How to build a Coffee Table

After we got our "new to us" living room set, we started looking at coffee tables, but whoa were they pricy. So of course I looked on craigs list, but nothing was striking my fancy- well the antique factory carts but remember we are on a budget! So I found Ana Whites web site. Like I said before, I am in LOVE! We picked a coffee table we liked, and got to work.

First we measured the living room, and decided on a 3ft x 3.5 ft table. Then we headed out to the garage to take inventory of our lumber. Because we are using the lumber we salvaged from our garage demo, all we needed was a 4x4. (Turns out we actually HAD a 4x4, oh well save it for our next project) We headed to the local lumber yard, got our 4x4 and some poly for the top of the table. Our total was about $12.

After we gathered all the supplies we started to cut the lumber, remember to measure twice and cut once! ; )

We then laid out our table top to see what it looked like, and we were pleased with it so we continued on.

Ana’s instructions were really easy to follow, and the entire project went very smooth! Just remember to take the extra time to pre drill your holes, so you don’t split the wood.

Assemble the table, fill your holes and sand. Be sure to use a wood filler that can be painted or stained, depending on your plans.

We decided to paint the bottom of our table white, rather than stain it. I used Kilz primer, with a tad of Glidden Golden bronze added to it, for an antique white color. After it dried, I used my sanding block to distress the edges of the legs to give it an old and worn look. After I did that I used some stain we already had, on the distressed edges. It really made the wood pop with the white.

Last but not least is to seal and protect the top of the table! We used Min Wax Polycrylic. All you do is make sure your surface is clean and dry, then paint on. We ended up doing 3 coats on our table.  It was so easy to apply, a snap to clean up and it looks great!

This table took me one day to make and paint. I let it dry over night and finished it the next day after church. I am so happy with how it turned out!