Having a carpenter as a husband makes furniture "shopping" super fun because I know that he can build a lot of things himself for WAY cheaper than it would cost to buy them straight from the store.
Our Coffee Table is a great example. The inspiration that I found here was over $350 (on sale!). But one weekend of work + $75 later, we had a version of that designer table that I actually liked a whole lot better. Check out our instructions on building our Coffee Table here.
And guess what. These DIY tables are pretty easy so I'm sure that you could do it too - with or without a carpenter husband.
Here's how
Unlike with our Coffee Table, we decided to start with the top slab of the end table vs. the legs. This is what takes the most time (and patience). This square piece of wood was made out of about 6 individual 1" x 4"s of Poplar. We had these pieces of wood laying around the garage, so they cost us $0!
Justin laid them all out so he avoided the larger knots in the wood, glued them together and clamped them for a few couple of hours to make sure it was a strong hold. This picture was taken after washing away the glue guts that seeped out between the boards.
He then moved on to the legs/base of the table. After cutting all the 2" x 2"s to size (we chose the height of our end table to be 23.5" high), Justin laid out the sides, glued and clamped them in place - using a nail gun to secure all the pieces in place.
Justin continued with all the legs, then secured them the same way (glue, clamp, nail) and put a squaring block (those triangle things in the corners) for added support & help to ensure that the legs are all "square" with each other.
After filling all of the nail holes with filler, letting them dry, then sanding it down smooth, it was then my turn to take the legs and make them pretty.
Just like the coffee table, I chose to spray paint the base with metallic spray paint to give the illusion of looking like metal (way cheaper & easier for us than using real metal). I used Rust-oleum Semi Gloss Protective Enamel in grey for the first coat. Then Rust-Oleum Hammered in dark grey for the final two coats.
After the top slab had plenty of time to dry, he cut the slab down to fit flush with the base using a circular saw, then sanded it down to be smooth.
Then it was my turn again, to do a couple coats of stain (I chose Natural colored wood stain by Varathane) and a coat of polyurethane (I chose a Clear Satin fast-drying poly spray from Minwax). After I was done staining and a couple hours of dry time, Justin secured the top & bottom with some screws - secured from the bottom so we don't need to cover screw holes.
And that's it! We finished this end table in one afternoon as compared to a full weekend for our coffee table since we kind of knew what we were doing. What do you think? Do you love it?
P.S. Don't forget to enter my giveaway to win two pillow cases from Skoope Home! Enter through this post.
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