How to Make an Inexpensive Coffee Table
If you've shopped for a coffee table lately, you're aware that the price can go off the charts. Here are some ideas for a less-expensive stand-in while you wait for your ship to come in. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Chicken Coops
- Concrete Urns
- Footlockers
- Glass Blocks
- Wood Stain
- Coffee Table Books
- Glass Tabletops
- Large Planting Containers
- Paints
- Tile Grout
- Unfinished Tables
- Varnish Or Other Clear Finish
- Wallpaper
- Wallpaper Liners
- Wood Shipping Crates
- Wood Wastebaskets
- Lumber
- Clear Silicone Caulks
- Wood Or Plastic Cubes
Instructions
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Build a platform of glass blocks; two blocks high (about 16 inches) is about right. Top the blocks with a sheet of thick, ground-edge glass for a slick modern look. Join the blocks with silicone caulk.
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Cover any type of sturdy base - a footlocker or two same-size broken stereo speakers, for example - with a rich-looking wallpaper such as faux leather, faux marble or faux granite; you might want to paint any exposed hardware a coordinated color or special metallic. Top off your creation with a glass top or a wood top from a home center (apply stain and a clear-coat to the wood or paint it).
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Put clay flowerpots (can be inverted), sturdy wooden trash cans (inverted), cement urns, porcelain fish pots or a chicken coop to work as a table base. Use the bases singly or in pairs, and top them off with glass or wood.
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Cut down the wooden legs or pedestal of an old - but not valuable - table to suitable coffee-table height.
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Purchase an unfinished coffee table and finish it yourself. Unfinished-furniture stores and home centers may offer classes or easy finishing products such as spray-on or sponge-on faux finishes.
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Purchase furniture legs (sold at home centers) and screw them in to a wooden table top. Finish as desired.
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Put a couple of stacks of coffee-table books to work as a table base that you can top with glass.
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Haunt thrift shops and tag sales for a secondhand piece that will work. It doesn't have to be a coffee table per se; consider a cedar chest, rustic toolchest or a flat-top steamer trunk.
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Tips & Warnings
Put plastic "buttons" (available at home centers and hardware stores) under glass table tops to discourage them from sliding.
Glass table tops should be thick - probably at least 1/2 inch - for strength and ample weight (so the glass doesn't shift easily). Ask the glass store for advice; generally the larger the piece, the thicker it will need to be.
Have the glass store grind the edge of a glass top so it's not sharp or splintery.
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Comments
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Nov 22, 2005
Find an old wooden door, paint the door(if you want to), and use it as a table top. It's an inexpensive alternative to a store-bought table and it's one-of-a-kind. -
Nov 22, 2005
I have seen many variations of one simple idea: Placing something visually appealing under the layer of glass you put on top of the impromptu table. A collection of black and white photographs, old records, stamps, cards, or a Mondrianesque mosaic of similarly hued paint chips all look really stylish and take a basic under table to another level of detail. To ensure the arrangement does not move, use restickable glue (a glue stick that turns any paper item into a post-it note) to arrange the items on your table before laying down the anti-skid buttons and finally the glass.
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Nov 22, 2005
Find an old wooden door, paint the door(if you want to), and use it as a table top. It's an inexpensive alternative to a store-bought table and it's one-of-a-kind.
