Do It Like Doli: NES Coffee Table: Are We Ready to Paint Yet???: Part 4

February 22, 2015

NES Coffee Table: Are We Ready to Paint Yet???: Part 4

Ooooo buttons!

Are we ready to paint yet? Are we ready to paint yet?? Are we ready to paint yet??? (mimicking the infamous 'are we there yet' whine).

Man, building stuff takes a long time and so does sanding, and I have short amounts of patience (so you can see how woodworking and I often clash!). I often hit a point in my projects where I just want to fast forward to the fun part of painting and be done with it!

But no...since I'm actually selling this table I can't half ass it...or can I?? ;p

Where did I leave off last? Working on the buttons, the frame was cut out and ready to build the side panels on to the existing top panel. I cut out my side panels and attached them to the top panel using good 'ol wood glue and pocket holes with my trusty Kreg Jig (I bought this a while back and have been itching to actually use it on something!). I clamped the sides together and waited for the magic that is glue drying.

After attaching the side panels, I screwed some scrap wood onto the backside so I could attach my buttons on to it as the last step (yeah...don't ask why I finished all the buttons first, if you're following this, make sure the buttons fit through the holes properly, but finish them last).

And since I already painted and finished my buttons, I figured I ought to attach a scrap 1/4" piece of MDF onto the backs using wood glue and clamps, this way when the button is attached to the table, the buttons are raised up and pop out a bit and don't sit flush with the frames.

While my buttons were drying, I decided to attach the back/bottom panel of the table and secure using wood glue and finishing nails (this is where having a brad nailer would have come in handy!). I'm sure there are better ways to attach this, but I'm still a beginner for a woodworker. I had actually initially thought of cutting out rabbets on the side panels and on the back/bottom panel...but without a router and the skills needed to do that...I decided to pass.

The finishing nails worked out well (so far as I can tell), only problem is the heads on the finishing nails would stick out and the back/bottom panel would not be a flat surface, the little heads would be raised and drive me crazy. The solution? I took a drill bit slightly larger than the head of the finishing nail, and pre-drilled all of my holes, I didn't go all the way through, just drilled down far enough so the head of the finishing nail would drop down nicely into the wood. I used wood filler in all of the holes afterwards and sanded it down, worked like a charm!