How to build a coffee table with reclaimed wood

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As we all know, I love a DIY project, particularly one that is on a tight budget. I’m a huge advocate of getting what you want for cheap, especially when you can do parts of it yourself.

While I loved our current coffee table, it was just too chunky when we moved into our new house. Our current living room is fairly long and narrow, made even more so by the large fireplace that sticks out far into the room.

Below is the estate agent photo of the lounge, and while the room looks wide, our sofa is directly opposite the fire place, leaving little room for a coffee table.

 

So I had an idea that we would build a new coffee table, using our dining table extended (which we never use) and hairpin legs*. I absolutely loved how our DIY coffee table turned out, and at a cost of under £60.

 

How we built our coffee table from reclaimed wood

For this DIY project, you will need:

• Your choice of reclaimed wood/coffee table surface
• Hairpin legs
• A drill
• Some screws

 

As you can see, this is one of the most basic projects I’ve done, and we managed to build our coffee table in around 20 minutes. It took hardly any effort and I love it more than any table I could have bought in a shop.

My hairpin legs were from the Hairpin Leg Co and I ordered the 16-inch, 2-rod variation in black with a 10mm thickness (bench legs). They also offer coffee table and low coffee table legs which are 2 and 4 inches shorter, if you’d prefer a lower down table.

If you’re looking for a good or quirky table surface to use, you can get reclaimed wood from various reclamation centres around the country. Our nearest is ‘Reclaimed World’ (if you’re also local), based in Tarporley, Cheshire and always has a fab range of woods, stones, and more. Get creative with your reclaimed table top!

 

Step 1: Measure your legs

The first thing we did was decide where we wanted the legs to go on our piece of wood.

 

We measured equally from both edges of the table to ensure the legs were all an equal distance from the edge. We chose a thickness of 1 inch on all sides. Once we’d made this decision, we used a pencil to mark where the screws would go.

When we took the leg away, we put a tiny hole where each of our pencil marks was:

Step 2: Screw the legs into place

When we put the leg back into place, we could clearly see the holes we’d marked so we could match it up perfectly.

We then drilled each screw into the wood to secure the legs firmly. Make sure they don’t move or rotate, and tighten up your screws if needed.

   

Step 3: Repeat for each leg

Repeat Step 2 for each leg, making sure they look okay as you go. The hairpin legs slant outwards so you want to make sure they’re completely straight.

And that really is it!

Once you have your wooden table top, attaching the legs is so easy and straightforward. It’ll take you no time at all to create your own DIY coffee table.

The beauty of doing it this way is you can choose exactly what height, width and length you want the coffee table to be. Our table extender, which we used for the top surface, was nice and narrow, which is exactly what we wanted.

We struggled to find a table that came that narrow that we liked, so we just made it instead!

For more coffee table plan ideas, you can see these super handy guides from Country Living and the spruce Crafts

Now our next job is to replace that carpet!

*The hairpin legs were gifted by https://www.thehairpinlegcompany.co.uk/ in exchange for an honest review.