Gaming Coffee Table With Hidden Gaming Area

Introduction

I took commission on this project in the early days of the quarantine in 2020. It took me almost 8 months to complete due to a number of reasons but in the end, it came out extremely solid, and the customer was very happy with the results. The request that was presented to me was simple: build a gaming coffee table to certain dimensional specifications which will allow the user to play board games but also allow them to cover the game, undisturbed, to keep out pets and other debris. I had some vague ideas in my head about where I wanted to go with this project because it's something I have wanted to build for some time and I shared that with the future owner. I have never created anything this big from scratch before and it proved to be very challenging and very, very frustrating.

A lot - Solid Red Oak Dimensional Lumber (I don't have exact numbers unfortunately)

4 x 2"x2"x4' - Red Oak Blanks (Legs)

2 x 3/4"x4'x8' Sheets - Oak Veneer Plywood (for recessed gaming box, drawers, and removable top)

1 x 1/2"x4'x8' Sheet - Clear Pine Plywood (Drawers)

2 Rolls - Oak Edge Banding

12 - Drawer Knobs

8 - Soft Close Drawer Slides

10 - "L" Brackets (to hold top down)

1 x 10' - LED Light Tape with ON/OFF Switch

1 - LED Battery Pack

16 - Rare Earth Magnet (to secure top in place)

1 Quart - Stain of Your Choosing

2 Quarts - General Finishes Satin Water Based Polyurethane

Sand Paper (for finishing)

Glue (for assembly)

I started by sketching up the table in my design notebook in various views to get a rough idea about what it should look like and hopefully be able to work any any issues with the design. This was my first major commissioned piece and I wanted to make sure I got ahead of any issues.

The table needed to have a recessed gaming area which meant that the upper drawers would have to be fake but in order to maintain a smooth look, I also added fake drawers to the sides as well. This ended up working will because one of the fake drawers on the short side gave me a place to store the battery pack for the LED lights.

I started with the legs on this project because I knew everything would be built off of them. From the legs, I created two face frames which made up the long sides of the table. The customer asked that the table be sturdy and something he can pass down to his kids so I decided to go with mortise and tenons on all of the framing. This ensures that plenty of glue surface and a solid connection would reduce all creaks and potential loose points.

Once the long sides were done, I joined them together by creating the short rails and stiles and joining them to the long sides. This gave me a surprisingly square carcass to build onto. Next is the recessed gaming surface.

The gaming surface was a simple 5 sided boxes made form oak plywood. If fit inside of the legs and ended up being about 6" deep to allow for some games that have taller pieces.This was probably the easiest part of the build. I secured the box to the frame with screws.

The drawers were the next major build and took a significant amount of time. From building the drawers themselves, to cutting the fronts and mounting the hardware. This step was very taxing because it was very important that everything comes out square and true to each other. I decided to go with plywood with edge banding for the drawer fronts to reduce the amount of warping the could happen as the seasons change.

With the drawers complete, I moved onto the outer picture frame top. This needed to be sturdy yet narrow to facilitate the removable top and access to the inside. I started using 45 degree corners but found that I wasn't able to get accurate miters and had a lot of warping. I scrapped that and chose a bread board look. I put a sharp bevel on the underside of the top to give it a lighter look.

I went back and forth on how to complete the top and I settled on using oak plywood. I was concerned about warping issues if I were to use solid oak since the piece was fairly large and would have to remain very flat in to to prevent any unwanted high spots on the table. I cut the plywood into strips and glued the back together to give the allusion that the top was made out of separate boards. Lastly, I routed out an area for a small pull latch to lift the top out. I had to go back later and add some magnets to the top and frame to get the panel to sit flat.

I was able to find a roll of adhesive LEDs which came with an ON/OFF switch already attached. I also wanted to make sure the owner had options so I purchased a 12v battery pack to power the lights. This allows the owner to run the table off battery power or plug it in if there is a power source nearby. The batter pack is removable and can be charged conveniently. The lights were mounted underneath the picture frame top at both of the short ends. With some minor soldering, I was able to connect 2 separate strips of LEDs at either end of the table.

Everything was sanded up to 320 grit, I raised the grain with water between the last sanding sessions and everything was cleaned with HP air and a tack cloth. I stained the project to match the owners current furniture and finished that with 3 coats of General Finishes satin polyurethane. I'm calling this product out specifically because I did some research prior to finishing and read that this project sprayed well without having to dilute the product and it works very well for me, I highly recommend it (not sponsored, just a fan). The finish came out great, it was very smooth, and sprayed consistently. Once the finish was dry, I added the hardware and the table was complete.

Overall, it took me more than 40 hours to finish. I tried to log as much of my time as I could to keep track but I wasn't able to get everything. I learned so many things from this build and made every mistake in the book but it was a great learning experience. I'm looking forward to my next one (someday in the future).