We’re still working hard on our bathroom transformation but in the meantime, enjoy the first of this two-part guest post from the hubs!
Hola! Kyle here. On this episode of the House on the Hill, I am going to take you through the process of a recent build.
So you want to build a coffee table? I think we can make that happen. This coffee table is not difficult to build at all. The two most difficult parts are removing the stickers from the pipe (thus why it has yet to happen on ours) and moving it from your work space; this thing is heavy. Everything needed for the build can be purchased at Home Depot or Lowe’s, or likely your preferred alternative.
Tools needed: drill (or screwdriver if you are looking for a workout, or prefer muscle cramps), paint brush
Materials needed: untreated 2x10s, black plumbing pipe, black plumbing flanges, casters, metal brackets, stain, screws
As you can see, that list is not very daunting. First things first, figure out how big you want your coffee table to be. You need a plan! Measure the space you are looking to put it in or find something that is the right size to measure. We decided we wanted ours to be 36” long and 30” wide and 18” tall. These are nearly the dimensions of the ottoman that came with our sectional. Got your measurements? Great! Next step, spend cash money. Head to your local home improvement store of choice and start by checking out the lumber section. Untreated is the way to go here, hopefully you will not require a high level of water proofing for this project. We used untreated Southern Pine 2x10s. This may be the only lumber you find of this size that is untreated. Once you have selected the straightest, most prettiest boards for your purpose, find someone to cut them for you. You can cut them yourself if you want, but may as well let the people with the really big saw do it for you. If you are going to build to our same dimensions, you will need to 10’ long boards cut at 3’ intervals.
Upon completion of the cutting, strike out in search of the pipe. It should be in the plumbing section. [Tip: if you are at Home Depot, their mobile site is really great for finding the aisle number of any given product you are looking for. Lowes does not (yet?) have this capability on their site.] You can also ask someone if you are having trouble finding the stuff. Once you have found the black pipe section, it is time to select your materials. Most of this stuff will be a matter of personal preference and meeting your dimensions. Remember, the boards are nearly 2” thick and casters will be added later, so there will be at least 6” of height already. We chose the threaded 12” lenghts of 3/4” pipe and the 3/4” flanges. As the pipe is metal, there shouldn’t be any concern about whether or not it will handle the weight of the wood so the diameter is simply your aesthetic choice. Grab yourself 4 pipe lengths (these lengths are sometimes called nipples, hehe) and 8 flanges and head out for the next adventure.
Screws. The screws don’t need to be terribly fancy, just some wood screws that will be long enough to secure the fittings to the lumber without breaking the opposite surface and with a head large enough to actually hold the flanges down. We used Spax #8x screws, 1 1/2” length with the bronze/gold type color. The heads are a bit smaller than I would like for the flanges, if the fitting moves around the screws may slip through. So far we haven’t had any instances of structural failure though. You should also grab some metal brackets to secure the boards to each other. We used 8 4” 4-hole brackets and one piece of thin wood we had lying around in the scrap pile. You could also use 12” brackets, I may or may not switch over to these in the future.
Now for the fun part, casters and stain! Finding casters we wanted was the trickiest part of this build. We didn’t want the black rubber casters so we ended up ordering some 2” steel swivel casters online from Home Depot. We had to order online because they didn’t sell them in store, but we found some highly similar ones the last time we were over there. So check out the caster selection just in case. I would have liked to do some beefy cast iron casters, but a bit of searching using the google made me realize that the casters would cost more than everything else combined. $50 for one caster seemed a bit much for this project. Hitting up your local thrift store, builders surplus, or Habitat for Humanity Restore may be worth while if you want something with more character. We used five casters, one center one for more support. Now go pick out your stain, or whatever finish you want to use. We used Minwax Early American, this is becoming our favorite. It’s the same stain Jess used on the box for the mudroom closet conversion project.
That’s it for part one. Check back tomorrow for the build!
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