Console Table Challenge build

This summer I finally bit the bullet and joined Instagram. I wanted a place to share photos with family and friends. As soon as I realized how amazing the Instagram community is with supporting small businesses and artisans I immediately started a woodworking Instagram account. The support I have received from people on there is amazing. I’ve even had a fellow Instagram woodworker take time from his busy schedule to create plans for me when I mentioned a project I wanted to make! It still leaves me in awe.

The very week that I started my Hazel and Gold Designs Instagram account, I found a post about joining a building challenge. I was extremely excited about it because the challenge entries were being judged by THE Ana White of ana-white.com, and THE David Sheinkopf, who I also follow on Instagram and TV and greatly admire. Anyway, the deal was that you join the challenge and a few weeks later they would reveal the mystery plan, designed by Ana, and you would have three weeks to build and post photos. I promptly joined the challenge, and when the plans came I was thrilled because it was actually something I thought I’d be able to build! Hooray! Well, that excitement lasted a few days until people started posting photos of their already completed builds, which were all A-MA-ZING. I instantly felt like I was out of my depth and could never compete. I made the decision to just do my best and to stop looking at and comparing my build to others. I just adjusted the build plans to my liking and began building. It was a great excuse to buy some new tools too! I got an air compressor set, with two nail guns and a stapler. I love using them and found them helpful for the drawers on this project.

After I finished building  I went through the process of trying to capture some good images to share for the IG challenge. The design on the drawers is just painted onto the unstained wood with some indoor wall paint, then I stained over the entire thing and it blended all of it together. The stain took a little longer to dry on top of the paint, but it looks really great now.

Some very amazing builders who built projects much more complex than mine won the prizes, but I was so glad to be a part of the challenge and have already signed up for the next one. This is where my table now resides, just inside my entryway. I really like it and feel a sense of accomplishment whenever I see it or put something into the drawers.

In the end, I absolutely love my console table. It is the first thing you see when you enter my home, and I get many compliments on it. I’m proud of myself for completing it, and learned so many new skills, like how to install drawer slides, new staining techniques, and extra practice with my Kreg Jig and biscuit joiner.

Friends, I’m here to tell you, if you feel out of your depth, that’s okay. Just keep going. Stay true to yourself and what you envision and just make it happen! You can do it!