I actually think this looks pretty nice. I don't see how you could BUY something vintage like this for $100 unless you waited and waited and got really lucky. A lot of us just don't have the time to browse flea markets for that perfect piece. Used is one thing, vintage is another. And neither would have really fixed their predicament, which is needing 12 feet of affordable and stylish storage.

I agree that I don't really like their house style, but that is partially because I feel like they almost DIY too much, and not always in a way that reflects expertise in that area. It's fine to DIY curtains (I'm doing that right now), and I like this console table. But sometimes I think they DIY despite knowing that it might not really turn out to be as polished as it could be if they had just bought it.

@the bee charmer you come across like a condescending jerk. Not everyone has time to go yardselling, craigslisting, and flea marketing spending hours looking for something that you're not likely to find. I think what they've done by being "cheap" looks pretty great. I love that table, and their home.

The_Bee_Charmer, I get the feeling you kinda hate these people .... even the pros turn to Home Depot when they can't find exactly what they're looking for pre-built. There's nothing wrong with DIY, as long as it's in moderation. I happen to think sometimes they go overboard, but there's nothing inherantly wrong with DIY and there's nothing wrong with the 2x4 aisle at Home Depot when you can't find anything prebuilt for your needs. I'm sure you think they should be scouring flea markets and vintage shops hoping someone has made an affordable 12 foot console table.

The whole esthetic of "buying new wood and making it look old" ( from their site) is something I don't get. But beyond personal taste, the console proportions are wrong. It's just too massive, too deep.

love it. nice work.

Wow..so harsh. I think it's a great idea. Almost like a safe in plain site.

I'm not quite on board with the need for a table sandwiched between the couch and the wall, but that's neither here nor there. My issue is: can the average person build this for $100? Sure, technically, that's what YHL spent, because they already owned all the tools and other supplies that they needed. Not to mention it was a beast of a project. Appreciating this as a nice piece of woodworking is one thing, presenting it as "make a 12-foot console table for $100!" is another.

Haters gonna hate! You also need to realize that they make a living doing DIY stuff. The fact that they've furnished their house with a few big Ikea pieces just means they are on a budget and they need quality, durable furniture (like the millions of other Americans/people worldwide who shop at Ikea). These personal home design choices are part of the reason they have thousands of readers. Just because something is "vintage" doesn't mean it isn't mass market, likely it was a mass market piece 40 years ago. They do purchase furniture at yard sales and off Craigslist, but I guess you would just call that "used". But my Eames chair is "vintage" and my BMW is "pre-owned". La-dee-da. I can look at eye candy home tours filled with vintage MCM furniture all day long, that doesn't make those places any more original than an Ikea apartment, depending on how it is styled. And if I want a style that I can duplicate, because maybe I'm one of those people who isn't rich/cool/lucky enough to splurge on or luck out on a vintage Danish sideboard, well I might just have to go to Ikea or google how to build a piece of furniture myself. bazinga.

I understand it, because you can't always find old wood in the proportions you want. Aside from junk yards, I wouldn't have the first clue where to go to look for old wood. Plus, I like the old wood look but not the terribleness of warped wood, wood that has been treated with chemicals, or wood from unknown origins. I totally understand why someone would use new pieces of wood and make them look old.

We just built a built in desk for our child's room b/c we couldn't find a piece that fit the rectangular shape of the room and had to modify it to suit our needs. After that experience and the costs savings of the desk by DIY'ing, I am actually looking forward to trying to build that elusive window bench seat from wall to wall for our living room. This console idea could easily be modified to suit that so I think it's a great idea, especially if you can't find furniture to fit the measurements of your room.

SCGoble, I agree. This post makes it sound like any old Joe can put this thing together over a weekend for $100. Not exactly. Kudos to them for doing so, but after living many years with an amateur/weekend woodworker, I can tell you it is a lot harder and more labor/time-intensive than most people think.

@The_Bee_Charmer, I eagerly await a photo tour of your home demonstrating your impeccable, refined taste and eclectic vintage finds! When can we look forward to seeing it?

Um, Andrea...someone who doesn't love an item posted here is not a "hater". The Bee Charmer seems to have a bee up the whatever about these guys, but it's okay to dislike a design.

Ok, I like what they did in concept. However, if one is going to spend 3 weeks building a custom piece of furniture, I think it should be far more refined than what they achieved. Perhaps that's what is generating the dislike, this couple's penchant for functional DIY projects and furnishings selections which tend to be lacking in style and refinement some readers would like to see. If I were to build a piece of furniture that large, I would want it to be the finest piece of furniture I could create, ala, Fine Woodworking, rather than the huge distressed wood piece they created. However, I have advanced woodworking skills that they perhaps lack. Since only the top and ends would be regularly visible, the majority of my refined work would have gone into those areas. The same table with a maple, mahogany, or walnut veneered plywood top with a carefully applied stain and polished finish would have looked even better than what they achieved with scrap wood and even if it had cost more, would stand as a prouder achievement, while standing the test of time.

While I may not have stated it as boldly as beecharmer, the problem I have with Young House Love is their taste level. They appear to be creative and resourceful, but they just don't have the taste or design skills to pull it off. The popularity of their blog is beyond me. Some of what they do is painful to look at, and this is an instance of that. All of the effort put into this piece...it should be stunning, and it's not.

I like this blog!! Now some of their stuff it is not my taste, I can see why the blog is popular. If you dont like the things they build or its too painful to look at, dont read their blog its that simple.

Sorry, comment wasn't posting, so I rewrote and posted again only to see my first comment show up. Apologies.

I actually think this is pretty cool and would love to have this behind our couch.

I think Bee Charmer was out of line, but she is also being a bit hypocritical. On 6/19/11 she wrote this: "Second, to all the negative commenters - it's OK if this is not your personal style. But you don't have to be ugly. Not everyone has unlimited funds or the time to spend scouring flea markets, attic and yard sales for 'unique' items for the house. Sometimes you want to call Crate and Barrel and have them deliver it! And not every couple has children and lives (or wants to live) in romper room."

I think by making this less deep and using pallet wood for the tops (despite the difficulty, and despite the otherwise impressive distressing job), this project could have gone from B/B- to A/A+ territory.

Though, it's hard to argue with $100, the time commitment seems off. Is it 3 weeks of after work + weekends? If so, calculate the project in hours for us. Does it also include the Plan A and planning? Let us know.

Outside of that, I think the room looks really nice. I hate parquet but it honestly took me a while before I noticed it. The ceiling is awesome and there's enough cohesion and balance in the room to keep my eyes up.

Whhhaaaaa?! I can't believe so many people think this looks cheap! I think it looks great! Pier 1 or Crate and Barrel could easily sell this for $350. However, i do agree that the "$100 DIY" is misleading because I for one could not do a diy like this b/c I don't have all the necessary tools or experience. But, there are varying levels of DIYers out there and I tend to be on the low end of that scale. haha

Also, to find reclaimed wood in your area, talk to people. Legit ask real people questions in person and leave a phone number. Start with the old guy at the mom & pop hardware store.

I'll bet that someone will call you within a week.

I think it's awesome.

I would have preferred a darker stain for myself, but in general I love their console. When they first had it on their blog I really wanted one for my living room (I had been wanting one, but not as deep - I have a normal length couch and could buy one, but I'm frugal and handy with power tools so I would build my own if I built one), except that my husband complained that then he wouldn't be able to lean his head against the wall.

And as for the "$100", I could easily do that for the price. I do have a drill and a miter saw, but you could do it without a miter saw if you needed (I'd probably make the top out of solid length boards if you didn't, but otherwise it wouldn't be hard). I built our bed (headboard, footboard, and frame) as well as an end table with basically no experience, and right now I'm finishing up a changing table. If you are interested, ana-white.com is a great resource for project plans and help.

Couldn't have said it better myself!

while my style might be a bit different.. i would love something like this behind my couch..

i have the same issue in my condo.. sometimes using end tables on each side of a couch can be very cramping..

where something similar to this.. would be amazing and not too hard to build.. i already have ideas in my head of how i might do something similar to save a lot of room.. thanks for posting this

First of all, from someone who enjoys the design, it doesn't look cheap at all, I completely agree on the Pier 1/Crate and Barrel comment.

And furthermore, blogs that do vintage/eclectic as their "style" are in just as wide of supply as the ones that use Target and Ikea. What in the world is wrong with the latter as a form of design? I don't see why you have to have vintage pieces to somehow be considered legitimate designers. Isn't that kind of excluding the people who can't actually afford the time and money for that kind of thing from having homes you would dei to consider as "good design"?

I love a good chunk of what John and Sherry do in terms of style, I WANT my house to look like theirs, and beyond that, the fantastic ing about their blog is that yes, they don't have backgrounds in the kinds of DIY that they do. But they give it a try anyway, and they do a fantastic job of documenting their experiments, even when they don't succeed! Meanwhile gaining experience with every project to have more skills in the future. The point is thay there are many things they make feel attainable to a lot of us normal every day people with low budgets and small amounts of DIY knowledge.

@Laurelsing, you wrote exactly what I was thinking... but in better English than mine.

For those who can't understand why YHL is so popular: perhaps it's because thay are showing you that "you can do it", I mean, you can have a nicer and happier house even if you almost can't expend money in it and you aren't a very skilled DIYer.
You know, with all your cheap mass produced furniture and your "bad taste", because (although some of you seem not to agree), not only trendy designers and expensive items could create a welcoming house.

Sometimes I find these kind of comments so classist.

I like it. And it does not look cheap guys !.

Whatever happened to "if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all?"
Bottom line: Why be SO negative?
I see things online that I hate, but who am I to degrade somone's time, effort, etc. just
because I hate/dislike it? What do I know?
I just move on and view something else.
How about not being so ugly with your comments just because you can?

I'm going to go with - I love the storage, not a big fan of the design, but kudos for ingenuity on this one.

And yeah, folks. You can NOT LIKE something without having to hate the folks who did it for not being in your style. If you don't like their posts...don't read them! There's a big title up top that says where this particular post came from.

I have to assume, given that fact, that folks like Bee-Charmer fall into the category of "I LIKE to read this, because it lets me be ANGRY." I don't get it, but if that's your thing...cool. Just don't waste all our time posting about it.

I don't think it looks cheap - besides, the final finish can be rendered in so many different ways - and it definitely is not ugly. I applaud them for being able to create such a nice functional piece on a shoestring budget. I was I had adequate skills to do it myself.

Such brilliance!

I love the piece that you built but with the way your room is set up it just doesn't fit right, or maybe it the way the furnature is set up, it does not fit the with the way the room is set up. I love all of the things that you do but this one does not fit. The couch up against isn't fitting. Maybe a different furnature arrangement. I think it would have been better left open in a walk around the couch way. You do such great work though.

It's all a matter of taste guys. What one loves, another hates. People are putting forth ideas that may help us take that idea and run with with something more to our own taste. Kudos to anyone putting themselves out there. Another way to distress i used on white oak once, put steel wool in vinegar and let it sit for a few days and disolve. Not sure how it would work on other woods but it was very cool.