Years ago, Pottery Barn sold something useful.
A 2 foot tall table-top easel that was perfect for every room of our house. But they offer them no more. I have been looking on eBay and Craig’s List for years, and haven’t found anything even close.
So I took matters into my own tentacles and just made one. What the Hell? I have Man-tools (a chop saw and a brad nailer)…and I’m clever.
I started with a small pile of poplar and cut all my components.
A spine, a base with 2 feet, and a shelf with a lip….pretty simple.
All of my wood is 3/4 inch thick except for the Lip, it’s only 1/4 inch thick. The Spine and Base pieces are about 1 1/2 inches wide and the 2 feet are 2 inches wide. OOOh yeah, the shelf is 3 1/2 wide.
I used Gorilla Wood Glue to attach the small 3″ spine piece to the bottom of my 26 1/2″ spine and clamped them untill they were dry.
About an hour.
I assume that I could have skiped the brads and glued all my pieces together, but the clamping and waiting will take forever. It’s faster to shoot a few brads.
I then assembled my base and feet.
Stacked the base pieces and nailed/glued the feet long ways underneath….shooting a couple 2 inch brads through all 3….and leaving a 1 1/4″ gap between the 5″ base pieces.
Trimmed the bottom of my newly glued together spine with a chop saw at a slight 5 degree angle. Just enough to make my shelf pitch back.
Then I slipped the complete spine into the open space in my base….and shot a brad through the bottom to hold it in place.
Nailed and glued the front lip onto my shelf piece.
The shelf sits centered right on top of the 3 inch spine piece.
……and another brad to hold it in place.
Lastly, I glued and clamped the final piece of my spine on top of the shelf.
While the glue dried, I filled all my brad holes with natural wood filler.
Once the spine was dried, about an hour, I used the chop saw to trim the top to a 5 degree angle…to match the pitch at the bottom.
I gave a light sanding to all my edges, nothing too precise….it doesn’t have to be perfect.
The whole thing got a coat of flat black latex paint. No surprises there……but I think I could have stained the poplar pretty easily. Or even just a coat of shiny polyurethane.
These were so easy that I wiped out 3 at once. (Made it real easy to photograph the different steps…you thought I was only making one, didn’t you?)
Gave myself a BIG OL’ pat on the back for these.
They were so much easier that I expected………and pretty cheap; maybe 25 bucks for 3.
Already plan to make a few smaller, shorter ones.
I’ll keep y’all posted on the dimensions when I do.
They are fabulous! Well done, you!
Very nice!!! Bet you could sell those on Etsy!
I’ve thought about it…Just might some day
Very nice!
Dave wants a chop saw and a brad nailer now…
Mine are both pretty small…not scary at all. And I use them all the time. Someone took my air compressor and brad gun from the garage a few years ago……and it sent me into a “tizzy”
That is so perfect! I have absolutely NO flat surfaces yet (new grad – new house – no furniture) but I will DEFINITELY be coming back to this when I do so I can display the MANY paintings I have. Thank you!
Hi Kaci, glad that we could inspire you………….What is your blog called?
Thanks for the inspiration! I modified it somewhat- using materials that have accumulated in the basement of our over 100 year old house….I was running out of wall space- problem solved!
How Awesome is that !!! We’d love to see pictures…
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Thankyou for posting these plans. I have been keeping my eyes peeled for a old large sturdy easel ever since a coworker ( computer Playback Technician ) had a TV set up like this off of set for the crew to watch the Hockey finals, in-between shooting. I couldn’t have cared less about the game, but thought that the easel was a brilliant way to set up a TV. I think that I can get my dad to help me make the easel or at least adjust the plans to make them larger.
Want to sell one to me? Love and need, happy to pay for labor and time and shipping and handling and price for product.
Hi Jennifer, sorry it took so long to reply, I’d gladly send you one of mine, I made 3, but my friends have taken them. When I make a few more I’ll let you know.