Thursday, June 11, 2009

The "new" coffee table

We have been without a coffee table in our living room since we moved into our house... It was too hard, did we want storage? How much? Everything I liked was too expensive, or was discontinued by the time I was ready to buy it, and I could go on and on... 
So, in the interest of saving money, I decided to make my own. I do not work on Mondays, so it's the perfect time to work on stuff (plus, Josh is at work, and is not there to be alarmed by all the goings on) It will do for now. I got the mdf at Home Depot for $11.00. The packing flats were free because, well, they're packing flats (got them behind Home Depot). And I already had the paint and some wood screws. Not too bad! I like it!






29 comments:

Anonymous said...

Not bad... and I know the pain of trying to find/decide on a coffee table!

-Stephanie

Beth said...

very cool!!!! I'm impressed!!!

Jen said...

Woweee! So creative! I enjoyed hearing about the reactions you got from the Home Depot guys. :-)

michellejohnnie said...

very, very cool. I love it! I am featuring this on somedaycrafts.blogspot.com in a couple of days. Grab my "featured" button. Good luck with your two kids!!!!!

Nice and Easy Antiques said...

Love it! This is the kind of piece that you think it will be just temporary and you love it so much that you keep forever...Good job!

Jane said...

That is a great idea. Funny, I was just looking at some of those flats at HD the other day. I was thinking, "These must be good for something!"

fawnda said...

That is amazing! Great job!

We adopted our son from Korea... We read the Red thread story to him... I can't get through it without crying! Good luck!

Here is a link to a project I did for father's day about our adoption story if you are interested:
http://firefliesandjellybeans.blogspot.com/2009/05/fathers-day-story-card.html

pk said...

What a creative idea! Love the price too :-)

Nori said...

I love how all the magazines fit in there. I love this piece of furniture!

Amanda @ Serenity Now said...

WOW!!!! I love it. :) It looks like you paid big bucks at a shabby boutique. :) Did the flats need major cleaning???

bec4 said...

d you from Kimba--love this! I passed on your link to others!

sarah said...

visiting from diy day and wanted to tell you that is the COOLEST coffee table I have ever seen!

Beverly said...

Love it! This is definitely going into my idea file!

susan said...

Put in a catalog and charge big bucks! Love it!

Jerri-Lea said...

Well, that is clever!! I must remember that when the old guy down the block is giving some away again! That would make a great gift for someone who just got their first apartment too! Thanks!

Rachel@oneprettything.com said...

That's super creative, I love it!

Jenni said...

That is so clever!! Good job!

Steph said...

Wow! I've always seen those crates and wanted do do something creative with them and this is just the thing! Thanks for sharing!

Marsha said...

How clever! What a good looking coffee table you got from this!!

mrfitness said...

very nice! i want to make this for my girlfriend. Did you nail the packing flats together or just stack them on top of each other and have the weight keep them in place? How did you apply the mdf boards? Also, did you put an mdf board underneath? And was there anything under the botton mdf board?

mrfitness said...

what type of paint did you use on the mdf and the pallet? any protective paint/product used on top of the finish?

C & N said...

Hi, I love this coffee table. It is actually what I've been looking for, but have been too cheap to buy similar versions. I want to make it and have a few questions. What are the dimensions of your table? Did you cut the pallets down so that the wood overhung on the edges?

Thanks for your help ahead of time.

Inspire Me Heather said...

FANTASTIC! I love how this turned out and I linked it to my coffee tables post too, it's just great!

Meri said...

What a great idea! I was looking for shipping pallets for another project, but I wasn't sure about how to get them. Can you just take the ones behind the stores or do you have to ask? (I am down with dumpster diving if I have to! lol)

Carol@TheDesignPages said...

Wow, great job. It looks beautiful.

Sam, Christen and Canaan said...

I ditto all the questions asked on here... have you answered them anywhere yet?

Joanna B said...

I emailed everyone whose email addresses were available in the comments, but for the rest of you...The mdf boards are screwed to the top and the bottom of the table, and on the bottom, I added metal rollers to make the table easy to move. I picked clean pallets, so they did not need major cleaning, and painted them with brown acrylic paint. The mdf top is painted black with a thin coat of varnish over it. I totally dumpster dived, and even asked an employee to help me put them in my car! :-) I did have to cut down the mdf to fit, and I left a two inch overhang on all sides. It's totally easy, trust me!

Rachael said...

I am absolutely head over heels for this table! I have the mdf board and I picked up 5 pallets. No lie, I am sitting in my driveway RIGHT NOW, ready to put together my new coffee table. One problem, I have NO CLUE how to get this pile of pallets to look like your masterpiece. LOL. Could you please email me how you did this to Rachael0403@yahoo.com? I'm curious if you had to take the pallets apart and rebuild it?

surfpa816 said...

Love your table. Please email me your directions. surfpa816@yahoo.com Thanks!