Build a kitchen nook

Next, cut two inches off the top corners from each base piece, just to add to the design. Centre the trimmed base pieces onto the outside surfaces of the legs, bottom edges flush, and secure the base pieces with glue, clamps and one-inch counterbored screws. Cut the base ends and filler strips to size, then cut off the top corners of the base ends in order to make them mate perfectly with the main base parts you trimmed earlier. Glue and clamp all six parts to the inner surfaces of the bases, creating 1 1/2" in thickness.

Take the end and side skirts that you cut to size and make a saw kerf that is 5/16"-deep, located 3/8" from the top edge along each inner surface of the skirt parts. These aren't decorative, but will be used later to attach the tabletop, fastened with metal clips made for the job. Note that this saw kerf is on the opposite surface and near the opposite edge of the decorative kerf cuts already made. Just to be safe, have your clips on hand before cutting these kerfs. This way you can alter the kerf location if your clips are different than mine.

The skirts form a kind of frame. At this stage, prepare the joinery. First, make a 3/4"-wide, 1/4"-deep dado across the inside surface of each side skirt part, 1/2" from each end. Next, cut a 1/2" x 3/4" notch out of the top edge corners of the side skirts only. Join the dadoed ends of the side skirt into the ends of the end skirts, using glue and finishing nails to create a four-sided frame.

Switch to the Stool
The stool-building process is similar to the table. Begin with the two trestle boards. Cut them to size, then prepare a dado 1 1/4" from each end to accommodate the leg edges. Next, join individual trestle boards 16" up from the bottom of the legs, then join the trestle boards face to face to form the completed trestle/leg assembly. These steps follow the same process as the table, so the lessons you learned before should come in handy.

Next, cut two base parts to size and trim 1 1/2" off the top edge corners to fit with the rest of the design. Centre these on the legs, bottom edges flush, and fasten with glue. As before, cut the base ends and filler strips to fit directly behind the backside of the base parts. Glue and clamp these parts and let them dry overnight.

Make dados across the inside surface at the ends of each side skirt, 3/4"-wide by 1/4"-deep and 1/2" in from the ends. Glue and nail the ends of each end skirt into the dadoes that are in the side skirts to form a smaller version of the table frame you made earlier.

BUILDER'S TIP
Make wooden plugs almost invisible by choosing the tapered type, which have edge-grain on their top surfaces instead of those with end-grain. You can buy edge-grain plugs or you can make your own with a drillpress plug cutter. Either way, the ones with edge-grain are superior because their absorbency better matches the surrounding wood, so the plugs disappear nicely under several coats of paint.