A Homemade Coffee Table

Sure, anyone can buy a coffee table; but in this day & age how many of you can say that you've actually made your own? And let's level-set here kids; following a 1-page set of directions to piece together something from IKEA does not count as "making". 


Several of you lucky few have seen the finished product, but heretofore (did I really just use that word?) I will describe just how we came about our latest piece of furniture. It all started back in early spring with our new sofa... yeah, exactly. Brand new sectional; looks great, love the color, very comfortable, fits well... but it doesn't quite go with our old coffee table. Sigh. We had lugged that thing all the way from San Diego, but even I was in agreement that a call to Salvation Army was probably in order. 


Thus began an intense two-week hunt on the web for it's replacement. Ami took the lead on this endeavor as I reverted to my "wedding planning mode" (read: please narrow it down to 2 or 3 viable options that you like and then I will be happy to provide input on those). I'm not sure I've ever seen my better half stare as intently at a computer screen as she did those 2 weeks; seriously, she might have focused more on that than some of her masters tests lately! One by one the contenders fell by the wayside...


This one is too wide.
That one is too tall.
This one is too short.
That one is too modern.
This one is not black enough.
That one is too glossy.
This one is too boring.
That one is too strange.
That one costs how much!?!?


As I saw her frustration mount I assumed she was being too picky and couldn't settle on something that would work, so I picked up the torch and assured myself, and her, that I would have one picked out and ordered within the hour. 

Almost one week later I was stumped too. I'm sure this is what Obama felt like for two weeks leading up to Aug 2nd... 


Honestly folks, how hard is it to buy a coffee table? Well, harder than you might think. As my searches started to peter out I began pleading with Google for some unique do-it-yourself ones that I might be able to cobble together. This approach seemed to yield some more possibilities, but I quickly realized the amount of time this was going to take out of MY schedule. Who cared though... I didn't have cable and needed a project anyway! As I was warming up to the challenge I came across a site that had repurposed a bunch of old books as the center-piece of a table... interesting concept (note: I was most definitely in the bowels of the internet because I just spent 10 minutes trying to find that site again without any luck... oh well). 


I pitched the idea to Ami and she had two instant responses. The first she voiced out loud, "where would we get that many books?". And the second I can only assume was her internal monolog faintly saying "and YOU really think you can make something like THAT?" Well, a little help from craigslist yielded our answer to question #1;  two individuals were giving away full encyclopedia sets for anyone that would come pick them up. Sold! A few days later we now were the proud owners of a 1974 Collier's Edition and a 1960 World Book Edition; both in remarkable condition considering their age. The answer to unsaid question #2 would yet to be proved.


Ok, so now we have a stack of books... what's next you ask? First I found the proper arrangement of how they would lay out so as to use almost all of them while still providing a consistent height\width\length that would serve as the meat to our book sandwich (think of Tetris except no falling blocks, no LCD screen, no time limit... ok, it wasn't much like Tetris at all). At that point it was time to start diagramming and measuring. to the right you'll see some of my chicken scratch that prompted the first of 3 trips to Home Depot. 


I'll save you the details of my excursions for the materials, and my subsequent encounters with a few of Chicago's finest, but here are some of the key items on the shopping lists:


[1] sheet of red oak plywood (cut into two 34"x28" pieces and a small 9"x9" piece for the door)
[4] 3" wheels
[4] 4"x4"x6" riser blocks
[4] 10" bolts\washers\nuts
[1] can black rustolium paint
[1] can lacquer 
[2] brushes
[1] lacquer thinner
[1] bag of sponge brushes
[1] magnetic door stopper kit
[1] small door knob


All of this, coupled with 2 weeks worth of nights and weekends, culminated in a finished product that turned out exactly as I had envisioned (anyone that's taken on home projects like this knows how rare that can be)!

On the left we have a photo showing the basics of what makes up the table. Alternating sections of the encyclopedias (vertical and then horizontal) with the corners each appearing the same. Some of the vertical books even still have their original gold leafing on the pages. 


The risers and wheels help give the table a height of about 16" in total. 


In the center you'll see the rounded tops of the [4] 10" bolts that I counter-sunk into the top sheet to ensure as smooth a surface as possible. In effect the two pieces of plywood really did make a sandwich of the books and I used the bolts to tighten them down and hold everything in place. You'll also notice the smooth, shiny surface... I'll have you know that I probably gave up a few years of my life battling lacquer to achieve that look. 

In addition to a great table, I was also able to add a neat feature to help us recoup some of the lost space we had from our old one. With the layout of the books there is an inherent hollow section in the middle; by leaving out the vertical books on one end I was able to replace them with a small door to create a storage space! 


And you were wondering what the door knob and magnetic door kit were for, weren't you! As you can see from the photos on the right we now have a great place to stow our remotes, coasters, and my xbox controllers!


Lastly is one photo that shows the risers and wheels to round out a complete view of the table. 


All in all this turned out to be a fun project that epitomizes the adage "necessity is the mother of all invention". If it hadn't been for our new sofa, and the fact that we couldn't find a nice one online that we liked, then we wouldn't have this gem of an heirloom for years to come.


Well, that's if the movers can get it into the truck... anyone care to hazard a guess as to how much all this wood and 2 encyclopedia sets weighs???


Hint: there are wheels for a reason.