During my senior year of high school I had the opportunity to take a carpentry class. The final project for this class was the end table pictured above. I started with a square plywood surface, on top of which I added each of the individual squares and side pieces to create the tabletop. The legs are two pieces of pine glued together and slightly tapered towards the bottom. For the sides that join the legs together, I wanted to add a personal touch. I used a drill press to cut out the rounded top half of the hearts. Then I fed the blade of a jig saw into the holes I drilled and reattached it to the saw to cut out the bottom half of the hearts. 

I am very pleased with how the table came out, and I continue to use it as furniture in my apartment. To complete the project I had to pay a lot of attention to detail, including sanding and many coats of polyurethane finish. This project allowed me to incorporate a lot of carpentry skills to create a final, functional outcome. 

The main lesson I learned from this project and from the class in general was how to be comfortable working with my hands. Using tools effectively was always something I was exposed to, but honing these skills and gaining confidence in class truly put me on the right track.