I’m not proud of it, but I got like six little, ~2", brass-plated L-brackets from home depot and attached them along the long sides.

It’s not ideal because TECHNICALLY wood movement could be an issue, but movement with the grain is minimal, and I needed to just get the thing done so I risked it. No issues yet and it has been in my basement (which has pretty significant humidity swings) for probably a year now.

Also, but a dumb question, I reached this exact point in the build, when I had a frame and a top and was like…well now what?

I swear that was not intentional, a happy accident

Old school, or strapped for cash and no space for power tools, take your pick🤷

Hammer and mortise chisels I got from Amazon

As for the tenons, I’ve got a trash little craftsman saw that’s probably like seven bucks at home depot, I just had to score cuts well and be careful not to go outside my marks, LOTS of cleaning up with a paring chisel was necessary