Rustic X Console Table

Assemble each end frame from 2x2 uprights and 2x4 rails per the diagram — pocket holes on the faces that end up hidden. These frames are the table's whole skeleton; square them carefully.

Before attaching, drill 3/4" pocket holes around all edges of both 1x12 shelves — you'll want them later for the shelf trim, and drilling them now beats drilling inside an assembled table. Then attach the frames to the shelves with 1-1/4" pocket screws.

Measure your 1x12s' actual width and cut the five 2x4 end supports to exactly that — nominal 11-1/4", real boards vary. Attach to the frames and shelves, 1-1/2" pocket holes with 2-1/2" pocket screws into the frames.

Attach the 2x2 shelf trim using the pocket holes you pre-drilled in step 2, with 1-1/4" screws. The trim thickens the shelf edge visually to match the table's chunky frame.

Hold the long diagonal board against its opening and trace the overlaps at both ends. Cut the lines, set it in place — but DON'T attach. Fit the two short pieces against it the same way: place, trace, cut.

Now trace where the shorts meet the long piece, pull everything out, and join the shorts to the long diagonal outside the table. Install the completed X as one unit and fasten. Repeat for the other end.

Scribing beats measuring here because the X inherits your table's true geometry — including every sixteenth it differs from the drawing.

Join the three 2x6 top planks with 1-1/2" pocket holes and 2-1/2" pocket screws (or lay them individually for a more rustic gappy top — both are legitimate), then fasten the top down through the aprons using the same 2-1/2" pocket screws.

Sand, stain, topcoat. Last, the costume: hammer-set the corner hardware and decorative bolts symmetrically at the frame corners. It's fake structure over real screws, and it's what makes people ask where you bought the table.