, and 5-mm fiberboard was used for the back wall of the structure.
After receiving all the required blanks, painting begins. There is nothing complicated in the process itself, so let’s just get acquainted with the result of the work.
The lower shelves were not painted - even if it is not very attractive, no one will see them anyway.
To begin with, furniture corners are screwed to the inside of the sidewall - 2 at the bottom (100 mm from the edge), 2 at the top flush, as in the photo.
An internal shelf made of chipboard is attached to the lower corners, and a table top is attached to the upper corners. When the 4 elements of the frame are assembled, the structure may be slightly skewed - do not be alarmed, everything will be aligned using the back wall.
Important! By the way, about the countertop. Its width in our example is 600 mm, and its depth is from 430 mm (at the edges) to 460 mm (in the center). As a result, the front tabletop turned out to be somewhat convex to match the design of the bed.
After assembling the frame, the guides are attached.
In our example, they are screwed to the bottom of the drawers, but this is a little incorrect. It is preferable to attach the guides to the middle of the drawers so that they do not touch the facades. In addition, the length of the guides should be less than the depth of the entire structure, by about 5-10 cm. They must be mounted flush on the front side.
Below you can see the handles that were chosen for the drawers.
After painting the facades in one layer, the locations of future holes for handles are marked.
This is what facades with handles painted in one layer look like.
And this is how they should look after applying the third layer of paint (the handles, of course, need to be removed before each painting).
The next stage is assembling the boxes.
The drawer parts are fastened with self-tapping screws, for which holes were previously made with a thin drill.
The assembled boxes should look something like this.
The bottom of each box is secured using a stapler. On one side the bottom is fixed flush, while on the rest it is leveled so as to avoid distortions.
After this, the boxes are attached to the guides.
The fronts are attached to the drawers. After this, a fixed facade is attached, for which a couple of furniture corners are used.
Option No2. Unique pine bedside table
Today it is not easy to find a truly original, but at the same time simple bedside table. And if you have previously dealt with wood, then we suggest making such a unique design with your own hands.
Table. Instructions for making a bedside table from pine.
| Steps, photo | Description of actions |
|---|---|
 | To begin, prepare all the necessary tools shown in the image. |
| | The material will be natural wood(pine), which you can buy at a hardware store. |
| | Work starts with inside future design. |
 | The boards are connected to each other as shown in the image. |
| | They are installed vertically. |
 | After this, the lower and upper parts of the bedside table are nailed. |
 | The result should look something like this. |
 | Here are the materials you will need to make the box. |
 | First, the bottom of the box is created. |
 | Photo of the work done. |
 | After this, the guides are nailed. |
 | The second guide is nailed on the opposite side of the box. |
 | The finished box will look something like this. |
 | All that remains is to insert the finished box into place. That's it, the simple wooden cabinet is ready! |
 | At the end, you can paint it (preferably with white paint) or cover it with stain. |
Option No3. Bedside table made of pallets
To minimize costs when making a bedside table, you can take pallets from building materials. They (pallets) can be not only wooden, but also metal and plastic.
Pallets have many standard sizes, but often only 2 are used: Pallets are used to make cabinets
As for the tools, you will need:
- pencil, square and tape measure;
- mount;
- screwdriver;
- hammer;
- clamps;
- Circular Saw;
- holdfast;
- Sander;
- electric jigsaw;
- ballerina (or hole saw);
- screwdriver;
- electric drill.
On a note! If we talk about glue, then it is better to give preference to PVA - it dries quickly, provides a strong connection, and can be easily removed when squeezed out.
Stage No2. Removing the pallet
Of course, new lumber can be used instead of old pallets, but the cost of the bedside table will increase greatly because of this. Therefore, we begin this instruction by disassembling the pallet.
To work you will need a hammer and a pry bar. To minimize damage to the wood, it is recommended to first loosen the boards using a chisel. By the way, an electric reciprocating saw is perfect for dismantling - its metal blade should be inserted along the joint of the boards to cut the nails connecting them. After this, the nails can be easily removed, while the wood will remain virtually undamaged.
Drawing of a wooden bedside table
With help circular saw 10 boards are cut, each 520 mm long (the length can be any). Planks for the rear wall and those of suitable quality for the side walls are selected. Each set of planks is chipped together to measure the overall width. The resulting figure will be needed when creating rectangular frames.
Each frame is made of 4 bars. When cutting bars, it is very important to observe all dimensions exactly.
Note! It is advisable to use it for cutting workpieces hand tools, and not electric - this way the results will be more accurate. You will be surprised, but a hacksaw is ideal for this. If we consider power tools, then preference should be given to a band jigsaw, but, alas, not every home craftsman has one.
Stage No4. Rectangular frames
When all the blanks are made, rectangular frames are assembled. In the finished cabinet, the latter will not be visible, and therefore you don’t have to worry too much about the aesthetics of their connection. The width of each workpiece is 7 cm. If there are no screws of the required length, holes are made with a 12 cm drill to 1⁄2 the width of the block.
You need to make sure that the dimensions of both frames are identical.. When tightening the screws, it is recommended to clamp the lower and upper parts together so that they exactly match in size.
Stage No5. Planks for countertops
Upon completion of the previous stage, blanks for the table top of the structure are cut. Pieces of the required length are cut circular saw with a slight allowance.
Stage No6. Workpiece grinding
Before assembling the frame, the boards are thoroughly cleaned with a grinding machine. Of course, you can try to do this manually, but using a grinder is both better and easier. The movements should be circular - this will create a beautiful texture.
Note! If you want, you can get an unusual effect - to do this, the external surfaces should be thoroughly cleaned (almost to a mirror shine), and then treated with coarse coarse sandpaper to deliberately create defects and irregularities.
Stage No7. Frame
For the final assembly of the structure body, only nails are used. Additionally, you can use glue, but this is not necessary - the frame will already be quite strong.
It is important that the wood is dry during work, otherwise it will dry out once it is in the house, and its attractiveness will noticeably decrease. Yes, this can later be attributed to country style, but it is still advisable to dry the wood first.
First of all, the top cover is assembled on a rectangular frame. The ends of the boards that extend beyond the structure are brought to the required dimensions using a grinding machine.
Next, the back and side walls. Let’s make a reservation right away that this is quite difficult to do - the lower frame must be well fixed, otherwise the rectangularity will be disrupted when hammering in nails. After this, the front surface is assembled.
Gluing plywood inserts
Due to the fact that it is the box that will be subject to the greatest loads, its walls can be additionally connected with iron corners - this way its rectangularity and strength will be preserved.
Stage No.10. Shelf
When the box is ready (its front wall will be finalized a little later), you can begin strengthening the shelf. A pair of slats are attached to the side walls using screws, after which all that remains is to make sure that the box moves freely inside the structure. If yes, then you can safely nail the shelf to the slats. By the way, to mark its position, you can first place the box inside to draw a couple of lines a few millimeters higher than the side walls.
Stage No11. Sweetheart neckline
First, we note that the cutout on the front wall can have any shape - it all depends on your personal preferences. According to our design, it will be shaped like a heart, although you can simply make a simple pattern with a few small holes (these can be drilled with a drill).
- So, first a piece of board of the required size is cut.
- Next, a heart is drawn on the board; it must have the correct shape. If a hole saw is used for cutting, for example, 3.2 cm, then it can serve as a template.
- A pair of holes is drilled using a hole saw.
- All the pieces that remain are finally cut out using a jigsaw.
- After this, the front wall drawer All that remains is to completely assemble it, which will require the same nails and glue.
On a note! Cutouts and other shapes will look great - these could be, for example, images of card suits. However, for this, the bedside table must have the appropriate number of drawers.
Stage No.12. Finishing touches
Once assembly is complete, the cabinet can be coated with clear varnish to protect the wood and reveal the details of its texture. Moreover, the varnish can be slightly tinted with pigment (white or black) - this way you will get a slight gray haze.
So what you need to do:
- clean the tree;
- sand it with sandpaper No. 150;
- clean again;
- coat with a layer of varnish, then wait at least 4 hours;
- lightly sand sandpaper No200;
- clean again;
- apply a second coat of varnish.
Note! The finished bedside table will look great if you treat the surfaces with stain before applying varnish. By the way, instead of stain, you can use a solution of potassium permanganate or iodine, diluted tea, etc.
Video – Bedside table in Provence style
Small bonus
In the absence of experience or the necessary tools, a bedside table can be made using improvised means.
5 /5 (7 )This required element design of any bedroom. You can put a lamp on it, and it is also a place for many necessary things: books, cups of drink, remote control, etc. This piece of bedroom furniture can be bought at any furniture store. However, it is much more pleasant to make a bedside table with your own hands. Moreover, making a bedside table with your own hands in accordance with the drawings is a matter that does not require special skill and skill. And the design of such a bedside table, created by yourself, can be anything, for example, like this.
Making a bedside table
Our bedside table will consist of a tabletop, two side and back walls and two drawers with handles. Tabletop dimensions 60x40 cm. Bedside table height 55 cm. To make a bedside table we will need wooden blanks for the tabletop, sides and drawer fronts, furniture plastic corners in the amount of 6 pieces. The drawers themselves and the bottom shelf will be made of chipboard, and the back wall of the bedside table will be made of fiberboard.
- We cut all the blanks for the future bedside table, which we need to make with our own hands, in accordance with the intended dimensions. Then we paint all the parts, except the drawers, dark brown. matte paint Alpina.
- Assembling the bedside table frame. We screw two furniture corners to the inner upper part of the sides and two to the lower part.
- We attach the tabletop to the upper corners, and the inner lower shelf to the lower corners.
- We install and secure the guides for the bedside table. Our guides are 5 cm less than the depth of the bedside table. They need to be attached to the bottom of the drawers.
- We attach the handles to the drawers. If the color of the handles does not match overall design bedside tables, they can be painted in desired color and open with varnish. To attach the handles, we drill holes in the fronts of the drawers. Make sure that these holes are located strictly in the center. After the holes are drilled, you need to paint the fronts of the drawers and only then screw on the handles.
- We collect boxes. To do this, we drill holes with a thin drill and fasten the walls of the drawers with self-tapping screws.
Cabinet, i.e. tough robust design, capable of bearing loads as a single unit, is the main unit of cabinet furniture. Sometimes it transforms and hides, but it is always there. Incl. and in the form of an independent product - a bedside table - suitable for a variety of uses in the home. In this form, it does not stand out in the interior, and in utility rooms its appearance can be whatever it came from, as long as it is durable. Therefore, it is from the bedside table that a novice amateur furniture maker needs to approach cabinets, beds, chests of drawers, furniture sets and walls.
The bedside table, with all the variety of design and construction, takes place, in general, in the following forms, see figure:
Bedside cabinet, pos. 1. Without painstaking finishing, it is unsightly, but durable, because... assembled on a frame. It allows, on the one hand, to do without cladding, which is important for balcony bedside tables, or to make it easily removable, which is no less important for a bathroom bedside table. On the other hand, you can put a durable tabletop on the frame, which will come in handy in a garage, shed or workshop.
Chest of drawers, pos. 2, lives mainly in kitchens, children's rooms and dressing rooms: you can put a lot of all sorts of things in it, and, after removing the drawers, it is easy to clean or repair. This is already a product of a panel structure with walls and shelves that make up a single power circuit. For the usual dimensions of a chest of drawers, see fig. on right.
Volumetric cabinets-racks, pos. 3, and cabinets, pos. 4, more suitable for the living room, bedroom, hallway, study or shared children's room. The design is also panel board.
Extremely simplified bedside table, pos. 5, It can be a bedside table, but most often it complements a coffee table in a soft corner of the living room.
Combination nightstands are more common for bedsides. For example, a product at pos. 6 below there is a cabinet, above it there is a chest of drawers with 1 drawer, and above there is a rack with 1 semi-closed and 1 open shelf. Due to their versatility, combined cabinets are the most commonly used.
How are cabinets made?
Factory-made bedside tables are assembled, as a rule, using furniture self-tapping screws and/or eccentric connectors. They are collected either in trade organizations before sale, or by home buyers themselves. With a different technological cycle, the production of such a simple product as a bedside table will be unprofitable. But when making a cabinet for yourself, it is better to use more labor-intensive, but cheap, reliable and durable wood-to-wood connections; at least for the load-bearing parts.
To make a cabinet with your own hands, you need, first, to master 2 types furniture joints: groove-tenon (groove-ridge, tongue-and-groove connection) and on dowels. For example, the frame of a cabinet, see fig. on the right, it is assembled from 4 lower drawers, 4 combat (vertical) drawers and also 4 upper drawers. The upper and lower tsars can be front/back and side, i.e. different.
The drawers forming the frame are connected by tongue-and-groove joints; the shelves are laid on support bars, also embedded in the combat drawers on tenons in the grooves. Properly made with wedging, tongue-and-groove joints in such a small object as a bedside table will not require the cost of glue.
The cabinets of the panel structure (all except item 1) are assembled on dowels with gluing. The supports for the shelves are also made with dowels. Only drawer guides are secured with metal hardware.
To make a drawer for a bedside table or cabinet, you will have to master a type of tongue-and-groove joint - a box joint. General sequence its working operations are shown in the figure:
Well, a more complete picture will be given by a selection of videos:
Video: box joint entirely by hand using a regular jigsaw
Video: Box connection using an electrified tool
Video: dovetail connection on a regular circular saw
The last video may be useful to those who, over time, having improved their carpentry skills, decide to work to order. Furniture assembled using dovetails is highly valued by connoisseurs, but on condition: the tails must be handmade, not milled on an automatic machine. And the method shown there gives tails that are neat, but completely artisanal in appearance. In addition, if you know how to connect parts using a dovetail, you can try yourself in an equally profitable field - restoring old furniture.
Straight tongue-and-groove joints are usually assembled using glue, but you can do it differently. To do this, vertical blind holes are drilled in the corners of the drawer box (4 at the top and 4 at the bottom, 8 in total) with a depth of 2-4 tenons and a diameter of 2.5-3 mm. Pins made of bamboo or beech are driven tightly into the holes. The box is nailed down after fitting the parts and finishing the assembly.
Bedside drawer
The structure of a furniture drawer is shown in Fig. on right. The bottom is made of plywood 3-5 mm thick, depending on the desired strength. Please note: the drawer front is not included in its power circuit, it is an overhead part. If you do it differently, pushing/pulling the drawer in will eventually warp or even fall apart. The drawers are made from boards with a thickness of 12 mm or plywood from 6 mm. The box is assembled using a box connection.
It is advisable to use hard and durable wood for the skull blocks: oak, birch. However, if you have a wood router, you can install the bottom easier and stronger: select a groove in the drawers below along the contour and insert the bottom into it during assembly. The distance of the lower edge of the groove from the bottom of the frame is from 3 mm for hard, fine-grained industrial wood and not less than the thickness of the drawer for solid softwood; groove depth - from 4 mm, but not more than 1/2 the thickness of the drawer.
The drawer fronts are internal, pos. And next. Fig., or external, pos. B. Internal facades are more elegant, but require more precise fitting of parts. Mechanically, there is no significant difference between them.
Facades and homemade guides for furniture drawers
Wooden guides for drawers are made on the bottom rail, pos. 1, on the side rail, pos. 2, and on the fold of the quarter rail, pos. 3. Installing drawers on the bottom rail is technologically simple and provides an acceptable width of the drawer, but “eats up” a lot of space in height; The drawer on the bottom slats can jam when it is brand new and neatly made. In general, the worst way.
Fitting on the middle rail requires milling grooves in the side frames, but it provides the greatest width and depth of the drawers, because 3-4 mm of gaps both below and on the sides will be sufficient. If the slats are oak and the drawers are pine or plywood, then the drawers on the middle slats almost never jam when extended 2/3-3/4.
The quarter rail can be planed by hand with special planes: a zenzubel and a rebate, see figure, therefore, in the old days, placing handicraft furniture drawers in the quarter rebate was widespread. When pulled out no more than 2/3, the drawer slides in a quarter of the way almost without jamming, but a lot of space in the design of the cabinet is wasted.
About the full stem guides
If you decide to invest in modern full-extension slides for the drawers of your cabinet, then consider the following:
- Look first not at the brand, but at the complete fasteners. Responsible and conscientious manufacturers provide hardware with shaped heads, and a key to them, so that no one breaks in with a “homemade” one.
- The assembly instructions must contain exact dimensions for fastenings, a full description of technical operations with drilling depth and requirements for the base (wood - what kind?, laminate, MDF).
- It is better to take inexpensive guides with propylene rollers. They run smoothly and are quiet, but are not as strong or durable as ballpoint ones. However, this is not important for a nightstand, unless you are storing gold bars in it.
- Full extension guides can be bottom or side. For a bedside table, the lower ones are better; the drawers can be made wider. Side guides require technical clearances on the sides of 30 mm, which, with an overall width of the cabinet of 400 mm, reduces the internal width of the drawer to 250-280 mm. And the bottom guides have enough side clearances of 6-16 mm.
What are the cabinets made of?
A wooden bedside table can be made from any wood suitable for furniture, e.g. the same as for a stool or table, as well as from plywood, laminate, MDF. The thickness of the boards is 12-40 mm, depending on the design. For dowels, skull blocks, wooden guides and drawers of the cabinet frame, it is still better to take solid, dense wood - oak, beech, birch; in the latter case also on the tabletop, because They work on such bedside tables and load them with weights.
The back side of panel bedside tables is most often covered with thin, 4-6 mm, laminated chipboard, pinned with a furniture stapler. In cheap furniture, drawer bottoms are also made from laminated chipboard, but this is not necessary for yourself: it sags, crawls out of the grooves, or breaks off from the “shards.”
The doors of bedside tables are most often hung on hidden adjustable furniture hinges, but for them you need to select holes in boards from 20 mm thick with a milling cutter. If it is not possible or desirable to install hidden hinges, then the doors are hung on piano hinges. Cabinet doors with card hinges soon warp due to the small size of the hinges and the shallow drilling depth for fasteners.
About finishing
A bedside table is not a significant piece of furniture, so there is no point in spending money on expensive decoration. The finished cabinet, planed and sanded to smoothness, is best covered with wood-effect self-adhesive and coated twice acrylic varnish. Then even an experienced cabinetmaker will not immediately distinguish it from the “real” one with veneer, and the film under the acrylic in direct light will last at least 10 years.
Where's the nightstand?
Hallway
This is the first room where a homemade cabinet, as they say, is just asking for it. They don’t pay much attention to the furniture in the hallway, but a shoe cabinet is very necessary here: an average family of 4 people now has about 20 pairs of shoes, see fig. The old Soviet shoe rack is no longer enough here.
Shoe cabinets are on sale in a wide range, but the prices encourage non-standardization, and looking at the hinge designs, it seems that they were copied from the reversal units solar panels spacecraft. Meanwhile, a shoe cabinet can be made much simpler and no worse: on the left in Fig. Below see the drawing, and on the right there is the design of the bedside table-pouf for it, in which accessories for shoe care are stored.
There is not enough shoe storage in the hallway; you also need a bedside table for gloves, hats, handbags, etc. little things. It should be higher than usual so that you can look in the mirror while standing. Dimensions and general form bedside tables in the hallway general purpose see fig. on the right, but it’s better to make it not on legs, but on a skirt made of 20-30 mm boards, so that debris does not accumulate under it.
Bedroom
The choice of bedside table for a bedroom set is determined by the habits and character of the owner. Regular bedside table, pos. 1 and 2 on the next. rice. combined: upper open shelf for alarm clock, phone, glasses; the middle one is for reading at night, and in closed compartments anything is stored: from books “for later” and the next change of bed linen to intimate accessories for lovers of “strawberries and cream”.
Lovers of long and meaningful reading before bed prefer cabinets, racks, pos. 3. This habit, by the way, greatly develops mental abilities and helps maintain clarity of thought until old age: what you read before bedtime, unless it is meaningless reading, is absorbed by the brain especially deeply and clearly during sleep.
Shelves and racks appeal to fans of sophisticated design, pos. 4, but the sophistication of a bedside table can also be functional. How do you like the bedside table, pos. 5? Half a table transformation mechanism and a little imagination.
In general, the bedside table is a grateful object for creative ingenuity. To begin with, we give diagrams of two, see Fig. In the bedside table on the left, additional linings are used on the facades, which allows by simple means get elegant design. And the bedside table on the right consists of only 4 simple-shaped parts.
Balcony
The glazed balcony is a utility room, narrow, with an unstable microclimate. Therefore, the bedside table for the balcony is made on a frame, see fig. This allows, firstly, to do without covering the cabinet and install it without gaps in which condensation will accumulate. Secondly, the increased strength of the cabinet will allow you to work on it or, say, move a refrigerator to the balcony, which will provide great energy savings. And so that small objects do not get lost, the tabletop is upholstered along the contour with a furniture fillet or plinth.
Living room
Side table in the living room, except for the coffee table, pos. 1 in Fig., according to modern and well-founded trends in interior design, is made long and low. The design is chosen based on the design style of the room, pos. 2-4. But a TV stand with the same general design must satisfy specific requirements.
Side tables for the living room
Efficiency speaker systems(AS) is related to the wavelength of sound, which in bass (bass, low frequencies) is meters and tens of meters. Speaker designers are trying in every possible way to circumvent these restrictions, and they are not short of success. But still, the size and volume of modern flat-panel TVs do not allow them to be equipped with built-in acoustics that satisfactorily reproduce low frequencies. And here a TV stand can come to the rescue: it will “catch” the low-frequency vibrations of the TV and transmit them into the air, adding richness to the sound. Only if the TV is not the “bubble” of previous generations: a heavy tube suspended in it will extinguish them.
The TV stand must, firstly, have an open resonator tuned to approximately 80-100 Hz. A niche for a player measuring about 800x400x200 mm is just right. Secondly, you can also add “juice” to the sound if the TV is powered by small-sized external speakers, placing them in niches with a volume of 20 liters or more with a gap of 4-8 cm on the sides and top; effect of “saturation” of sound from speakers closed type in niches is well known to music lovers. The “ideal” design of a TV stand is shown in Fig. on the right, and drawings of 2 suitable ones, for external acoustics and without it, in Fig. below.
But that is not all. The bedside table box, its back wall and the bottoms of the resonating cavities must be made of boards from 30 mm, and intermediate parts from boards from 20 mm. And that's not all: the material (spruce, pine, larch, hemlock, laminate, MDF) must have its own mechanical quality factor in the range of 0.7-1.2. However, there is no need to look for a sound measuring laboratory; just tap the workpieces with your knuckles: the sound should be clear, but short and dry, without ringing. A “cotton” board will absorb any vibrations, while a ringing board will “catch” unnecessary ones, which will give unpleasant overtones. And that’s all for sure, the glue on which the cabinet is assembled should produce a seam that retains its plasticity for years; PVA is best.
Bathroom
It is impossible to give any general dimensions of a bathroom cabinet, because... it will contain a sink with a siphon, of which there are countless different ones on the market, and the discharge into the sewer bed can be arranged in any way. But the general principles for designing bedside tables for wet rooms are quite clear:
- The bathroom cabinet must be raised above the floor, otherwise unsanitary conditions are inevitable, on the left in Fig.
- Therefore, it is attached to the wall, right there.
- Fastenings to provide access to plumbing fixtures must be detachable: stainless steel (worse - bronze or galvanized) self-tapping screws in propylene dowels. Metal in metal, e.g. Stainless steel bolts and the same collets will become so stuck that the cabinet will have to be broken.
- The vanity cabinet is made from rot-resistant wood: oak, resinous pine, larch.
- After the initial dry assembly and fitting of the parts, they are individually treated with an antiseptic for wood, and after 3-7 days with a water repellent, i.e. water repellent. If an inexpensive (but very good) water-polymer emulsion is used, then the treatment is carried out twice with a break of 1-3 days.
Under the aquarium
Aquarium keeping is a very useful activity in all respects. But the aquarium is subject to the square-cube law almost in pure form: as the size of the aquarium tank increases, its volume and weight grow faster than the size of the supporting area, i.e. the load from the aquarium per unit area of the load-bearing surface increases. It is believed that the weight of an aquarium with soil, population and equipment in kg is equal to approximately 1.5 of the volume of water in it in liters. It follows that the cabinet for the aquarium must satisfy the following conditions:
- An aquarium up to approximately 100 liters can be placed on any cabinet of suitable size, because... ordinary furniture is designed for a load of 150 kgf.
- For a tank up to about 150 liters you need a reinforced cabinet; preferably frame. The combat drawers are made from timber from 60x60 mm; horizontal – from 100x50 mm. The installation step of the combat side frames is no more than 400 mm; their height is up to 650 mm. The tabletop is solid laminate from 32 mm.
- For aquariums of larger capacity, the pressure on the support exceeds building code at 250 kg/sq. m, so stands for them are calculated individually based on the size of the tank and the design parameters of the building; The aquarium stand is usually mechanically connected to the building structure. IN apartment building the design of a large aquarium must be tested/developed in a specialized organization and approved by the building operator.
About corner cabinets
The bedside table is essentially a subordinate element of the interior, so corner bedside tables are not in use in living rooms: what’s on the corner is always in plain sight. There is simply no room for one in a regular bathroom or kitchen, but a corner cabinet can come in handy in a narrow space behind the door for all sorts of little things that are equally inconvenient to hide far away and keep in sight. Let's say, for not the most favorite toys, knitting/weaving, which is taken up as free time is available, etc. In such a case - in Fig. On the left is a diagram of a corner cabinet-rack. The dimensions in the plan can be changed to suit your apartment.
Just in case
All this is good, the reader may say, but what if the bedside table is needed “for the day before yesterday”? Not luxurious, but made from waste material, so it could be made in half a day and would last for 5-7 years? Let's say, to the country house, to the garage, to the barn?
Please. In Fig. shows how to make a durable and comfortable bedside table from a pallet or other unnecessary boards left over from a construction site. It's so easy to do that no explanation is required. But making one will give you a sense of the material and design, which will then allow you to start working on products that are quite aesthetic and even exclusive.
A bedside table is an indispensable piece of furniture for every bedroom. In it you can keep any things that may be needed in a given room and for which you don’t want to get up and go to another room. You can also put glasses on it, put a night light or a glass of water at night. The bedside table for the bedroom has a simple design, making it easy to make with your own hands.
Bedside tables can have a variety of designs and designs. Choosing suitable model, you should rely on your financial capabilities, carpentry experience and the interior of the room in which the product will be located, in our case, this is the bedroom. Let's look at the main types of cabinets:
Nightstand with drawers. This option- the most common and conservative. It is suitable for lovers of simple furnishings who do not gravitate towards fashion trends.
Open bedside table. There are no drawers in this model, and all things are in plain sight. It is suitable for those who do not hide any items from children and do not store many things in it at all.
Bedside table with pull-out table. This model will be indispensable for people caring for the sick and disabled who find it difficult to get out of bed to eat.
Wall-mounted bedside table. This solution is suitable for bedrooms with limited area. The wall-mounted option, like the floor-mounted one, can be open, or have a drawer or shelf. The cabinet is usually mounted on the wall, thereby freeing up space on the floor.
Bedside table of unusual design. There's already a lot of people here. It all depends on imagination, skill and experience in woodworking. If you want to complement the decor in the bedroom with some unusual detail, then you can think about an unconventional design.
Don't forget one thing important parameter bedside table - sizes. They should fit the available space next to the bed. When installing it, there should still be some space left around. If the width of the bedside table is such that the product occupies the entire space and abuts adjacent pieces of furniture, then it will only spoil the overall appearance and cause inconvenience. But it will also not be very beautiful if the bedside tables are narrow and too low. In other words, you need to stick to the golden mean in everything, and not go too far with any parameters.
It is quite possible to make all of the above options yourself. The cost of a homemade bedside table depends on its size, number of drawers, quality of fittings and material chosen for manufacturing. But today we will look at this process using the example of the simplest and cheapest, traditional model, which can easily be made by a person who does not have much experience in furniture production.
Tools you will need for the job
You will need the most common tools, which are most often found in the arsenal of every man who occasionally does minor repairs and other household chores:
- drill with a screwdriver attachment;
- hammer drill (if any);
- wood drills;
- different screwdrivers;
- cutter 35 mm. in diameter;
- iron;
- roulette;
- pencil;
- right angle tool with ruler;
- rags, sandpaper.
By the way, the iron was not on this list by mistake, as you first thought. The fact is that, whatever one may say, you will have to order the cutting of parts from a carpentry workshop, because... To do this yourself, you need conditions, a special tool and special knowledge. To keep costs to a minimum, you can try to save on gluing the edges. You can purchase a 0.5 mm thick melamine edge in the store, match it to the shade of the future bedside table and glue it yourself. It has an adhesive side that needs to be applied to the surface of the part and ironed with a hot iron. To ensure that the surfaces to be glued are well connected, take a rag and, without waiting for the edge to cool, press it firmly and iron it.
The material from which we will make our bedside table
In order to decide on the choice of materials, you need to study their types and properties, and also estimate how much you can spend on them. Chipboard cabinets are the cheapest. It is precisely because of its low cost that this material has become widespread. And the most expensive are cabinets made of natural solid wood. But because Today we are making simple, a budget option, then we’ll consider inexpensive materials:
Chipboard. We will use this material to make the fronts of our bedside table with our own hands. Laminated chipboard is a chipboard covered with a laminate as a decorative covering. This material has a rich palette of colors and textures and is easy to process. But not everyone knows that it is impossible to cut out furniture parts from it yourself, because... if you saw it with an ordinary handy tool, the decorative coating will chip off, and the place where the saw passed will turn out to be torn and ugly. Therefore, if laminated chipboard is chosen for making a bedside table yourself, then it is better to order the cutting of parts in a carpentry workshop.
Fiberboard. This is a fibreboard, which is made in much the same way as chipboard, only wood fibers are used as the material, rather than sawdust and shavings. Fibreboard is thinner and more flexible than chipboard. From of this material we will make the bottom of the box and back wall bedside tables (parts that are not visible from the outside) in order to save money, because... Fiberboard is cheaper than chipboard.
Tips and subtleties that need to be taken into account when working with laminated chipboard:
laminated chipboard sheets can have different thicknesses - from 1 to 3.8 cm. The most commonly used board is 1.6 cm thick;
The size of the slab can also be any, therefore, in order to save money, before cutting, you should draw a diagram of the layout of the parts on the slab and estimate what size it should be in order to fit all the structural elements and at the same time leave a minimum of waste;
Before purchasing material, it is important to inspect it carefully. The surface of the slab should not be damaged, scratched, or gouged. If they are, then it is advisable that they are only on one side, otherwise the product will look bad;
You also need to pay attention to the degree of dryness of the material. It should not be saturated with water, otherwise when it dries it will warp and it will simply be impossible to process it;
When transporting already cut parts of a future design, from the carpentry workshop to the house, you need to ensure that when the car bounces on bumps, they do not hit each other or the body and are not damaged. It would be best to cover the bottom and sides of the body with foam or other material that can soften impacts, and tie the parts together.
Important information about fiberboard:
The thickness of fiberboard furniture sheets ranges from 3 to 5 mm. The strength of the product depends on it. But most often this material is used for making internal parts not visible from the outside. In terms of thickness, a three-millimeter sheet is optimal for these purposes;
The dimensions of fiberboard, like chipboard, may be different, but, unlike the latter, this is not very important. It happens that there is simply no choice, and the store only has one format;
There are no strict quality criteria for fiberboard. For our purposes, any sheet will be suitable. But still, it is better to refuse the purchase if it has a wavy surface. After all, this means that the sheet is wet and warped, and it will now be very difficult to work with it.
Dimensions and number of parts for making a cabinet of the simplest design
To order cutting of parts for a bedside table in a carpentry workshop, a drawing is required. You should sit down at the table and draw out all its components, think over the dimensions, design and number of identical parts. Let me remind you that in our case this is the simplest and cheapest model with a drawer without runners and facades made of laminated chipboard. Dimensions and number of parts:
side parts of the bedside table measuring 77.2x50 cm - 2 pcs;
bottom and shelf measuring 36.8x50 cm – 2 pcs;
plinth and top bars size 36.8x10 cm – 3 pcs;
side parts of the box measuring 48x11 cm - 2 pcs;
box walls measuring 33.4x11 cm - 2 pcs;
drawer front measuring 15x39.5 cm;
the door of the bedside table measures 51.5x39.5 cm.
The plate from which the bedside table will be made is 1.6 cm thick. It is better to take a kitchen cabinet lid. Its size is 52.5x40 cm and thickness is 2.8 cm.
The back wall and bottom of the box can be made from more cheap fiberboard in the following sizes:
back wall measuring 67x39.5 cm;
The bottom of the box measures 47.5x36.5 cm.
The main fastening elements will be European furniture screws, for which you need to drill holes. We drill 8 mm in diameter in the planes, and 5 mm in diameter in the ends. The drawing mentioned above should indicate the number of holes and which of them are drilled where.
Accessories required for assembly
The choice of fastening elements must be taken very responsibly, because how long the product will last largely depends on them. In a store that sells furniture fittings you need to purchase:
a pack of 4x30 self-tapping screws for mounting the bedside table lid and the front panel of the drawer. They should be attached from the inside;
European screws 5x70 in the amount of 22 pcs. They secure the base and strips. Screw in one European screw on each side;
a pack of 4x16 self-tapping screws with a hidden head for attaching hinges and fiberboard. When screwing into the bottom of the box, they should be buried in order to avoid scratches on the shelf;
Furniture hinges, 2 pieces. It is necessary that they correspond to the diameter of the existing cutter;
handles for the door and drawer in the amount of 2 pieces;
if you want, you can buy adjustable legs for furniture, so that, if necessary, you can install a cabinet on an uneven floor. But this is optional.
Assembling the nightstand parts
Most small leaf Chipboard - 183x244 cm. It will make 2.5 bedside tables of this size and design, so before starting work, it makes sense to cooperate with one of your friends or relatives, so as not to store the remaining material, but at the same time share the costs.
From all of the above, it is already quite clear how the parts of the cabinet can be assembled; all that remains is to mention two important technical details:
When assembling a bedside table, it is imperative to ensure that the angles are correct. All of them must be straight, otherwise the structure will skew and the facades will not open well.
The distance from the edge of the door to the middle of the holes for the hinges is 2.2 cm. This is relevant for our case when we have a 3.5 cm cutter and the hinges corresponding to it. At the top and bottom, the distance from the edges is usually from 6 to 8 cm. If there are no design features, then exactly how much is not so important. Next, you just need to attach the door with attached hinges at the required height to the body and screw it using a fastener.
When the assembly work is completed, you can install the product in place and begin to use it.
If you have made facades from a material that does not have a decorative coating, it is better to paint it. To do this, you must first degrease the surface and then prime it. This operation is performed in order to achieve maximum adhesion of the paint to the surface of the bedside table.
After the primer layer has dried completely, you can begin painting. Best to use acrylic paint on water based. It dries quickly and does not emit the same odor as solvent-based paint. It is better to apply the dye in two layers, and before applying the second, the first should be thoroughly dried.
A large brush is suitable for basic work, and for painting hard to reach places– small. After the product is completely dry, you can seal the result with a layer of furniture varnish.
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part 2
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