Bedside Nightstand with shhhhh,...a secret!

Nice idea! Is the latch magnet based?

-- Steve - Impatience is Expensive

Right now I have both a mag catch -I was thinking just for the added weight- and a push-button catch that works very well.

-- Doug...

I really like your design Doug… well done!

-- Even if you fall on your face, you are still moving forward. - Tim, Southern California

Oh, this is great. My wife was just saying a few days ago that our son in Ohio could use a night-side table. Well, this one fits the bill. If ya don’t mind, I’ll borrow your design… more-or-less. I really like the leg shape and, of course, the secret compartment. Whatever you can add to this will be appreciated.

-- Noel

Nice!

-- Bill M. "People change, walnut doesn't" by Gene.

Is this really a prototype using “cheap” timber ?....I dont think so !!

-- Regards Rob

Yes Rob,
Its made outa 2xs, once and awhile you can find good ones and I always grab-um!
This used less than 3 2×4s making it about 10 bucks worth of lumber.
$10 for the drawer slides and $10 for the lock mechanism, rest was scrape pieces.
And yes this “prototype” will go up to camp.

Frame assembly pic

-- Doug...

Clever idea … thanks for posting.

Just a thought … if the drawer were a little shallower and the drawer front a little larger, the front stretcher (below the drawer) could be narrower (like the one stretchers below the side panels).

-- Gerry -- "I don't plan to ever really grow up ... I'm just going to learn how to act in public!"

If the front stretcher were narrower there wouldn’t be room for the hidden drop down shelf for that item.

-- Bill M. "People change, walnut doesn't" by Gene.

Gerry,
I know what you mean, following the same lines around from front to the sides. I did think of making the drawer front wider with a false back, my idea is to make the hidden drawer as less noticeable as possible. I could widen the side rails.

-- Doug...

I love it! Now if I can just figure out the latch mechanism…........

-- " I'll try to be nicer, if you'll try to be smarter" gfadvm

I could widen the side rails.

That would work … maybe make the side panels the same height as the drawer front.

I have never built prototypes with the detail you did here … looks terrific. I have had some luck with kiln-dried 2×12’s that I milled for some pretty decent shop furniture. Most of the 2×4’s at our local big box stores either look like Twizzlers or have pitch running out of them.

-- Gerry -- "I don't plan to ever really grow up ... I'm just going to learn how to act in public!"

I look at the stack of 2xs every time I go in, also check the hardwood for choice pieces. Can find an occasional piece of curly maple, grab-um even if I don’ need them. Recently found a piece of curly oak at the orange big box.

-- Doug...

I like! And I’m making a not to self to borrow your prototype strategy of using select 2x material.

-- too old to rock & roll......

Great looking nightstand and cool design for the secret compartment.

-- Ron, Northern Illinois