Richard Felt: Rustic Square Bedside Table Building Tutorial

Hey everyone! It’s Jamison from Rogue Engineer again. Today I’m going to show you how to build a simple rustic side table for under $25! We made this side table for our guest bedroom and love how it turned out. I posted a full tutorial below but to see the free plans to go with it and tons of other free DIY furniture plans follow the link below.

>> Free DIY Plans by Rogue Engineer <<

How to Build a Rustic Square Bedside Table

Required Tools

Miter Saw
Kreg Jig
Drill/Driver
Tape Measure
Pencil

Materials

4x – 2 x 2 x 8′
3x – 2 x 4 x 8′
8x – 4″ Corner Brackets
2-1/2″ Pocket Hole Screws

Cut List

2x – 2 x 2 x 24″
2x – 2 x 2 x 21″
8x – 2 x 2 x 17-1/2″
4x – 2 x 2 x 22-1/2″
6x – 2 x 4 x 21″
5x – 2 x 4 x 17-1/5″

Start by cutting all your wood according to the cut list above.

Step 1: Assemble the Top

Then drill pocket holes as shown in the six 2x4x21″ boards and assemble the top using 2-1/2″ pocket hole screws.

Step 2: Assemble the Shelf

Do the same for the five 2x4x17-1/2″ boards as shown in the following two pictures. Drill pocket holes and assemble the top using 2-1/2″ pocket hole screws.

Step 3: Assemble the Sides (Qty 2)

Drill pocket holes in each side of the remaining 2x2x17-1/2″ boards and assemble the sides using 2-1/2″ pocket hole screws. The lower 17-1/2″ board should be 4″ up from the bottom of the legs.

Step 4: Assemble the Base

If you haven’t already, drill pocket holes in each board end on the side of the lower shelf and assemble the base using 2-1/2″ pocket hole screws.

Step 5: Final Assembly

Center the base onto the top and fasten in place using 2-1/2″ wood screws.

Step 6: Finishing

We decided to finish this bedside table with Ash wood stain.

Then we sprayed the 4″ corner brackets with chalkboard spray paint to give them that matte black look.

Finally, we installed the brackets using decorative nail heads. (Note: These clearly offer no structural support and could possibly be pulled off if you tried hard enough but we like the looks of it so we went with it.)