Tutorial: Build You Own Chunky Furniture Feet

When I was writing the post for Mr. Don Draper Desk I realized it would take WAY too long to explain everything I did to the desk, plus include a tutorial on how I built the chunky feet. So here is the follow-up tutorial.

I was going for a contemporary look, but you could use the same process, with some molding instead of 1x stock and get feet similar to this.

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I first had to determine how much the desk needed to be raised. It was around 25" tall, sitting on the ground.

For reference, an average chair (kitchen, desk, etc.) sits at 18" high. An average table or desk is around 29-30"  high.

So, I started the legs by cutting 4, 4 x 4 pine posts down to 5" lengths.

I flipped the desk over on it's back.Then, using a framing square, marked lines on the outside corners of the desk, 7/8 in from the edge.

Reaching in through the drawer openings, I drilled 4 holes through the bottom of the desk, in each corner.

I then lined up my 4 x 4 block with the lines drawn on the bottom of the desk, reach through the drawer openings, and drilled through the pre-drilled holes, drilling into the 4 x 4.

I did have to move a couple holes so they were more centered on the block.

Next, all I had to do was attach the blocks to the bottom of the desk, using wood glue and 3" wood screws.

I could have chosen to leave the feet how they were. They wouldn't look too bad if I had painted them, but I wanted more substantial, contemporary looking feet.

On my table saw, I ripped down some 1x boards to 5" widths (If you don't have a table saw, you could use 1 x 4s or 1 x 6s. You will just need to adjust the height of your 4 x 4 blocks to be the same as your board width.).

I then cut my 1x strips into 8, 6" lengths, cutting one side square (90 degrees) and one side at a 45 degree angle (long side 6").

Next, I lined up the 45 degree corners of the pieces, on the outside of the 4 x 4 block, and attached them with wood glue and finish nails.

 I originally planned on just covering the 2 sides, filling the holes and calling it a day, but when I stood back, I realized that you could see the hollow sides. It looked bad.

So I cut 8 more pieces of 1x and attached them to the insides.

I filled the holes, gave them a light sand, painted them to match the rest of the desk, and they were done! I had my chunky, contemporary feet.

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