Intermediate

Side table

The right-sized little table next to the sofa or the bed

Drawer / shelf / plain-top variants

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Side table design details

What's distinctive about this template

Wireframe — see structure
Lower shelf + apron reinforcement; the most natural cup-grab height beside a sofa

Drawer structure cutaway
Hide the drawer face to see drawer box + slide position — 13-inch spec ready to buy

Design highlights

What this template's algorithm handles for you

🛋️

Auto-fits sofa height

The most natural cup-grabbing height

🗃️

Auto drawer hardware

Says "13-inch slide" — just buy it

📚

Optional lower shelf

Magazines or stay flat

🦵

Compound-splay legs

True length + both cut angles

What this template builds for you

Side tables are the piece of furniture you can never buy in the right size — store-bought is either too tall, too wide, or visually mismatched with your sofa. Building one yourself is the only way to nail the exact armrest height of your couch, the exact gap beside your bed.

This template ships three variants: plain-top (fastest build), drawer (for remote / glasses storage) and lower-shelf (stacks books / magazines). The drawer slide position is auto-computed from drawer width — you just walk into the hardware store and ask for "13-inch full-extension slides, one pair". Legs come in straight, 5° splayed, or 10° splayed — splayed gives a lighter look but needs compound angles, which the algorithm handles and outputs as ready-to-cut true-length numbers.

A hardwood (oak / walnut) side table runs $25–50 in materials — about twice the lumber quality of an IKEA LACK at the same overall cost, dimensioned exactly for your room. Once you've built one, you've unlocked all "table-class joinery" — coffee tables, dining tables, desks all scale from the same logic. Best of all: you remember which board came from which tree, every time you set a coffee mug down.

Who this template suits

✓ Recommended for

· Want to fit an exact spot in your living room
· Practicing "table-class" joinery as an intermediate builder
· Upgrading living-room atmosphere with DIY

× Not for

· No saw and no workshop access
· Hoping to finish in three days as a beginner (splayed legs need compound-angle setup time)
· Strictly $10-or-under budget (you can't even buy the lumber for that)

Parameters you can adjust

The algorithm auto-computes dimensions, joinery, and material usage.

Size

Suggested 40–60 cm wide × 40–50 cm tall (handy mug-height from the sofa)

Drawer

0–1 drawer; auto-computes slide location and hardware spec

Lower shelf

Optional; great for stacking books

Leg style

Straight / splayed / tapered — three options

Enter sizes, get everything

Six deliverables in one pass — print A4 and walk into the shop.

📐

Engineering views

Front / side / top auto-dimensioned

🪵

Perspective

3D rotatable, explodable, see inside

🔧

Joinery detail

Every joint zoomed and dimensioned

📊

Cut list

Per-part sizes, board-foot conversion, waste estimate

✂️

Cut layout

Optimized stock layout, minimum waste

📄

A4 PDF

One-click print for the shop

Real generated output

The screens below are actually generated from the Side table template — apply your sizes and they update live.

Engineering views
Front / side / top fully auto-dimensioned

Cut layout
Algorithmic nesting, minimum waste — hand to the lumber yard and cut straight from it

Cut list
Per-part sizes with board-foot conversion, printable for the shop

Build steps
Stock prep through finishing, every step timed

3D perspective
Rotatable, explodable, see the joinery inside

※ These regenerate live whenever you tweak size, wood, or style

When you'd build one

New apartment

Just moved in, and every off-the-shelf side table is 5 cm too tall or 3 cm too narrow. Measure once, build once, it fits.

Wedding gift

Build two identical side tables as a wedding present — far more presence than anything off a registry.

Housewarming

Hand-engrave the initials, gift it to friends moving into their first home — they'll use it daily and remember.

Guest-house outfit

4 matching nightstands needed for the guest house. Quoted at $110 each, build them yourself for $30 in materials with better quality.

4 preset variations

Swap styles in one click — no need to re-adjust every parameter from scratch.

Straight leg + plain top

Four straight legs and a top — the quickest build, low footprint next to the sofa.

Tapered leg + drawer

Tapered legs with a single drawer — remote / glasses storage, ideal bedside config.

Splayed leg + shelf

5° splayed legs with a lower magazine shelf — classic Scandinavian profile.

Cross-stretcher all-joinery

Adds a lower stretcher, fully mortise-and-tenon with no screws — showcase-grade craft.

FAQ

Are splayed legs always better looking?+

Visually, yes — they look lighter. But the compound-angle math makes them harder to cut clean. Build a straight-leg version first, then graduate to splayed on table #2.

How hard are drawers?+

Dovetailed drawers are an intermediate move, but the algorithm pre-lays the dovetails for you — you just saw to the lines. Less scary than it sounds.

How do I choose the height?+

Sit on the sofa you'll use it next to, hang your arm naturally — the height a coffee mug rests easily is the right height. Usually 45–55 cm. Every sofa is different; measure before you build.

What top thickness?+

18 mm is the minimum; spans under 40 cm hold up fine. 21 mm gives a heavier, more grounded look. Thicker reads more substantial.

Should the lower shelf be fixed or adjustable?+

Side tables usually have one shelf, and fixed is sturdier (screwed or joined). Adjustable shelves make sense in bookcases where you change book heights — overkill here.