well, here is the redesign. dave, the angles were easier to draw for me, i plan on cutting the angled areas at a curve, just have to find a diameter i like. the slots are now what i originally intended. i had given up on them yesterday, and went with something easier to draw. i have also thinned the upper and lower stretchers heightwise. the bottoms of the legs will have about a quarter inch chamfer at the bottoms. i was thinking blacker house recess, but i thought it wouldn't look quite right, with the lower stretchers. i still may thin the lower stretchers a bit more, and reshape to be more like the edges of the table. don, i don't know how you measured the height, but this table is only 21 3/4" tall. for the height, i had borrowed on the research i had done for my friend's table. after checking about 25-30 side tables, ranging from antique to modern, i had found that they range from roughly 17-25 inches, and i figured that this is a good midrange height. if i were to take away 4 3/4" in height, it would top out at 17 1/4", which is lower than the height of the seat of my dining chairs. this table is roughly the same height as the side table i'm building for my friend. as the legs are only 1 1/2" square, for me, tapering is not an option. during writing this post i have redesigned the lower stretchers.