buff and shine – diy modern coffee table

The hubs and I have been living together for over 10 years. When we moved into our first house we were dirt broke and just dealt with the furniture we had, or whatever we could scrounge up. I really, really, really wanted modern coffee and side tables from Room and Board. I had specifically fallen for a certain design that I was sure would be perfect for our space. All fine and dandy until I realized there is no was no way I could afford those in real life. This is where I am happy I married my ingenious husband. He doesn’t get that kind of praise often, but this was one of his finer moments 😉 I think our DIY modern coffee table was one of our first building projects together. Couples who DIY together, stay together?

He found a local metal shop to build us aluminum frames for under $150 for two tables. We have a matching side table made with the same materials. We then used finished plywood and edging to give it the same high end look. Now this was 10 years ago but he’s had other stuff built for work but the metal shop’s prices seem to be pretty consistent.

We abused these pieces for 10 years until I finally decided the coffee table some major help. Dings and scratches everywhere. Chips on the sidings. The table had seen better days. I removed the existing siding and nasty glue so we could start fresh. You can’t tell from these photos but the legs are in perfect condition.

We originally screwed the table top on from the bottom so we would easily be able to replace it. We unscrewed it, added a new finished plywood piece to the top, added the new siding, sanded, and started staining.

After a few coats of Tung Oil we have a brand new looking coffee table. We had the stain, Tung Oil and siding, so to be honest, this only cost us the finished plywood which was less than $20.

So I still have the modern coffee table I always wanted for a much nicer price tag.  The side table is in perfect condition after 10 years, the coffee table just needed a little love because it clearly got more abuse.

And yes, I still love this DIY modern coffee table as much as I did 10 years ago. I think that says a lot for some classic pieces. They look good in almost any space and can be paired with so much. This table has lived with two very different sofas sets (soon to be paired with a third partner) and in two different living rooms. They still work and look great.

Have you every made custom pieces for your space? Did you all have a good weekend? Mine was amazing. If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook you know that I found this beauty. More on this later this week. I think I am still in shock.