Buy or Build your own designer coffee table?

While many would argue that buying a designer table is the best way to go, some people prefer to get creative and build their own.

Whether you are looking for a furniture shop or a DIY tool shop, you can find most of what you need at your local mall. If you’re in remote places such as Tasmania, you might need to look in neighbouring towns if you don’t have many shops around. However, places like Tasmania have excellent sources of inspiration for your design, such as this storytelling hotel in Hobart. So don’t feel discouraged if you can’t find a nice furniture store – as it is actually a great option to build a table yourself.  

If you want to build your own table:

Designing your own coffee table is fun and makes your living room look unique and stylish. It is definitely more fun than picking one up from a store. You can design a coffee table in any shape or size you want depending on what you need. You have to first decide which material you want to have.  It can be metal, plastic, glass, wood or any other material that you wish. Basically, what you need is a table top and four legs, the rest if up to you!

If you have an old table top lying around you can use that or get it cut in whichever shape or size you want with a saw. If you live in remote areas that are close to the ocean, you can have a look at the wood that has washed up on the shore. This type of wood has a unique look and is sure to impress. For example in Hobart, in front of the waterfront city accommodation, there are beach walks perfect for spotting driftwood. Sturdy legs are very important and whichever material you use, make sure that they are solid and sturdy to take the weight of the table top. Depending on the material used you can either screw in the legs to the table top or apply glue to stick it. You will need a variety of materials and tools in order to complete this project such as screws, glue, brush, saw, measuring tape, paint, upholstery, screwdriver, paint brushes, scissors, sandpaper, a jigsaw and so on.

If you are planning to make a wooden coffee table, you can use a jigsaw to cut the shape of your table top. Using a measuring tape, mark the four spots where the legs are supposed to be fixed. You have to make sure that the legs are marked equidistant from each other if your tabletop is a square or round. If your tabletop is a rectangle or oval shape, place the legs such that the weight of the table top is evenly distributed among the four legs. You can also design a coffee table with a wider wooden stand on which you can place the tabletop.  You can also connect the four legs together to form a stand where you can keep newspapers and magazines. Just make sure you read up on some tips on how to best do it yourself.

Use of fabric is a good way to make your coffee table stylish. You can stick the light fabric on a wooden table top using glue and make it look very fashionable. If you plan to keep the wooden top, you can paint in different designs to make it look unique. You can do carving or engrave some design on the wooden top and on the legs to get your coffee table stand out from the rest. If you are good at working with wood, you can use the jigsaw to make your tabletop look different than just a boring square, rectangle or round top. You can even laminate the wood for a different look as well.  Alternatively, a glass top can also make the coffee table look a bit different. You can then use glass paint to make your coffee table more personalised.

Another creative way is to use personal photos or a collage of photos to keep on the wooden top and then place a thin glass on top. That is sure to create a very personal coffee table design. You can keep changing these photos to get fresh looks every now and then. If you don’t want to use personal photos, you can use paintings or different designs to get a different feel. If you are really good with wood, you can make pockets in the table top where you can place marbles, sea shells, potpourri or any other decorations for an interchangeable and unique feature.