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Lift Top Coffee Table

Project by chipmaker posted 282 days ago 2320 views 1 time favorited 13 comments Add to Favorites Watch

Hello,

This is my first furniture project in over 18 years, it is a lift top coffee table made for my wife’s birthday. It is made of red oak stained with minwax golden oak to match her other oak furniture, finished with 4 coats of water based gloss poly applied with HVLP. I used a combination of bisquits, mortise and tennon and pocket hole joints. It has one large deep drawer and two small cabinet doors with additional storage under the top. The lift hardware is from Lee Valley. This table also has a hidden storage compartment not shown in the pictures.
It has interchangeable tiles in the top so they can be changed to match the furniture or other accessory items.

This is my own design and is larger than most coffee tables, dimensions are 34×60x19 she loves it so much that she has instructed to make end tables to match. (And that in my mind gives me an excuse to buy more wood working tools with no complaints from her.)

-- The rule is measure twice and cut once. My problem is I still measure with a mic and cut with an axe!


13 comments so far

View oldskoolmodder's profile

oldskoolmodder

707 posts in 580 days


posted 282 days ago

Nice job. Isn’t that hardware pretty pricey? At least the last time I looked at it, it was.

-- Respect your shop tools and they will respect you - Ric

View chipmaker's profile

chipmaker

5 posts in 338 days


posted 282 days ago

Yes, I searched High and Low for a less expensive lift mechanism. Lee Valley was about $160 which was $40 less than anyone else. The wife wanted a lift top so the price was really a non-issue.

-- The rule is measure twice and cut once. My problem is I still measure with a mic and cut with an axe!

View CharlieM1958's profile (online now)

CharlieM1958

7700 posts in 1118 days


posted 282 days ago

Outstanding!

I would love one of these, but my wife would complain that I’d be wanting to eat in front of the TV all the time. :-)

-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"

View aldente's profile

aldente

122 posts in 315 days


posted 282 days ago

Very nice.

-- Rodd, Texas grandpa

View pommy's profile

pommy

977 posts in 591 days


posted 282 days ago

stunning !...........

-- cut it saw it scrap it

View jm82435's profile

jm82435

509 posts in 642 days


posted 282 days ago

That is a big one. I like the storage, I can see a bunch of remotes stored in there, and dvds and…

-- A thing of beauty is a joy forever...

View LesB's profile (online now)

LesB

557 posts in 343 days


posted 282 days ago

Nice table and great work. I think we could use one like that but I think my wife would still make me eat in the dining room with her.

I would suggest you get a copy of PhotoShop Elements on your computer (about $80). Then you could take dark pictures like these and brighten them up. I also use the program to remove stray visuals that detract from the picture. Things like the dog or cat that just walked through or a corner of the chair, bed or what ever that are hard to keep out of the frame. The program is also great for fixing up all kinds of pictures; including old family picts.
Of course you can also enhance the appearance of your work but that would be cheating (-:

-- Les B, Oregon

View jm82435's profile

jm82435

509 posts in 642 days


posted 280 days ago

Photoshop is great for fixing pictures but $. Picassa is free from Google an it will do minor edits like brighten dark pictures…

-- A thing of beauty is a joy forever...

View Tractor's profile

Tractor

1 post in 249 days


posted 249 days ago

This coffee table is exactly what I’m looking for. Could you please tell me where you got the plans for such a beautifl project. I’d be very interested in starting this project as soon as possible. Thanks Roy

-- Luvtractor, Penasco, NM

View chipmaker's profile

chipmaker

5 posts in 338 days


posted 249 days ago

The Plans are my own, I just drew out the dimensions from my own sketch that was designed from my wife’s vision of her very own coffee table. The tiles are easily removed if you should like to change colors at a later date in order to match new furniture or floor & wall colors. You should be able to get a good idea of the rough dimensions from my first post, along with the pictures. You might want to adjust the overall dimensions to fit your own personal needs. The storage areas could be changed from doors/drawers etc…

I am glad you like it, if you have trouble, I can take some measurements if you need them to get started. (If I had time and knew how to use sketchup I would be glad to post the design but alas I am not very good at sketchup yet.)

Thanks to jm82435 I now have google picassa to enhance my poor picture taking skills.

-- The rule is measure twice and cut once. My problem is I still measure with a mic and cut with an axe!

View bpkoilady's profile

bpkoilady

1 post in 7 days


posted 7 days ago

How much does the top of your table weight? the mechanism from lee valley says it holds 20 lbs? do they have differnt size ones?

View a1Jim's profile

a1Jim

17211 posts in 477 days


posted 7 days ago

cool table

-- Jim from Heirloom Woodshop, custom furniture ,maker, woodworking school, heirloomwoodshop.com

View chipmaker's profile

chipmaker

5 posts in 338 days


posted 7 days ago

I am not sure how much the top weighs, I am pretty sure it is over 20 pounds. I don’t think they make more than one size.

You do have to lift the table top, it won’t lift by itself. It does stay in the up position without any problem.

-- The rule is measure twice and cut once. My problem is I still measure with a mic and cut with an axe!

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