Do-It-Yourself Coffee Table – I’m excited to announce that in a couple of weeks, my dog Luna and I will be moving into a bigger 1-bed, 1-bath house with a fenced-in backyard! Yes, a back yard! Those are hard to come by here in San Diego so I am really looking forward to having the outside space to get going on a garden!
I also want to challenge myself to spend very little money. Therefore, I am working with what materials I have, my imagination, and some images I’ve found to create an idea book for inspiration.
Materials (what I have):
1. Curb side find: Free Wood!!!
I was driving down the street one day and drove past this piece of wood on the side of the curb. Like a crazy DIY man, I made a u-turn and threw it in my car – the awesome black brackets were what caught my eye initially.
The big board measures 72″ x15″ and it’s attached with the brackets to a 6′-long piece of 2×4. I am thinking of using the 2×4 for legs and somehow incorporating the brackets into the design. This board is one of two options to use for creating the table top.
2. Unused wood: 8 pieces of 60″ long, 1×4
Option two for a table top is to use some of these 60″ long, 1×4 pieces of untreated hardwood boards that I was using as planks on an old platform bed that I didn’t need any more.
Do-It-Yourself Coffee Table Inspirations:
Below are 5 DIY tables I have chosen as examples of what I might actually be able to design with the material I have…which is your favorite?
1. Coffee table with terrarium created using 1×4 Boards
I love this idea because the wood was treated to give it a reclaimed finish. The addition of the built-in terrarium keeps it earthy, adds a unique touch, and brings a little of the outdoors in. If I was to build something like this though, I would probably do the terrarium off to the side so that you have more table top room to use.
2. Coffee table with steel piping legs
Using steel piping as legs and steel plates at the base of the legs, gives this coffee table a bit of an industrial feel and I like it! I think it’s a fantastic idea for a converted loft space where you might have more raw elements to work with – i.e.
Concrete floors, exposed brick walls/piping/air-ducts. This look though may not fit the space that I moving into since it doesn’t have any of those elements…either way, I’m keeping this one as part of my idea book just in case.
3. Coffee Table with cinder block as a base
This is perhaps the most simple idea for creating an inexpensive coffee table by using cinder blocks as a base for your table top. But, like the table before, I think it would fit best in a loft-like space.
I would need at least two cinder blocks on each side to raise the table higher in order to keep the dogs away from it. By doing so, I think I would run the risk of taking away from the minimal look its meant to have by making it more bulky.
4. Pallet Coffee Table with wheel legs
Using an old-palette, adding a finish to the wood, and wheels as legs! I love all the DYI ideas that I come across for using old shipping palettes. This one is one of my favorite; but I don’t have a palette, so I would use the 4×1′s to create something similar.
5. Coffee table with hairpin legs
This one is my absolute favorite! I love the multitude of colors used to stain the table top and that the 4×1′s were staggered and not just aligned side by side.
There you have it, those are the materials I have to work with and my ideas for inspiration. This will be one of the first do-it-yourself projects I take on when I move into the new home…so, stay tuned for that debut of that project in the weeks to come!