MISSION-INSPIRED WALNUT CONSOLE TABLE
The mission style of furniture originates in California in the late 1800’s but I won’t get too far into the history. Visually, mission furniture is characterized with a lot of straight lines and minimal ornamentation. The small supports on the sides of the legs just beneath the table top are a variation of a common feature of this style, as are the slats that comprise the ends of the table. Traditionally, Mission furniture was made of quarter sawn white oak and fumed to give it a medium to dark appearance.
For this piece, Walnut is used for the majority, with Poplar used as the secondary wood for the drawer sides and drawer bottoms. The drawer bottoms float within their grooves to allow for wood movement that plywood drawer bottoms inherently avoid but solid wood drawer bottoms add a touch of finer quality in my opinion. Another slight deviation from tradition, the side slats and legs feature shaping done by hand with a block plane to add character. Most significantly to the character of this table is the continuous grain front skirt and drawer fronts. You can easily follow the grain pattern across all of the front skirt broken only by small reveals around the drawer faces and the mission style drawer pulls used.
This table is constructed almost entirely utilizing mortise and tenon joinery with hand cut dovetail drawer boxes. Finished with finishing oil for the entire piece with the table top receiving an additional coat of hard wax oil for additional light protection and added sheen.
