DIY Sofa Table

A few weeks ago I went junkin' with a friend and came across these awesome balusters [stair rail pieces] for just $4.00 a piece.

I have been looking for some inspiration for the back of my sofa since it seemed to be such a bland view from the kitchen.

I have always loved the look of Restoration Hardware's sofa tables like this one...

So when I found these balusters I knew that I wanted to make one myself. Honestly, this was the easiest project we have possibly ever done. No seriously. If you have a miter saw and a nail gun you can do this in 20 minutes. [Its still possible to do without those tools but man they make the process so much faster.]

Anyways, I grabbed six of the balusters and two 1x12x6 boards from Lowes [in the isle with the decorative plywood, usually the next isle from the trim and moldings] and we went to town. *

*I always try to find pieces with lots of knots and holes, for added character*

First, we cut all the balusters the same length. Some had holes where they used to be nailed in so we wanted to cut all that off and start with fresh pieces of wood for stability reasons. After that, we laid what would be the TOP piece face down on the ground. Then, we set the balusters up in the corners and added a dab of wood glue to the bottoms.

After that, we put what will be the BOTTOM piece on top of the balusters and nailed them in from the top.

Flipped the board over, added a dab of glue on the other side of the balusters and put the TOP back on and nailed those in from the top too.

Next, we measured 36" on both sides of the top and bottom pieces so that we knew where the last two balusters would go.

We added a dab of glue by the lines we marked and placed the balusters in and nailed them in from the top, flipped the piece back over and nailed them into the bottom.

I realized at this point the table sat just a little too low for my liking so I took some scrap 1x3 we had laying around and cut them to fit along the bottom of the table for added height. Zack nailed them in from the bottom.

After that I flipped it right side up and went over the corners with 80 grit sandpaper on my mouse sander to round them out. I wanted the entire piece to look old and sharp corners just don't work for that look.

Now came the fun part: staining. I stained this piece the exact same way I stain everything else in my house, if you want a tutorial on how to get this finish check out this post.

Here she is all stained and ready for decor.

I had some difficulty decorating this piece and I'm not 100% sure I love the way it looks right now so things might get changed soon, but this is how its looking today.

---Jackie