SOCIAL MEDIA

1.10.2019

Balustrade Coffee Table DIY Plans











I can hardly believe we have lived in our new house almost one year! When we moved in in January 2018, I started assessing what new furniture we would need. I didn't buy anything before the move because, for me, it takes a little living in the house to find out what you really need. At the time, our current coffee table was much too small in the new, large living room. So, I quickly sold it on Facebook thinking we would buy a larger one soon anyways. I did a lot of online shopping, and found the perfect table from Restoration Hardware... but it definitely wasn't the perfect price. Ummm, I don't know about you, but it sure wasn't in the budget to spend $1600 on a coffee table (and that was the smallest size option too)! So, I did some more shopping and found several knock off (yet just as nice) tables between $500 and $800. Not bad... but, let's be real... that's still kinda up there for a table I want to put my feet up on and spill my coffee all over (we all know it's going to happen)... Well, 10 months later and we still didn't have a coffee table. Since Michael is an amazing woodworker I decided to start looking for plans to build one... and what do you know... Ana White (bless her!!) has the exact plans for the balustrade coffee table I had picked out. Minus a few small tweaks, it was exactly what I wanted! I started making several hints in November to Michael about how I would just love him to make this table. ;) Well, Christmas comes and surprise! My husband's gift to me is this new table. The only change we made to the plan was the size of the table. We went with a 46" x 30" table to conserve some floor space in our living room. Michael had never made this style of table before, so he took his time making sure every detail was perfect. Overall, he spent 2-3 days worth of time assembling it, sanding, staining, and applying polyurethane... and boy is she a beauty! The BEST part about this table to me though... instead of spending anywhere from $500-$1600, we had under $270 total in our table from start to finish! Now, that's what I'm talking about! The most expensive part of the table is definitely the legs. Since Michael didn't have the tools to create legs like this, we opted to buy them from an online shop. If you wanted to switch out the legs to just standard square posts you could probably save at least an additional $75.

You can find all the info for how we made our DIY Balustrade Coffee Table below:

-Plans by Ana-White: Balustrade Coffee Table Plans 
We changed the size of the table, but otherwise followed the plans.

-We bought our balustrade legs for the table here: Osborne Wood

-Stain Color here: Jacobean by MinWax

-Polyurethane here: Matte Polyurethane by Varathane

-Michael used a brush to apply the stain and wiped it away with a soft rag. He applied the polyurethane with a HVLP sprayer.

Now that Michael has built our dining table and coffee table, he is really getting into this furniture building thing. Can't wait to see what he comes up with next! <3 #proudwife