Larson Mothers Day Project

Guest post from Erik Finn Larson

For years my mom has coveted a certain coffee table we discovered while staying at the lake cabin of some distant relatives. One of my cousins had built a replica for an aunt a few years back, and my Mom would occasionally drop hints to the kids that she one day wanted one of her own. As the spring project in my community ed woodworking class I decided to tackle the table. Step 1 was getting some photos of the original. As we no longer had access to the cabin, I settled for photos of the replica, which my aunt was kind enough to send along. Below is the photo we started from.

We decided to modify the design in order to have larger image squares. We also decided to personalize the imagery in each square as well as the perimeter text to represent scenes and words meaningful to our family.

I thought it would be most meaningful if all of my siblings were involved, so I enlisted their help in thinking about the right images and text to use on the table.

I designed and built the actual table over the course of my 10 week wood working class. I incorporated some woodworking elements that I had read about and wanted to try like a through tenon pinned via draw bore, center-mounted shelves, and dovetail jointery on the drawers.

Once the top was done my siblings, siblings-in-law, nieces and nephews all pitched in to carve and paint and seal the table top.

The plan was to paint the entire table top, like the original, but it ended up such beautiful wood grain that we couldn't stand to hide it behind paint. One touch worth mentioning is the font used for the perimeter text. My mom has always had very distinct handwriting. Some years back my brother Matt used some software to create a computer font of her writing. We used this font and some really cool stencil paper to mimic my Mom's handwriting for the perimeter text.

We all loved how it turned out, and the surprise reveal on mother's day was a huge hit.