If you build it...

To add some unique furniture to our Living Room and prevent it from looking like an IKEA catalog, David decided to build his own coffee table. He based his design off of a DIY project he saw on HGTV.

The instructions and necessary materials can be found here.

David got the reclaimed wood from Second Chance. He picked pieces that had saw marks on them and were a little worn so that it would have a vintage look. Wood today does not have saw marks because they are cut with a machine.

David got all of the wood pieces for all of these projects at different times. Second Chance does not always have the 10 inch wide wood boards so it was difficult to obtain all of the pieces.We had to go back a few times to check to see if it was in stock. In the beginning, David was able to negotiate the price, but later on not so much. I think reclaimed wood has become more popular and so it's harder to come by.

Marks from the Saw.

David sanded the wood and stained it after he built the table. 

Letting the stain dry.

The coffee table turned out well! It has a nice area for storage underneath and is on wheels so it can be moved easily.

David also built a shelf to go above our TV. He screwed in metal IKEA shelf brackets with masonry screws. It's important to make sure it's bolted in there good because the wood is heavy. He cut a groove down the middle and slipped the wood in the hollow bracket. This holds it pretty well.

Wood mounted in the metal brackets.

 This piece of wood has an jagged edge giving it some texture.

Jagged edges.

Shelf before painting and molding.

 

The Shelf today...a little crowded with stuff.

To complete the set, David built a small side table. The nice thing about building your own furniture is that you can customize it. David made the side table very narrow so that it wouldn't take up too much space and could fit right next to our couch. He also added a shelf for handy storage. One thing David had to be careful of was to give the stain a lot of time to dry. When we brought the side table inside after a few days of drying on the porch we put a towel between the table and the couch just in case. I didn't want any stain on our beige couch!

Side table drying.

 The stain on the side table is a little darker than the coffee table.

Side table next to our couch.

Although the reclaimed wood furniture style is a little masculine, I like it. All of these pieces match the reclaimed wood in the middle of the brick wall which helps ties the room together. These handmade pieces beat IKEA furniture any day!