There is a wall in your house that needs something 62 inches long and 11 inches deep, and nothing comes in that size. A custom console table is one of the furniture woodworking projects our Jacksonville, FL shop builds most often, because stock sizes miss by a few inches.
A console is a size problem before it is a style problem. Too deep and the front door hits it. Too tall and it looms over the sofa back. So this page leads with numbers.
These are starting points, not rules. A hallway console can go narrower still, at 8 to 10 inches deep.
| Location | Height | Depth | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| Behind a sofa | 1 to 2 in. below the sofa back | 10 to 14 in. | 60 to 75 percent of sofa length |
| Entry, door swings past | 30 to 34 in. | 9 to 12 in. | 36 to 60 in. |
| Entry, open foyer | 32 to 36 in. | 14 to 18 in. | 48 to 72 in. |
Behind a sofa, measure from the floor to the top of the sofa back and land the table an inch or two below it. A table level with the back reads heavy. A 90 inch sofa wants a 54 to 68 inch table, centered. If art goes above an entry console, leave 6 to 10 inches between the top and the frame.
The controlling number in an entry is not style. It is the door. Open it fully, measure from the wall to the door face, and keep a custom entryway table shallower than that.
In many Jacksonville entries, especially 1950s ranches in Arlington and Southside, that leaves 9 to 12 inches. That is why a stock 16 inch console never fits. If the door swings away, you get 14 to 18 inches and room for a real bank of drawers.
Working with a console table builder in town changes what you are buying. A catalog offers four depths and three finishes. We give you the depth your door allows and a finish matched to your floor.
It shows up in construction too: aprons and legs joined with mortise and tenon, not a bolt into a dowel.
A wood console table built for a Florida entry has one enemy most furniture pages skip: sunlight. A sidelight can throw direct sun across that top for hours, and wood color shifts under it.
| Species | How it behaves in a sunny entry |
|---|---|
| White oak | Very stable, ambers slightly, easy to refresh. Our usual first suggestion |
| Walnut | Beautiful, but sun dulls the darker streaks over a few years |
| Cherry | Darkens fast and unevenly if part of the top stays shaded |
| Painted poplar | No fading concern, easy to touch up later |
On sun-exposed tops we use a topcoat with UV inhibitors rather than oil alone. No finish stops fading, so moving a lamp or tray now and then keeps the color even.
A sofa table sized for a floating sofa closes off the back of the seating group and gives you a surface for lamps behind it.
We finish the back exactly like the front, since in an open plan you see both, and we plan for cords with a channel down a back leg or a grommet over a floor outlet. Keep 30 inches of clear path behind it.
A freestanding console wins when you rent, when you may rearrange, and when the wall has trim you do not want to cut. It is also the cheaper build.
A built-in floating console wins in a narrow hall and anywhere you want lighting underneath. It anchors to framing, or to added blocking in a block wall house. Our custom floating shelves and custom built-ins pages cover mounting.
An entry table gets ugly because it becomes a dumping ground, so storage has to match what lands on it.
Plan one closed drawer per person who uses that door, and no more.
Every handmade console table starts with a visit. We measure the wall, the door swing, the sofa back height and the outlets, then ask what you want hidden in it.
You get a scaled drawing and a written quote, and finish samples stay with you so you can judge them in your own light. Shop time runs three to six weeks, with roughly half down to hold the slot.
Nobody local publishes prices for this, so here is a straight answer.
| Build | Typical range |
|---|---|
| Simple open console, four legs | $900 to $1,800 |
| Two drawer entry console | $1,800 to $3,600 |
| Drawers plus doors or cane fronts | $2,600 to $5,000 |
| Built-in floating console, installed | $1,600 to $4,000 |
What moves the price: species, drawer and door count, and paint versus a clear finish. A lower shelf, live edge or thick slab top runs higher. These are typical local ranges, and an exact number requires seeing the wall.
9 to 12 in
Front doors decide how deep an entry table can be. We swing yours all the way open, measure from the wall to the door face and build a little shallower than that number. In plenty of older ranch homes around Arlington and Southside, the result lands between 9 and 12 inches, which explains why a standard 16 inch store console so often collides with the door. When the door opens away from the wall, deeper drawers become possible.
UV Topcoat
Hours of sunlight through a sidelight will change the color of almost any top, and no coating can stop that completely. We steer sunny entries toward white oak or painted poplar, which handle the exposure well, and explain why walnut and cherry tend to shift more. Tops in direct light get a clear coat with UV inhibitors instead of oil by itself, and sliding a lamp or tray around occasionally helps the color age evenly.
Mortise Joints
Aprons and legs are connected with mortise and tenon joints rather than a bolt driven into a dowel, so the frame stays rigid through years of daily keys and mail. Before building starts, you receive a scaled drawing and a written quote, and finish samples stay at your house so you can judge them in your own light. Shop time is typically three to six weeks, and about half down reserves your place in the schedule.
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Reviews from Google
One to two inches below the top of the sofa back. Measure yours from the floor, since a low modern sofa may put that at 26 inches and a traditional one at 34. Going taller makes the table loom.
Some color change is normal in direct sun, and no finish prevents it. White oak and painted poplar handle it best, while walnut and cherry shift the most. A UV topcoat slows it down.
Often, yes. We match species and grain direction and mix a stain against the piece before finishing. When an older finish has ambered past what new wood can reach, we say so and suggest a deliberate contrast.
Open the door fully, measure from the wall to the face of the door, and stay a couple of inches under that. Many Jacksonville entries end up at 9 to 12 inches, so we build to that number.
Yes, with a change of materials. We switch to cypress or white oak, use exterior glue and stainless fasteners, and finish with an exterior coating. An indoor piece moved outside here will not last.
For a larger commission.
In the same wood.
For a lanai version.
For the wall-mounted build.
For entry seating.
For the rest of our work.
Send us the wall measurement and your sofa back height, or call Klein Carpentry at (904) 759-4988 and we will come measure it. You get a drawing and a price before anything is built.
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