Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you needed a piece of furniture but couldn’t quite find what you were looking for in stores? That was the exact predicament I found myself in when I decided to build a side table for my den. As someone who loves to decorate and add personal touches to my home, I wanted a piece that was both functional and stylish. After weeks of searching high and low, I couldn’t seem to find a table that fit the bill. That’s when I realized that the best solution was to build one myself.
Since I had already built an iron pipe bookshelf in my den, I decided to keep with the theme and build a side table utilizing pipe as well. I first hand drew some sample patterns on large butcher paper to get an idea how I wanted it to look. After deciding on a plan, I made a quick run to Lowes and bought some pipe fittings, I already had scrap wood that I’d try to use. The wood wasn’t quite wide enough, so I had to join the wood planks. Thankfully I already had the router bits to accomplish this.
After the glue dried, I gave it a good sanding and then transferred over my pattern. Since I didn’t have a band saw at the time, I utilized a jigsaw to cut out the pattern for both shelves. The toughest part was figuring out the legs, since I wanted them to go through the lower shelf. It took a few tries marking hole locations before I felt confident to actually drill the holes. Thankfully, everything fit perfectly when I tested it.
The final step was finishing the wood. I gave it a good base stain that matched the shelving already in the den and then gave a second coat to the edges to give a burnt look. A final spray with a few coats of poly and the table was ready for use! I’m really happy how it turned out and it fits perfectly in my den. I eventually want to create a built-in desk under the bookshelf, but that’s a project for another day.
