It’s hard to be a fan of design solutions for home furniture, and not have enough available funds to buy them. The point is not only in the level of your income, but also in the price tags that are typical for such furniture, because they are often several times higher than for traditional options.
You can solve this problem by making a coffee table with your own hands. You will be pleasantly surprised at how simple and fun this can be.
Low table
Most often, this option is found among coffee tables. They are not new, they have just recently begun to receive more attention from the public.
They gained popularity two centuries ago, when tea lovers - the British - began to use them. A hundred years later, this trend has spread to other countries of the world, including ours. Now this is not a very popular option, however, it has the right to life.
Chipboard table
A simple and quite practical option would be a coffee table made of chipboard, which you can easily make yourself. Now on the furniture market, chipboard is one of the most affordable materials that can be used to create a traditional table. We'll talk about why traditionally later.
The price tag for this option will be significantly lower than if your choice falls on a wooden coffee table. It is best to take sheets coated with laminate or varnish. Still, you will be placing such a table in your home, and therefore you need to pay attention to the aesthetic component.
Then everything depends more on the design you choose. A simple, yet small table can be made from several parts. This option will be small and with several shelves. Perfect for the living room, and will stand next to the sofa or armchair.
The shelves are well suited for magazines and remote controls for controlling equipment. This reduces the likelihood that they will get lost.
Glass table
Drawings of such coffee tables can be easily found on the Internet. You just need to take into account one feature - in almost any case you will need to buy a glass part of the table. You can solve this issue with the help of old glass, which may be in your barn or garage.
The main part of the table can be made from a material that suits you, and cover it with a sheet of glass on top. To do this, you need to cut it to shape, then process the edges and secure it to the main structure.
Even if you don’t make such a table entirely from glass, with the exception of the frame, you can get a very attractive and interesting result that will look good both in a modern interior and in the usual apartment design without any special features.
Ideas for new furniture from old items
For those who know how and love to make something with their own hands, a real scope of ideas opens up, because furniture can be made from unusual materials and objects that lie at home as unnecessary things:
- a tabletop from an old grand piano (piano) can become part of a new table, and when turned upside down, placed on the floor, it will turn into an original shelving unit;
- it’s not difficult to make a closet with your own hands from scrap materials: leftover plastic pipes for the frame and thick fabric (for example, from curtains) to sew the walls together;
- unnecessary computer disks can become a screen; just attach them to a metal frame;
- the remains of old brick should be used to implement different ideas: as legs for a coffee table, as walls for a stationary shelving unit, to imitate a fireplace;
- make shelves, hanging cabinets, chests of drawers, bedside tables with your own hands from large speakers;
- transform large trays into tabletops or into a flower stand, which will become the highlight of the interior;
- transform the tabletop and legs from an old dining table with your own hands into a compact coffee table or bookcase, shoe rack;
- a wine barrel can be used for bold ideas: it can become the base of a table, or, sawn in half and upholstered with foam rubber and tapestry - two poufs;
- old interior doors (especially the same ones) will come in handy to make a kitchen set with your own hands from scrap materials.
These are not all the ideas on how to make furniture from scrap materials.
It is impossible to imagine a house without furniture, because it is an element of the interior and a functional object.
For some interior styles, a homemade item is simply a must.
Wooden table
Quite detailed instructions on how to make a coffee table from wood can be found on the pages of thematic magazines. This option will be more expensive than with chipboard, but the appearance pays for everything. This material is better suited for large tables, at which, if necessary, you can work or use them to store documents that you view while sitting in front of the TV in the evening.
The design can be tritely simple: four bars for the legs, which are complemented by a tabletop of the desired shape. Depending on the latter, you can take three legs, which will look even more interesting.
On top of this you can add various decorative and functional details - be it shelves or decorations. Here you can give freedom to your creative nature.
Table made from logs
You can also make a coffee table from this material yourself. Such an “eco-friendly” piece of furniture looks very unusual. To build this furniture, you need a sheet of plywood with a thickness of at least 20 mm and logs 450 mm long. You will also need to prepare round cuts, their thickness is 30 mm. You can't do without wood putty. Varnish is an “on demand” material. The last elements needed are the rollers.
- First, they make the frame of the coffee table. A base rectangle with sides of 600 and 800 mm is cut out of plywood. Then a box is assembled from it (400x450x680 mm - height, width, length). The box is mounted on a sheet of plywood so that there is enough space on all sides for the logs.
- Rollers are attached to the bottom of the base, 30 mm apart from the edges. The logs are cut (about 30 pieces), then they are fixed on the base along the perimeter. First, they are coated with glue, then additionally secured from below with self-tapping screws.
- A lid is installed on the box, and the saw cuts (24 pieces) are glued onto it. The voids between the elements are filled with putty, but this stage requires layer-by-layer application followed by drying of each layer.
After the putty has dried, the finished product is sanded, the logs are left “as is” or they are coated with varnish.
You can make a coffee table with your own hands from almost any available material, since this furniture is small in size, so it is quite easy to assemble and is not too demanding on the craftsman. For example, in this video you can see one of the manufacturing options for the original model:
Table made from scrap materials
Separately, I would like to consider a coffee table made with my own hands from scrap materials. There are several options that I really liked, and I want to share them with you.
The first one is a table made of pallets. They can be found in any supermarket or warehouse, and therefore it will not be difficult to get them. They are made of wood, which is very good for the interior. This wood can be varnished, which will greatly change its appearance.
Take two of these pallets, or trays, whichever is more convenient for you, place the first one with its legs up, and place the second one on top so that the legs meet. They can be additionally connected with self-tapping screws, and a sheet of glass can be placed on top of them. The option is very beautiful and easy to implement.
As you already understand, I prefer the options when I don’t have to deal with the work of furniture companies, and cut out all the parts, and then customize them. I am more interested in creative and fresh solutions.
For the second option, you will need only four old boxes, which, when placed on their sides, need to be connected to each other clockwise. We first coat them with varnish, connect them and that’s it – the table is ready. The empty space inside can be covered with a tree and a flower placed on top. Good luck with your choice.
Do-it-yourself computer desk: master class on making, drawings and recommendations for choosing the design of a stylish desk
- Do-it-yourself chair cover: the best ideas and recommendations on how to sew a high-quality cover
DIY bench - instructions, drawings and tips on how to make a garden bench
Disadvantages and advantages of homemade coffee tables
Like any other phenomenon in this world, self-made coffee tables have their own:
- dignity;
- flaws.
In other words, you can make a whole list of significant arguments “for” its independent assembly, as well as “against” carrying out this process, and each of them will, of course, be perceived by each person individually. Some seemingly insignificant shortcomings may seem too significant to some; for others, just one plus is enough to take up the tools.
A coffee table can be made even from simple bars combined with each other
So that you can evaluate whether you should, in principle, get to work creating a table with your own hands, let’s start looking at the table in which we have collected all the pros and cons of the product that interests us.
Table 1. Advantages and disadvantages of self-assembled coffee tables.
| Advantages | Flaws |
|
|
Stylish pallet table
As you can see, the pros and cons we are considering are significant. However, only you can decide which side will prevail. For example, people who lack construction skills may be deterred by the fact that it will be difficult for them to assemble an intricate structure. And at the same time, the design of the table does not have to be intricate, since there are truly a huge number of ways to make the piece of furniture that interests us.
Table made of drawers
In order not to talk about what you have not yet understood, but to learn all the intricacies of the process of creating tables with your own hands, let's start looking at the instructions, which describe in detail each of our steps. So, let's begin.
DIY photo of coffee tables
DIY shelf: master class on designing and creating a stylish designer shelf
Do-it-yourself furniture restoration: a master class for beginners and tips on how to properly restore furniture
Do-it-yourself children's furniture - manufacturing stages and selection of materials. Features of designing and creating a stylish interior
