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A few months back, my parents called and asked me if I wanted their old coffee table. Unfortunately, the glass in this beautiful metal framed table had broken and it was going to cost more than the table itself to have new glass cut. I immediately said yes, knowing there must be some other option.
Check out my upcycled coffee table!
Right away the metal frame on this table reminded me of the farmhouse entry table I completed a few months ago and I knew I wanted it in our living room. Since the entry table is only about 15 steps away from where this coffee table would sit, Chris and I decided that it should coordinate.
This first step was finding wood. Although my dad swears that everywhere sells 1/4″ finished plywood, we couldn’t find it anywhere! We ended up finding 1/4″ poplar boards at Lowe’s (our Home Depot carried nothing similar!). I purchased three 4′ boards for a total of $30.
I was a little worried about doing these cuts because the angles were a little off. This quickly became a joint effort – my husband and I used a jigsaw to cut the length (we don’t have a table saw), he cut the angles, and I did all of the sanding. This metal frame isn’t perfect, so making the wood fit properly took some effort.
Once the pieces were snug, I conditioned, stained, and clear coated each piece. I used the same products I did on our entry table:
- MinWax Pre-Stain Wood Conditioner
- MinWax Wood Finish Penetrating Stain in English Chestnut
- MixWax Fast Drying Polyurethane in Clear Satin
Tip: Polyurethane will warp thin pieces of wood during the drying process. I learned this the hard way!
Voila! The wood turned out perfectly and matches our entry table to a tee. If you ignore our hideous upper living room couch (yes, we desperately need a new one), you can see just how amazing this table looks compared to our old press-board table.
For under $40 ($30 in wood and $10 for stain), I completely changed the look of this table. I also love that we have the option to change out the tile in the center one day. Considering this was a $200+ table when new, I think my upcycled coffee table turned out pretty amazing.
Up next – a coordinating farmhouse sign for above the couch. Stay tuned!