# Faux Oak Front coffee table storage



## vindaloo (May 30, 2009)

A friend gifted us an oak coffee table that came with a big void underneath. So it gathered 'stuff', as do all voids, they just have to be filled. Recently I saw an article about rolling storage for under beds and the void under the coffee table came to mind. I recently asked on this forum about faking oak. Numerous ideas were expressed, but I found a further idea from the stains that I have available to me. It may not look 100% like oak, but the colour difference between the original and my fake is quite good even if I say so myself.

The sides of the roller are 40x20mm pine, pocket screwed with plugs, rebated for 6mm plywood, stained english oak. The base is 12mm ply glued and screwed then routed flush. Wheel runners are 40x20mm pine eased, stained english oak, with 2 glue and screw blocks added.

The face is 18mm pine, 3 lengths make up the width, with a drawer pull routed in the center. the whole face was then given 2 coats of golden oak stain, rubbed down after the first, then a coat of dark red mahogany. Once this was dry I wiped excess off and it came up with a beautiful red/copper shine. The face was then given 4 coats of satin clear quick drying varnish. I used 2400 grit to rub it down between each coat. The result is as you see, a very close matching drawer front.

Now the negative..... Wish I'd just made the thing wider and put on drawer runners. Reason? Well we don't have wood floors, and the wheels sink into the carpets so the drawer has to be raised higher to allow for the sinking, so the bottom of the drawer doesn't rub on the carpet! Well, it works, my SO is happy with it, so it'll do for now. Maybe in the future I'll build a new drawer, wider so I can use drawer runners.


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## Gaffboat (Mar 11, 2012)

A great solution, Angie, and the colors match exceedingly well. No one would know it wasn't part of the original piece of furniture.


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## Shop guy (Nov 22, 2012)

Matched up very nicely. Good use of the space.


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## JOAT (Apr 9, 2010)

Nice. And I would be willing to bet no one will ever say it is not part of the original piece. Just proves, sometimes faux is good.


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## TenGees (Sep 12, 2012)

Angie if you really want runners, just add a spacer under the runner, to bring it out to the right position. Either on the drawer or between the table legs. I think that if you added the runners (and spacers) near the bottom of the drawer, they wouldn't look out of place.

By the way... excellent colour match! I want to make something to match an existing bedroom set, I hope that I can get as close as you have.


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## Steven Owen (Aug 14, 2017)

It looks good. You have a job working at the local furnite store if you ever wanted too. The furniture stores are all faux wood these days.


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## vindaloo (May 30, 2009)

TenGees said:


> Angie if you really want runners, just add a spacer under the runner, to bring it out to the right position. Either on the drawer or between the table legs. I think that if you added the runners (and spacers) near the bottom of the drawer, they wouldn't look out of place.
> 
> By the way... excellent colour match! I want to make something to match an existing bedroom set, I hope that I can get as close as you have.


 @TenGees Paul, thanks for the comment on the colour match. I was surprised to say the least that it is so close. Had a visit today from a friend and she thought the whole coffee table was bought as a unit! :surprise:

As far as the runners go, I think I'll rebuild the entire thing to gain that extra width to the drawer. It would probably give me an extra 75mm in storage width rather than hodge podge the current build, but for now it's good enough, plenty of extra spare storage still available.



Steven Owen said:


> It looks good. You have a job working at the local furnite store if you ever wanted too. The furniture stores are all faux wood these days.


 @Steven Owen Not sure about that, This was pure luck. I did the staining in the workshop, wasn't until I brought it in and placed it at the front of the coffee table I realised how close I'd got. Does show what can actually be achieved mixing different stains though. And now my stains collection has increased too


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

Angie, I really like the look of the whole project. Good thinking, excellent craftsmanship.


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## 197761 (May 2, 2017)

That looks really good!


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

Angie did you purposely darken a few areas on the drawer to match the darkened spots on the table or was that just a bit of luck?


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## vindaloo (May 30, 2009)

Cherryville Chuck said:


> Angie did you purposely darken a few areas on the drawer to match the darkened spots on the table or was that just a bit of luck?


Chuck, the dark spots are actually knots in the original pine. The stain took there a little more than the rest. As I said earlier in the thread this was purely luck maybe with a little thought, the pine 4x2 was a little knotty, the stains reacted as they did, the mix of stain colours was trial. After I put the first coat of golden oak on, I thought it was a little light, so added another coat. Then it wasn't red enough so I added the dark red mahogany. I had looked at the samples on the stains suppliers website, and thought it may need either french oak or golden oak, and then a red, so bought all 3. The first two colour stains I used worked just right. Still can't get over the colour match myself.

My hairdresser came round yesterday and while we chatted in the lounge she commented on the coffee table. I told her I had built the drawer and she couldn't believe it had been built seperately, she thought it had come complete!


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