You want to build yourself a DIY coffee table from old wooden planks? Then you've come to the right place! Some time ago, I had exactly the same idea and wanted to build my own coffee table with its own little story. Now I would like to show you the DIY coffee table here in the Do It Yourself Blog for Furniture and provide you with instructions on how to rebuild them.
In this article, you'll find out how I went about it, where I got the wooden planks and how the coffee table now looks in our home. Let's go!
Here is a brief overview of this DIY article:
The plan for the self-made coffee table
Before you start sawing, screwing and planing your new DIY coffee table, you should first know what you need to know, look like the coffee table and above all, where exactly it should be located.
For example, if the sofa area in your home is a little smaller, the table should be not oversized so that the overall picture does not appear confusing.
The following questions popped into my head, before I have even completed a single move.
What style should the DIY coffee table?
What style would you like to build your own coffee table in? When answering this question, it is important that the table also fits well visually into the (future) home. For example, should the coffee table rather minimalist its or Some industrial charm spray?
With the old wooden planks and the solid metal legs, I ultimately opted for a mixture of the two. As the rest of the apartment is also Industrial style the coffee table blends in seamlessly with the furnishings.
I also wanted the edges not to be trimmed, so that the natural tree edge is preserved. In this way, the coffee table ends up being truly unique 🙂
Length, width and height of the coffee table?
The size of the DIY coffee table should of course be already defined at the planning stage be. The ideal size for the coffee table usually depends on the size of the room and the space available.
I wanted to build myself a coffee table that would be about 100 cm long, about 70 cm wide and just under 40 cm high is. In the end, it fitted perfectly into the corner of our sofa.
Important: To ensure that the table is not too high afterwards, you should also take the thickness of the table top into account. The wooden planks of my coffee table, for example, are just under 4 cm thick.
Material of the self-made coffee table?
As already described, the coffee table should shine in a minimalist, industrial style. Only two different materials I wanted to use for this - Wood and metal.
But I have searched our area for really old, but still intact Wooden planks made of oak that I can breathe some life back into. You can usually get oak planks like this very cheaply in the countryside because they are lying around in every other attic or farmhouse.
In the city, these old planks are for tables In my experience much more sought-after and therefore not quite as cheap. But I also live in the city and that's exactly why I asked around in my home village.
Alternative but you can of course also buy or order them from a DIY store. Oak planks are available here at Obi*, for example.
Finding affordable, sturdy and well-made metal runners for the DIY coffee table turned out to be a real challenge. However, in the end I ended up with a well-known Zero Waste App named eBay Classifieds made a find 😉
Alternative you can get here at Amazon metal runners* in the desired dimensions.
Building the DIY coffee table from planks
So now it was pretty clear what the table should look like. In the next step, I would now like to show you describe exactly how I proceededto build the DIY coffee table from wooden planks as quickly as possible, as cheaply as possible and, of course, to your complete satisfaction.
Get metal runners for the coffee table
Since I already knew what dimensions my table should have, the Metal runners within one week made to order and delivered to my front door.
I still have them briefly with this random orbital sander* and sanded with this transparent clear lacquer* painted. The table legs should retain their rough industrial charm.
Get and process wooden planks for coffee table
Nothing is more boring than building a table from pre-cut new wood. Its charm all of its own In my opinion, a DIY coffee table only gets its character with a few rustic, old oak planks.
After a few conversations in my home village, I quickly found someone who a stack of old oak planks for 30 years in his yard. Ideal! I bought the planks from him for little money and transported them to my house.
Now that I have A lot of wood I had a coffee table next to the coffee table, I also had a DIY dining table and a DIY desk built yourself. You can find the instructions by clicking on the respective links.
After a final materials check, I was finally able to get started and the Preparing wood for my tables. I proceeded in the following order:
1) Clean and examine oak wood.
As the next step was to take the wood to a carpenter friend for straightening, I first examined for nails, with this high-pressure cleaner* cleaned of superfluous dirt and dried in a warm room.
This step already shows, how beautiful the wood still iseven if it has been lying unused in the corner for 30 years.
2) Planing, trimming and cutting wooden planks to size.
Then my beautiful planks became even planedsuperfluous edges (of the connecting sides) edged and all planks to the corresponding lengths and widths tailored.
In addition to a slight bend in the working wood, there were no further problems with the wood for the DIY coffee table from this point on.
3) Sanding wooden planks
Now I have laid the wooden planks next to each other in the way I wanted the table to be later. In any case, make sure that the Direction of growth of the timbers (the annual rings in the cross-section of the wood) always in the same direction show. This gives you the best chance of ensuring that the table top remains even over time.
To ensure that the coffee table I built myself doesn't have any sharp edges or rough surfaces later on, I have now first with 80 grit and later with fine 180 grit sandpaper abraded.
It is important that you only the outer sides of the coffee table and the surface sand. To keep the underside nice and straight, you should only sand over it very roughly once at most.
You also don't need to sand the sides that will be joined together later. So you have no unevenness afterwards in the beautifully smooth surface.
Optionally, you can now combine the wooden planks of the coffee table with each other. glue. However, I decided not to do this due to the greater expense and longer waiting time. As you'll see in a moment, it worked out differently in the end.
4) Coat wooden planks with hard wax oil.
To ensure that the wooden planks for your coffee table are very easy to clean, the surface should be be as smooth as possible and a Protective film get. For example, you can with this hard wax oil* spread.
I decided to use transparent oil so that the wood can be look as natural as possible. Thanks to the hard wax oil, water from a tipped-over glass, for example, is not absorbed directly into the wood and does not cause any damage. The oil also gives the oak planks a slightly glossy look.
5) Machining metal skids
The wood of the coffee table can now dry. The next step is to machine the metal runners for the table. All in all, the time required to finish them until they are dry is limited. I first briefly sanded off any rust and other deposits on the metal and then wiped the surface clean with a damp cloth.
Then the way was clear to this clear lacquer* safely onto the metal. I did this with a spray bottle. I wanted to preserve the somewhat rancid "used look" of the metal and therefore opted for a transparent paint.
Of course, it is also possible to spray the table legs with paint. In any case, they dry quite quickly. After spraying, I then applied the Holes for the screws for the connection of wood and metal at the appropriate points in the table legs.
6) Compensate for bends using crossbars (optional)
Ideally, the wooden planks are not bent and are all the same thickness. But as wood is known to workthe planks are usually not completely straight. This cannot always be completely avoided, even when planing.
In order to avoid possible unevenness on the surface of the coffee table, it is particularly worthwhile to smooth the wooden planks with 1-2 crossbars under the table with each other. This helps to smooth out any unevenness on the surface.
By placing some cardboard or other thin layers between the crossbars and the wooden planks, you can Still compensate for height differences.
The You can get screws online here at Obi* or at your local DIY store.
7) Screw wooden planks to the metal skids.
The planks of the DIY coffee table are finished and the holes in the metal are also pre-drilled.
If you want to make your coffee table yourself, the next step is to choose the Screw the planks to the metal runners. To do this, simply place the (optionally: already assembled) coffee table on its back.
You can then place the metal runners in the desired positions and drill holes in the metal. Drill carefully into the wood. This gives the screws a straight path into the wood.
Depending on how much the surface is still warped, you can also tighten the screws to different degrees. a little balancing. This will give you as straight a surface as possible in the end.
DIY coffee table decorate and enjoy
After transportation to your own home and a short assembly, it's finally done. The sturdy DIY coffee table made from old oak planks and metal is finished and ready for permanent use.
Now it's time to decorate as desired and enjoy. Even though a coffee table like this can be a bit more work here and there than you might expect, it was finished quite quickly in the end. But I also really enjoy getting there. The Working with wood slows you down and also helps with the mental regeneration.
"Not what I have, but what I do is my kingdom."
Thomas Carlyle (more at Creativity Quotes)
Do you have any questions about the self-built coffee table? What do you think of it? I look forward to any feedback and, of course, any messages in the comments.
Stay creative,
PS: You are welcome to look at the Do It Yourself Blog around. There you can learn, for example, how to set up your coffee table as well as your Make toothpaste yourself simply by following your heart.
