Expedit leftover become mid century style bedside table

Bedside2

Materials: Expedit shelves (leftover from previous hack)

We decided to update our big 4×4 expedit shelf and therefore took out 6 inside shelves as part of our Expedit hack (soon to be shared)

They were the small squares ones, separating the cubes and since I needed a bedside table, we went with that as the base for it.

– 4x 12 inch furniture legs
– 4x angle top plates
– 4 small metal braces
– 2 surface hinges
– 1 magnet catch for the door
– 4 small metal shelf supports
– a cute knob
– used left over 1/8 inch oak panel as well as some piece of a Besta backing that was usable
– wood veneer edge banding

1. Cut all the boards to size to make a cube, using the finished edge when possible for the shown sides, and the unfinished edges at the top and bottom.

2. We notched the back edge of the shelves slightly, to be able to recess and insert the Besta backing (cut to size) so it would not show.

3. Assembly: For the tops, we used angle braces on the inside so there would not be screws showing, for the rest, we used screws.

4. We cut the shelf to size (making sure to allow extra inside space for the door when closed) and drilled holes inside for the shelf supports.To make sure we were not drilling too deep, we taped the end of the drill bits to know how far to go in.

5. Screwed in the angle top plates and legs.

6. We cut the door to size from the oak panel. We had to frame the inside to add thickness to it, since it was so thin and would not fit the hinge. You could simply get the right size board :). We stained it, and used mat polycrylic to finish.

7. We finished the 2 edges with edge banding, stained to match.

8. We decided to try to have the hinge show as little as possible. So we chiseled out a bit of the wood where the hinges would go in order to get the hinge as flush as possible. We also drilled the hinges into the side edge of the door, as well as as the inside of the unit.(=the hinge leaves are parallel when the door is closed)

Bedside3
Bedside1

9. We attached a cute knob found on clearance.

Overall, I would say this project costed us about $15. Main cost were the legs, and hardware. The next step will probably be to repaint the unit white (primer plus white paint) while keeping the edge banding and the door with the contrasting wood stain look).