A knitter's end Table - design

Following up on yesterday’s post. Since every single tools are packed away in the garage, the only way to DO woodworking is with a pencil and a mouse. Well, a pencil for today. I bounced some ideas to my knitting wife. After a bit of discussion, I brooded all day on this until tonight. Here is how I imagine the end table to look like:

Orthographic drawing of the end table

I’m not sure about the sides, but I will use light colored slats in the back (similar to the TV stand) with the rest in dark Cabernet stain.

The sketch cleared with the ultimate user. I guess that the next step is to figure out the joinery and make a scale model with Sketchup.

A knitter's end Table - research

Specifications

Here is what my wife and I came up with for requirement prior to design:

1. Table top at shoulder height when sitting down. (say, 29″)
2. Square shape from top, 14″ or 16″ wide/deep.
3. A drawer for needles and other flat tools (scissors, etc.)
4. Room for papers and patterns.
5. Room for 3-4 projects (yarn, needles, in-progress pieces).

 So I’m thinking of putting together a narrow but fairly tall end-table, with 1-2 drawers and a cabinet underneath that will have 2 or 3 dividers.  Let’s see what there is on Fine Woodworking.

Fine Woodworking Arts & Craft end table.

 This is too wide, but brought to a square top profile, and closing down the sides and back, add dividers and make the drawer shallower to stack two of them, and this could fit the bill. A variation with mission-style sides:

Mission-Style End table

 This one is missing the drawer and needs some height. It has an open side that I was thinking about in the first end table. I wonder whether I could use a similar style to create partitions in the bottom cabinet.

Googling “kitting end table” lead to this handcrafted cabinet that is a bit heavier than I have in mind, but it is worth the addition in this post:

Two drawers and one compartment cabinet.

The cabinet looks nice, but is too deep, and the top compartment is useful only if the tabletop can be freed of clutter. I can already see my wife roll her eyes on that last assumption. Here is another one making similar assumptions on my family inability to leave clear any horizontal surfaces.

So, what’s next? Enters Google Sketchup… (but this is stuff for another post).