A Rustic Sideboard

I've been saving lengths of reclaimed lumber (doesn't that sound so much better than "old wood"?) with plans in mind to build some type of long, narrow buffet or cabinet type piece that is table height for my dining room.  I'll just say... saving enough wood is taking forever.  Patience is not one of my virtues.  And so when I saw this little table on Pinterest

Via Pinterest

I decided to build it as an interim piece.  A quick, (with Red's help) zip-it-together rustic table.

When I started laying out the pieces for sizing and pre-assembly, I realized that I didn't have the right size lumber for the criss-cross legs.  The wood needed to be thicker to allow for notching at the cross. 

I flipped through my mental rolodex* of other small tables I've seen, and remembered this one that I had also flagged on Pinterest:

Via Pinterest

This one is built out of an upcycled wooden pallet so it's a "lighter" look than what I was after, but sometimes all you need is a glimpse of a construction design to use as a go by.  This one worked for me.  I used more of the lumber from my neighbor's old deck.  I wanted it to nearly fill the length of the wall, so I made the ends longer to extend past the legs.  I opted not to wrap the legs at the bottom, using instead a center foot-rail type piece.

I brushed off the dirt with a stiff bristle brush before assembly.  Once built, I hit the exposed sides with a sander, wiped it down with a damp rag, let it dry, and then put on a coat of stain with polyeurethane already in it.  I let it dry and heaved it (and I do mean "heave" -- it's heavy!) into the dining room.  I still need to put felt feet under it to protect my floors.

It will be perfect as a rustic sideboard in my dining room!  I'm having a bunch of girlfriends over on Thursday night this week and it will be the perfect opportunity to break it in.  I'll probably drape it with burlap and a little ribbon and pinecones to give it that holiday touch.  When I finally do save enough lumber for what I really want in this room, I'll re-purpose this to someplace else.  Maybe I'll get a horse -- it looks like it could be a decent hitching post...

*  I still have my rolodex from the 80's on my office bookshelf -- it's retro!