How to Build a Wooden Bedside Table (by MisterQ)

Need a practical bedside table and like the idea of building it yourself? In this article, we’ll walk you through how to make a simple wooden nightstand using laminated fir boards. It’s an easy and satisfying project — perfect if you’ve got a few basic tools and want to add a personal touch to your bedroom. With some precise cuts and a bit of care, you’ll end up with a sturdy and attractive DIY piece.

Introduction

Our "forum friend" MisterQ (known as Ivan to his friends) has treated us to a captivating report (or work in progress, as he prefers to call it) detailing the stages of development, from the project design to the complete creation, of a wooden bedside table he built for his bedroom. What I’m sharing in this article is his original post from the forum. However, due to space constraints, I had to trim a few words and, most importantly, some photos. Anyone interested in seeing the full discussion can find it at this link:
https://www.ilsitodelfaidate.it/FDTForum/viewtopic.php?t=1209
And now... all that’s left is to wish Good Luck to anyone who decides to follow in MisterQ’s footsteps in building this bedside table – simple, yet beautiful and practical.

Luciano (Capitan Farloc)

Materials Used

As I had planned some time ago, I decided to build a bedside table for the bedroom, as we currently only have one, which used to belong to my wife's childhood room before we got married. I went a bit overboard with the photos—53 to be precise—covering tools, mistakes, oversights, and minor issues. These are all things that come with DIY projects; the important thing is not to get discouraged and to remember that almost any mistake can be fixed. At worst, you can buy another plank and start over. For the work, I used solid spruce laminated boards—the kind commonly found at hardware stores. When buying them, make sure they aren’t warped and don’t have splinters, cracks, or overly visible knot holes, unless you’re aiming for a very rustic look. Some of the boards I used were directly sourced from a factory and were essentially scrap pieces. As a result, they had a few imperfections I tried to conceal. Additionally, I bought them too far in advance, so they warped slightly, but I still managed to use them.

The Design

After this long preamble, let’s get to work: As Captain Farloc suggests in his article on building a shelf/bookcase (see How to Build a Wooden Bookcase or Shelf by Captain Farloc), which I read too late, it’s always a good idea to create a basic plan to clarify your ideas before starting. Of course, adjustments may still be made during the process. I used Paint to draft my design. The most significant adjustments to the plan were the total height (I hadn’t measured the other bedside table at the time of designing and relied on the wood I had available) and the drawer bottom, which is also 0.4 cm thick.

The Workshop

Here’s a photo to showcase the workshop where I carried out the DIY bedside table project: As you can see, the workbench is what it is… long but narrow, which caused me quite a few challenges during the process.

Cutting the Boards with a Jigsaw

Let’s move on to the first challenge: cutting the boards. My advice is to always create your plan first and then purchase boards with the most accurate dimensions possible, to avoid these kinds of issues. With only a jigsaw, cutting straight is practically impossible, but following the advice of another forum user, I attempted it by using a guide. First, we take the measurement, leaving a small margin for adjustments, and use a square to mark the cutting line—hoping the boards are squared, which isn’t always the case despite being machine-produced. Oh, and a good practice is to, after drawing the square line, use a tape measure to verify at multiple points that the line maintains a consistent distance from the edge.

Let’s arm ourselves with a jigsaw and some painter’s tape. Applying the painter’s tape along the cutting line should help minimise splintering.

We then secure the board to the workbench, placing a second board as a guide for the jigsaw. Make sure to position the guide board slightly back from the cutting line, allowing for the width of the jigsaw base. Verify that everything is perfectly square—this is where the need for a deeper workbench becomes evident. As you can see, under one of the clamps, there’s a piece of cardboard, as the rubber protector has gone missing. I really should have placed cardboard under the other clamp as well, perhaps folded in two, to avoid leaving marks.

Despite my best efforts, the cut is far from straight. The blade somehow took on an odd angle, and the piece is beyond saving. I’m not entirely sure why this happened—maybe I applied too much pressure against the guide, or perhaps using an old blade played a part, as did the fact that my jigsaw cost only £15. It could also be that an 18 mm spruce board is too much for a jigsaw to handle. Whatever the reason, the result was not only a terrible cut but also significant warping in the wood immediately after cutting.

Cutting the Boards with the Circular Table Saw

But I didn’t lose heart and decided to treat myself to a gift: a small circular saw with a table. It’s nothing fancy, but it will definitely make the next cuts much better.

Safety Equipment

Let’s move on with a small recommendation: when using tools such as a circular saw, an electric planer, or a sander, make sure to equip yourself with gloves, a mask, and protective goggles. The ones you see in the photo were provided by my workplace, but they are easily available on the market.

The First Cut and the First Issue

The workbench is, understandably, narrow, while the board is huge, which means I had to cut freehand, without using guides. This is exactly why I recommended earlier to choose boards with dimensions as close as possible to the ones you need.

As expected, the cut isn’t perfect, but it’s not too bad either… and everything can be fixed. Even though the cut didn’t come out perfectly, it’s not a serious problem—a quick file, and you’re good to go!
P.S. In the background of the photo, you can spot my assistant.

Once the pieces are ready—bottom, sides, and top of the cabinet—we move on to assembly. Not having a woodworking vise (though I plan to build one someday), I improvised by securing the piece vertically to the workbench.

The Joints Using Beech Dowels

For the assembly, I used round beech dowels—I recommend purchasing a complete kit like this one. For this type of joint, it's essential to drill holes to the correct depth: since the dowels are 4 cm long, the wood is 1.8 cm thick, and the joint is L-shaped, the dowel needs to be inserted about 28 mm into the vertical piece and 12 mm into the horizontal one. The tool shown in the photo is a dowelling jig, which allows you to drill perpendicular and centred holes in the wood. At the top of the drill bit, there’s a depth stop that needs to be properly adjusted.

We drill and insert the dowels, using a rubber mallet to assist.

We secure the two pieces to the workbench in perfect alignment—the one with the dowels already in place and the one it will be attached to. Using the guide, we drill the corresponding holes. It’s always a good idea to mark the pieces and the joint points (using pencil marks so they can be easily erased).

Let’s use the usual rubber mallet, placing a piece of plywood in between to protect the wood. It’s advisable to add a drop of PVA glue to secure the dowel joint, but only once the work is finished, as the cabinet will still need to be taken apart several times.

Assembling the Bottom of the Bedside Table

Let me explain how I tackled the back panel of the cabinet. Simply nailing the plywood panel felt too basic—not to mention the risk of doing a poor job due to crooked nails. So, what did I do instead? Here’s the idea.

What’s inside this box? Essentially, it’s a kit for converting a standard drill into a router.

Which Router Bit to Use

When purchasing router bits, it's important to pay attention—not just to the quality, which depends on how much you’re willing to spend—but also to their intended use. There are primarily two types of router bits: low-speed bits, which operate at around 3,000 RPM and can be used with a standard drill (like the one I’ll be using), and high-speed bits, which are designed exclusively for routers that can reach up to 20,000 RPM. It’s crucial to ensure the bit you buy is suitable for the tool you have. This is a simple 5 mm groove bit.

The Routing Kit

The routing kit consists of a plate with a guide, a collar to attach it to the drill, and a depth adjustment. It can also be mounted onto the workbench to turn it into a stationary router. We assemble everything, adjust both the distance of the bit and the routing depth, and test it on a scrap piece of wood.

Once the adjustment is satisfactory, we proceed to rout the cabinet pieces. Even if the routing isn’t perfectly straight, it can still work just fine. We create a groove on the three pieces that make up the base and the cabinet walls along the rear side. Then, we prepare a 4 mm thick plywood sheet of the correct dimensions and slot it into the guide.

Next, simply secure the top piece, and the cabinet body is complete.

Building the Drawer

Now it's time to talk about the drawer. Essentially, I built it in the same way as the cabinet body: the four sides are joined using dowels, and the bottom is secured via a groove—made slightly deeper to provide extra rigidity.

These are the full-extension under-drawer slides, which are commonly available at hardware stores.

The only challenge is figuring out exactly how much space they will occupy, especially since they are slightly different from each other. Only one of them can be assembled without having the two parts mounted on their respective wooden supports. In the end, my drawer turned out to be a few millimetres too wide, and I resolved the issue by removing a thin layer of wood where the slide is fixed. To do this, I used a high-speed rotary tool and a coarse-grit sandpaper brush.

At this point, we’ll need to install the side components of the drawer slides, and then our drawer can be placed inside the bedside table.

Assembly and Painting

The painting process involved applying two coats of cherry-coloured wood stain, followed by two coats of clear wax-effect varnish. In the photos, it appears much shinier than it actually is. The only downside was that I purchased solvent-based products, suitable for outdoor use, instead of water-based ones, which I initially didn’t spot. As a result, there was an unpleasant odour after painting, but it has now completely disappeared.

Now, I’d like to thank everyone who’s followed along so far and wish “good luck” to anyone who’s inspired to take on this challenge.
See you soon!, Ivan "MisterQ"