DIY Coffee Table for $85

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When we moved into our house we had just about every piece of furniture we would need, except for a coffee table. It really bugged me. A coffee table provides so much convenience and not having one was creating a huge void in our living room. We searched at a few furniture stores but it seemed like we weren’t able to find anything of quality without it costing a HUGE chunk of change. So we started researching how we could build it ourselves. We had NEVER built anything before in our lives. We needed something simple with clear instructions. That’s when we discovered Ana Whites X Coffee table. Its was just the style we were looking for! We downloaded the instructions and headed to Home Depot. The instructions came with a clear cut shopping list and we were able to get everything we needed for $85!

Once we got all of the supplies home, we measured and cut the wood. I would definitely suggest doing ALL your measurements at once and  then move to cutting all at once.  We have a Hitachi single bevel miter saw that we ordered off of Amazon a few days prior to starting the project. It was super easy to use for us wood working newbies. IMG_0231

We did have to make a few changes to the cut list due to our saw. The Ana White plans call for a 60 degree cut to make the X at the end of the table. Out table saw only went to a 45 degree angle. So we had to adjust where the end of the 2×2 met the side.

Once all of our cuts were completed, we began with assembly. We started with the two outside  long edges and then added on the bottom shelf of the table.

We used the Kreg Jig as instructed to add the pocket holes for the bottom shelf.

Once that was completed, we added pocket holes to the 5 2×6 cuts that make up the top of the table.

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We now had the table in two major pieces. The table top and the frame. We did not connect the X yet for staining purposes. We figured it would be easier to stain the 4 pieces individually and then attach vs trying to squeeze our paint brush into all those tight spaces. Next we started sanding and staining! We used a 220 grit sand paper to smooth everything out. Our color of choice was Espresso in a satin finish by Minwax. The Rust-oleum spray paint shown was for the hardware we added later.

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We ended up only doing one coat of stain. This let a bit more of the character in the wood show though. We added bolts to the X’s for an extra touch. Here is our finished product!

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Hopefully this helped anyone planning on taking on this project! If you have any questions feel free to comment! We’d love to help!

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