Mid Century Modern DIY Retro Nightstand Project

I built these mid century modern nightstands to compliment my recent platform bed, but this stylish design is versatile enough to go with just about any contemporary decor.  This is also a really great project for a beginner to intermediate DIY woodworker and can easily be knocked out in one or two weekends.

I completed 2 of these nightstands which measure approximately 20″ tall, which turned out to be the perfect height to accompany the bed, but this project is super easy to modify if you want it taller or shorter.

The hardest part of the project was finding the legs for it.  I wanted to design a mid century modern piece because the retro look is so popular right now, but since I wanted to make this an easy weekend project and I don’t have a lathe, I knew I’d need to source the legs from somewhere, but it turns out that the options available in the big box stores are pretty limited.

I finally ran across Waddell Manufacturing which makes a variety of lengths and ordered directly from them.  They also provide both straight and angle brackets to attach the legs, depending on the look that you want.  I designed both versions for the nightstand, but personally prefer the angled leg look.

The nightstand has a surface that measures 20″ wide and 16″ deep.  While you can customize the drawer height to your own specifications, this plan has a 9″ high drawer box and 11 1/2″ legs making the stand just over 20″ high when using the angled brackets.

Tools Recommended

• Table Saw
• 1/4″ dado blade (or a router with a 1/4″ bit)
• Clamps
• Biscuit Joiner
• Kreg Jig
• Hand Sander

Depending on the size of your table saw, it may also be helpful if you have a skil saw or, better yet, a sliding miter saw.  You’ll need something that can make a straight 16″ cut for the main box.  You’ll also use the table saw to cut dados into your drawer box sides in order to insert the drawer bottom.  I’ll provide some commentary on drawer construction

Materials & Hardware List

• 3/4-in x 16-in x 6-ft Project Board (you can find these at Lowe’s)
• 4 – 11 ½” legs
• 4 Angle Brackets
• ½” Plywood for drawer boxes
• Drawer Pull

Cut List

• Coming Soon!

Assembling the Nightstand

Coming Soon!

Why I’m Using Biscuits Instead of Pocket Holes

I love my Kreg Jig and use it all the time, but in some cases, like with this nightstand, biscuits are preferable to pocket holes. If you use pocket holes to join the top and bottom of the nightstand to the sides, you need to drill your pocket holes on the inside of the drawer box into the side panels.  This means that your pocket hole screws will be angled to the outside top and bottom corners of your stand, which is not a preferable angle for the joint and unless you’re extremely careful, you run the risk of either splitting the wood at screw hole or drilling with too much pressure so the tip of the screw damages the exposed corner of your stand top, especially if you’re using a soft wood like pine.

Using a biscuit joiner eliminates this problem altogether and since the biscuit is perpendicular to the edge (rather than angled), the joint will be stronger and you’ll eliminate the problem of the wood splitting at the pocket holes.

Constructing the Drawers

Drawers always present a challenge to someone who hasn’t done them before.  For this project, I’m using a simple drawer box construction using 1/2″ plywood for the box and 1/4″ plywood for the bottom.