I like cars more than furniture, but I’m discovering that I enjoy carpentry more than mechanics. So, I documented the process of building a custom console for my SUV to give you some insight and inspiration if you’re considering such a project yourself.

(: This is a writeup on how I built and decorated my console. My way is not the only way, nor necessarily the best way. Constructive criticism is welcome but understand this is no definitive guide to woodworking or car interior design.)

Let’s plug in some tools and start hacking already!

A 1998 Mitsubishi Montero; a medium-large off-roady sport utility vehicle.

My wife and I enjoy drinking coffee while underway on road trips but the gen two Montero’s factory cupholders are laughably inadequate. The vehicle needed two cupholder slots that could fit Yeti tumbler coffee cups securely enough so they wouldn’t spill or flop over while driving off-road. Also, it had to look good.

My Montero’s final look will be a hybrid between Budget Overland and ’90s/2000s Tuner Car with an interior that’s primarily Old Luxury with a few dashes of Sporty.

As you can gather if you bothered to read that, I have a specific vision here and wouldn’t outsource this project even if I could afford to. It’d be too hard to articulate what I’m going for. Besides, making things is the best way to learn how to make things!

But First: A Note On PPE

I come from a Safety Third family. Every time I put glasses, gloves, and headphones on before starting a saw I think about how my opa or my old man would be laughing at me.

But I’m also missing a finger and know what it feels like to have carburetor cleaner in my eye.

Wear protective personal equipment when you’re sawing, sanding, and such. Every time. Or learn to the hard way. Which, I promise, you’ll hate.

Conceptualization

If anything you make at your kitchen table is going to look remotely polished or “professional” in the cab of a truck, it has to be simple. It has to fit into the existing design of the vehicle rather than try to redefine it or stand out in a bold way.

So in my case, I decided early on that my custom center console would actually just be a custom lid for the factory console; I’d even attach it using factory hardware. This strategy paid off big time because it gave me clear and constrictive parameters to do my designing in.

Early Shaping

My original plan was to try and make an interesting asymmetrical shape for the console lid, but quickly realized a point I made a few paragraphs ago: The simpler kept, the easier executed. And, for the unskilled, the easier executed... The better-looking the result.

“A rectangle it is!”

I triple-checked that my final rectangle lid dimensions wouldn’t interfere with the operation of the seats, shifters, or handbrake. Using a measuring caliper, I also confirmed the diameter of my cups and made sure the well of the existing console was in fact deep enough to accommodate big beverages.

With dimensions settled on, I set to the wood.

Material Shaping: First Pass

on how to do it if you happen to be in the same situation. (Make sure you’ve got a wood blade for cutting wood!)

I knew I’d be able to dial in the edges with sandpaper... as soon as I realized the wood I ended up with was pretty soft. The cup holes were going to have to be a bit more precise, though. For that I bought a hole saw, which is basically just a really, really big drill bit.

Hole saw hot tip: If you can, drill your hole halfway through from both sides rather than all the way through from one side. That leaves you with much cleaner edges and fewer splinters.

But of course, the Harbor Freight hole saw kit I got didn’t have the exact size I needed so I had to bore it just a touch with my off-brand Dremel knockoff rotary cutter. This had to be done extremely carefully, or it’d look uneven. Perfectly round cup holes were/are key to this project looking classy.

Material Shaping: Final Pass

Hardware

Mission Creep: Matching Accent Piece For The Dash

Finish

Final Touches

I ordered a bunch of decals and emblems for fun from a Hong Kong website and, months later, a package arrived which included this Mitsubishi/Ralliart plaque. I hadn’t ordered it; the store threw it in with my stuff as a consolation because it was out of stock of another thing I wanted.

But I rested it on my console and ended up loving the way it looked, so I peeled the backing and affixed it. Surely, everyone will now be fooled into thinking this console came from a more impressive factory than my dumpy apartment.

Regardless, the result left me satisfied. I invested a lot of hours into this project, but building things from scratch takes a lot of trial and error. Luckily, that’s the fun part!

Assorted Musings

If you don’t care to read my play-by-play but are still hoping for some bargain basement fabrication tips:

Don eye, ear, and hand protection before sawing!Measure twice, cut onceMeasure twice, cut onceSoft wood is easy to shape, cut, and sand.Never shake a can of wood stain or polyurethane coating unless you want bubbles in the finishIf you cut a hole to run a wire, use a grommet to make the hole look smooth and eliminate the possibility of your wire getting cut on a sharp edgeKeep custom designs simple as you’re getting started

Work with existing hardware and mounting points as much as you can

Now it’s your turn to cut something up and bolt it to your interior. Good luck!