Let's make a table

Awhhhhhhh when you have an idea at 9:30 at night and want to make a trip to Home Depot so bad!!! But we all know that was not going to happen but I promise you the next day I was there and found everything I was looking for!!

We do not have a coffee table anymore. It's currently in my sons old room because it was just not fitting into my vision for the living room. But as I was sitting there one evening watching DIY shows I thought maybe I could make my own coffee table. I mean why not right?

The next day I hit up Home Depot. I do not have any pictures of the before but I purchased two large, 24" pre-made wood rounds. These are the larger of the two sizes that Home Depot carries. I then went and walked UP and DOWN the spindle isle trying to find exactly what I wanted to use for the legs. After a lot of consideration and setting up this table in the middle of the isle....I ended up with the 14" spindles. Off to find the casters....grabbed four of those and I was done.

Jump to Mother's Day weekend...remember the awfully, humid and hot day? Well this was also the day that I decided that I was going to channel the carpenter genes that I just KNEW my dad had passed down my way. HA! Whoooooa there Becky.

I started off by using the torch and burning the rounds. This did NOT give me the look I wanted event though I have done this a gazillion times. So I took the same walnut stain that I used on the office cabinet and got the top round stained. The bottom one was going to be painted. Now let's talk about these spindles a second. I am not a carpenter....I am not a house builder.....nor do I know all the ins and outs of how things go together when it comes to wood. But when I have a picture in my head of what I want...you better believe I am going to make it happen. SOME way or another. So these spindles have this screw on one end. Perfect right? Oh and I also did not tell Billy what I was doing because I wanted it to be a surprise so I wasn't asking for ANY help. So I rummaged through his tools and found the drill and drill bits. Figured out where I wanted these legs...drilled....added some wood glue...then screwed those babies in. Sounds easy huh? WRONG. Once I added the bottom and screwed it on...that table was not straight. AT ALL! Nor was it even. I was devastated. It was ugly. And I wanted to know where all this channeling of carpentry went.

So what does one do when their first furniture product does not work? We call our dad! I love that man! I threw the table in the car and on Mother's Day Sunday I was at his wood shop and we were going to make this work! First lesson....did you know you need to square up your round project! Sounds difficult doesn't it. Well it is...kinda. So you need to find the widest part.....use your level ruler and draw from one end to the next. Now do this again and make an X. Now you will need to draw a circle that is the distance from the edge that you are wanting. We figured about 2 inches from the edge and drew that circle all the way around. Now you have a circle and an X. This is how we are going to make sure the legs are perfectly placed! Back to the spindles. My dad argued with me....how dare he....that these were not meant to be screwed into the wood. I argued back that I got them screwed in just fine. Why not add some glue and BAM. I won the argument BUT to be serious....make sure you purchase the metal plates or the additions to these spindles so that you can easily add them to the wood stop. The way we did it is not the correct way but I was not buying anything else for this table.

We flipped it over. Added the bottom and started screwing the bottom to the legs using 2 inch wood screws. Casters were simple to add which I placed over the screw holes so that they lined up straight with the spindle. You don't have to use casters but I wanted to be able to roll this table around.

So here she is! I used the same chalk paint that I had on hand. Antique waxed it and added a clear coat. It turned out I didn't like it as a coffee table but I rolled it into my office and it now holds my second Cricut. And I am pretty proud of it after all. My first real furniture build....I learned a lot from my dad....it was some precious time spend with him....and I know that I can honestly do whatever I set my mind to!

Cost of this project was CRAZY STUPID. But I had a Home Depot credit so it all evened out.
The rounds are about $11 each. The casters are $4 each and the legs were about $5 each. So all in all it was around $65 to make this table. I already had the paint and stain.