Woodworker: Kylle Sebree
Sebree doesn’t work from detailed drawings. He began building this coffee table on the strength of a napkin sketch. When it came time to divide the storage spaces below the top, he simply moved around some rough-cut dividers until he had an asymmetrical arrangement he found pleasing. Function was on his mind, too, so he made the open-sided storage space wide enough to fit two stacks of magazines side by side. At the opposite end he designed an ample space enclosed by a pair of doors-just the place to hide things when visitors are due. Sebree envisioned the table in front of a couch, so he gave it back-to-back drawers, one accessible from each side. And in a final functional twist, he made the drawers shallow enough to leave space between them for a secret drawer. Sebree made the table from a slab of claro walnut. He sawed some of it into veneers, which he applied over a poplar substrate to make the top unit. He built the base with solid wood from the same plank. Adding to the elegance of the piece-and making the project quite a bit more challenging-Sebree gave the table curves along its sides and on both ends, requiring curved doors, drawer fronts, and drawer dovetails. He finished the table (16-1⁄2 in. deep by 48 in. wide by 16 in. tall) with oil and wax.

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