What's inside
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A single-cubby bedside table is one of the best beginner-to-intermediate builds: just four sides, a bottom, and a top, but it teaches you accurate crosscutting, panel glue-up, and square assembly. No drawers, no doors, no hardware to fuss with. The design below is 22″ tall x 18″ wide x 16″ deep, which puts the top flush with most modern mattresses and leaves a cubby tall enough for books and a basket. You can build it in a weekend with a circular saw or miter saw, a drill, and a sander.
Contents
Materials and Tools
For one table, you need about 12 board feet of 3/4″ stock. If you’re buying from a big box store, two 1x12x8′ boards and one 1x16x4′ or a 3/4″ plywood panel for the top will cover it with waste to spare. You’ll also need wood glue, 1-1/4″ pocket screws or 1-1/4″ brad nails, 120 and 180-grit sandpaper, and your finish of choice.
Essential tools are a saw for crosscuts and rips, a drill/driver, a square, tape measure, and at least four 24-inch clamps. A pocket hole jig kit makes the assembly far more forgiving than butt joints with nails alone, and a random orbit sander will save you an hour of hand sanding and give you a flatter surface for finish. If you only have a circular saw, clamp a straight edge as a guide for the long rips – freehand rips on 16″ panels will wander and leave a gap at the back.
Cut List and Dimensions
All dimensions are finished size from 3/4″ thick material. If you are using construction lumber (actual 3/4″), no adjustment needed. If you use 3/4″ plywood, the cubby dimensions stay the same but you will want to apply iron-on edge banding to the front edges.
Top: 18″ x 17″ (1 piece) – allows 1/2″ overhang on sides and front, flush at back
Sides: 21-1/4″ x 16″ (2 pieces) – height is 22″ minus top thickness
Bottom shelf: 16-1/2″ x 16″ (1 piece) – fits between sides
Back panel: 16-1/2″ x 10-1/2″ (1 piece) – optional, but prevents racking. Use 1/4″ plywood if you want to save weight
Cubby opening: 16-1/2″ wide x 10-1/2″ tall – fits a standard 13″ fabric cube or a stack of books
Cut the sides as a pair. Stack them after cutting and check they are identical within 1/32″. Any difference will telegraph as a wobble. Cut the bottom and top 1/16″ oversized in length, then trim to final after dry-fitting.
Choosing Wood: What Works and What Doesn’t
Solid wood looks better and takes stain more evenly, but plywood is more stable and cheaper for a painted table. Don’t use MDF for a bedside table – it sags under a lamp and swells if a glass sweats.
| Material | Cost for One Table | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|---|
| Poplar (solid) | $45 – $65 | Cheap hardwood, mills cleanly, paints perfectly | Blotchy with dark stain, soft for a hardwood |
| Red Oak (solid) | $70 – $95 | Hard, durable, takes stain well | Strong grain hides mistakes but limits modern look |
| Walnut (solid) | $120 – $170 | Premium look with just oil | Expensive, burns easily when ripping without sharp blade |
| 3/4″ Birch Plywood | $35 – $55 | Stable, no glue-up, low cost | Edge banding required, veneer chips if blade is dull |
For most first builds, poplar for a painted table or birch plywood for a natural clear coat is the smart money. Walnut is beautiful but not worth the risk until your cuts are consistently square.
Step-by-Step Build
1. Mill and sand before assembly. Crosscut to length, then sand all interior faces to 180-grit now. It’s miserable to sand inside a cubby after it’s together. Break all front edges with a light 1/16″ roundover by hand with 180-grit.
2. Drill pocket holes. On the bottom shelf, drill three pocket holes on each end (into the sides) and three along the back edge (into the back panel if you use one). On the side pieces, drill three pocket holes at the top inside face to attach the top. Keep holes 3″ from front and back edges so they don’t blow out.
3. Dry-fit and check for square. Stand the two sides up, set the bottom shelf between them 3/4″ up from the bottom edge to create a small toe kick / shadow line. Clamp lightly and measure diagonals across the front opening. If the two diagonal measurements differ by more than 1/16″, tap the longer diagonal side with a mallet until they match. Mark the side positions with pencil lines so you can reassemble exactly.
4. Glue and screw the carcass. Run a thin, even bead of glue on the bottom shelf ends, clamp between the sides on your marks, and drive the pocket screws. Don’t over-tighten – poplar crushes and you’ll strip the holes. Use a square inside the cubby to hold 90 degrees while you drive each screw. Attach the back panel with glue and 3/4″ brads or screws into the rabbet or directly over the back – it locks the box square.
5. Attach the top. Center the top so you have 1/2″ overhang on both sides and front. Clamp and drive the side pocket screws up into the top. If you want wood movement allowance for solid wood, use figure-8 fasteners or elongated pocket holes instead of glue here. For plywood tops, glue plus screws is fine.
6. Finish. Fill pocket holes with plugs if they show, then final sand the exterior to 180-grit. Vacuum, wipe with mineral spirits, and finish. For a bedside table that sees water glasses, use two coats of polyurethane or a hardwax oil with a topcoat. A simple wipe-on poly is more durable than pure Danish oil and far easier to repair than film-heavy lacquer. Apply with a foam brush, sand lightly with 320 between coats.
Assembly Tips and Failure Modes
Three mistakes account for most wobbly cubby tables. First, sides out of parallel because you measured each side independently instead of ganging them. Fix: cut one side, use it as a template for the second. Second, racking because you skipped the back panel. Even a 1/4″ plywood back glued and nailed adds 10x stiffness. If you want a fully open back for the look, add a 3″ wide stretcher across the back at the bottom and another just under the top, pocket-screwed between sides. Third, glue starvation or squeeze-out left to dry. Starved joints creak; dried squeeze-out repels finish and leaves pale spots. Wipe excess glue with a damp rag within 10 minutes, then sand the area after it dries.
Clamping pressure matters. You want enough to get a continuous thin line of squeeze-out, not a flood. If you see glue foaming out heavily, you used too much or clamped too hard and forced all the glue out. For this box, two 24 inch bar clamps across the width plus a square inside the cubby is enough. Let the carcass cure 60 minutes before attaching the top, and 24 hours before heavy loading.
Finally, level the feet. Even if the box is square, floors aren’t. Stick-on felt pads solve minor rock, but if it rocks more than 1/8″, sand the longer legs on a flat surface with 80-grit taped to a piece of MDF until it sits flat. Better to fix it now than to have a lamp wobble every time you brush the table.
Customizing the Cubby Without Complicating It
Once the basic box is square, small changes are easy. Raise the bottom shelf to 6″ off the floor for a taller toe kick that hides cords. Add a 1-1/2″ lip across the front of the shelf (a scrap of 1×2 glued on edge) to keep books from sliding out. If you want cord management, drill a 1-1/2″ grommet hole centered in the back panel 2″ below the top – do it before finishing and ease the edge so it doesn’t cut the cord. Keep the overall height between 21″ and 24″ – taller looks leggy and shorter makes the cubby feel cramped.
This table is also a good batch project. Cut parts for two at once; the second takes about 40% less time since setup is done. Total build time is 3-4 hours plus finishing, and material cost stays under $60 if you use poplar or plywood and already own glue and finish.