How to Build a Dining Room Table for Less

You can build a dining room table for less money than you'd probably expect. A basic dining room table consists of a top piece and sturdy legs or other suitable base. With only a few minor tools and elbow grease, you CAN build a dining room table for less.

Things You'll Need

• table top OR glass round or wood round (new or recycled)
• table legs OR
• suitable base piece
• screws
• ratchet screwdriver

Instructions

1. Searching for pre-existing table parts is one of the most cost effective ways to build a dining room table. Go to your local thrift shops or hit some weekend garage sales before you end up at the home improvement store.

2. Look for a suitable table top or base piece. Note that standard dining room tables should be 28" to 30" high. A vintage cast iron treadle sewing machine base stands 28 1/4" high, for example.

   Attach a suitable table round by inserting screws up through the existing screw holes in the top iron plates of the base piece. Your one-of-a-kind dining room table will be ready in record time to serve you in fashionable style.

3. 

   Build a dining room table for less by "cannibalizing" table parts. Pair an old oak table top with FREE metal table legs found by the side of the road waiting for the bulky item pickup. With a little time in refurbishing, the end result is a recycled sturdy dining room table.

4. 

   Shop in your own home or with other family members. This iron table base was originally purchased at Pier 1. The manufactured tile top was cracked and the base was set aside.

   To fix a base like the one pictured, first wet sand, spray primer and paint the iron legs. Cut a table round out of plywood, top with a piece of vintage table linen. Sandwich linen between the plywood round and a same sized glass round top.

   You'll be hard pressed to build a dining room table for less than that! :)

Tips & Warnings

• You can purchase plywood rounds at your local home improvement store or the cheapest way, of course, is to cut them yourself at home.

• New glass table rounds can be found reasonably priced at stores like Pier 1. My best purchases for used glass table rounds have always been at garage sales and thrift shops.

• When you visit a furniture store, inquire about the scratch and dent section. This furniture is usually secluded in a section at the back of the store. You can often find excellent bargains here to match up table tops and bases to build a dining room table suitable to your own taste and budget.

• You have to have seating too! A fun thing to do is to search for UNMATCHED old wooden table chairs. You can paint each in a different color and recover the cushions. The results can be fantastic. Enjoy!

• Remember the laws of science when you decide on a table top and bottom. The table top cannot be so big and heavy that the base can't support it or the table could topple over. The base must be sturdy whether you choose a solid base or use four legs. It's actually very simple.