In my last post I wrote about designing a new coffee table. The base was to be made in steel, replacing the current wooden base. I have sat on the design for a while, going back from time to time to see how I feel about it.
In both the original wood design as well as the metal replacement, I tried to get away with making the base easier to make. Since the legs were parallel with the sides of the coffee table, the design looked strange when viewed from certain angles. In most cases, the base looks perfectly acceptable, but at the wrong angle it looks very strange and awkward.
In Christopher Schwarz’s book, The Anarchist Design Book, he covers how to handle this issue. The legs need to splay out from the center of the table in both directions. The table will not look awkward as walk around it. Adding both angles to the legs makes the table much more appealing.
I did this by modifying the red parts of the base to flare out at a 300 angle. This forced the cross braces to move closer to the center of the table. This minor changed gives the table a much more appealing look, that I think will make the final table much more attractive.
I was also concerned with the small size of the feet. I decided to make the legs wider and taper to a wider foot. This looks much more substantial and gives the overall table a better look of balance.
