TV Tray Redux -- First Look

First Look !!

     Most of you, if you remember them at all, would picture a TV tray as brass coated, spindly legged, faux laminated wooden top, on a cart with plastic wheels and handle.  I recall saving Blue Chip stamps and getting the required number of books for a set of them shortly after getting married in '72!  Ugly as they were, they had their place and purpose.
     Over the past six months or so I've been working on these and designing them through mock-ups and drawings.  This has been between commissions so it's had plenty of time to work in my mind!  Let's face it, people still eat their meals while watching TV so there is a need.  One  popular way is to have nesting tables.  The shortcoming with them is that they get smaller so if you're stuck with the littlest of the set, there's not enough room for plate, drink, and utensils.  They do solve the traditional TV tray problem in that they are more attractive and can be left out in a room.
     The current expression is to "think outside of the box" and although I'm not real crazy about any saying that's over-used, that's what I've done here.  The goal for these was to function as TV trays but more importantly, when they're not in use I wanted them to be attractive and make a statement of their own.  In our house there is a blank wall near the entryway, these will be placed against the wall -- somewhat like low console table.  Items can be displayed on it but as you know, I'm all about the wood and, in my opinion, using the Walnut/Zebrawood combination is enough.  However; almost anything you want to display could  be put on the set.  My next thought was who says a table must have four legs?  In this instance three are sufficient and when they are placed along a wall you're not overwhelmed by a sea of legs.  It also lends itself to the shape of the top, which I think is a type of parallelogram.  I played around with the angles so that a regular plate and glass would fit on the top.  To give it more stability the legs have through tenons, cut at 10 degrees that go completely through the top.  These will be wedged with maple, adding to total look.  The other aspect of the legs I wanted to achieve was a lightness.  They taper in the length and also bevel across the face.  The way the light will play off of these angles should be a nice effect.
     Still have lots of work to do before these will be complete but real pleased with how they're coming out.  Here's another angle of them -- gotta love the wood!

Love the Wood, Can you see the leg profile?