The Stars Of Bargain Block Show Us How To DIY A Custom Coffee Table On A Budget

If you're a DIYer who loves woodworking projects and is eager to give yourself a fun challenge to increase your skills, consider making a lightweight but durable coffee table or side table. Crafting a piece of furniture that's fairly simple to execute, yet looks high-end and beautiful, can be both cost-effective and satisfying.

Keith Bynum and Evan Thomas, co-hosts of HGTV's "Bargain Block," have shown us a DIY-friendly slatted wood table that you can make (with the help of a buddy) at a relatively low cost. If a full-on renovation isn't affordable, but a furniture project is, this is a wonderful way to swap out a tired coffee table for one of your creations. And while the "Bargain Block" guys are pros, with access to a woodworking shop full of sophisticated cutting equipment, don't let not having a fancy saw put you off; you can get help cutting all the wood for this project.

Many lumber stores and even general hardware stores, such as Home Depot, will cut your wood, as long as you've purchased it from them. This means you can shift your focus to the design work and choosing colors and stains. Then, show up to your favorite lumber store with precise measurements and quantities, have them cut all the wood to your specs, and finally assemble and finish the piece yourself in the garage!

First, you'll need to figure out your coffee table's height: A good guide to follow is the height of your sofa cushions, or one to two inches lower — 18 inches is pretty common. If you're making a side table, make it a couple of inches lower than the height of the sofa's arm. 

The tutorial on "Bargain Block" was for a triangular table, but you can adjust for a rectangle or square. As HGTV's Keith Bynum says, "If you want to change it up, go for it." For the triangular table, you'll need a large rectangle of unblemished wood for the top and bottom of the table, with ¾-inch thick birch plywood being a solid option (available from $38 at Lowes, as of December 2023). A rectangle at least 36 inches long will result in a decently sized table, but of course this can be scaled up or down to your preference. Then, cut that rectangle from one top corner to the opposite bottom corner to make two identical triangles, and sand all the edges afterward.

For the slats, you could purchase wooden fence pickets. Five-and-a-half-inch-wide and 8-foot-long redwood flat-top fence pickets are available at Lowes, and four of these should yield at least 120 slats that are 18 inches long and ¾ of an inch wide, for a cost (as of December 2023) of $36 plus tax. For cheaper supplies, you might visit hardware stores or construction sites for offcuts, or even wooden palettes, that they can give or sell you. 

Consider what color your table should be — it could stay natural, you might stain it to look like a darker wood, or you could paint it. Just make sure you change the color before assembling anything. Once everything's cut and colored, use a piece of wood as a spacer to keep the distance between the slats uniform, then gather a finish nail gun, fine 220 sandpaper, and either a spray-on or brush-on clear polyurethane topcoat. 

Lay the top and bottom pieces of your table on a flat surface about 18 inches apart, with points in the air. Use the finish nail gun to attach a slat at the top point, then join a slat to the two points facing you — this will stabilize the structure. Using the spacer in between each one, nail in the slats. Turn the table around, fill it in, then do the third side. All that remains is to give the top and bottom a sanding with fine grit paper, and then spray or brush on a clear poly topcoat to finish it. Don't forget to spray the slats as well. 

The design concept is a flexible one, and can be applied to other creations. For example, you might make a miniature square table with a solid wood top and slats for legs on two sides, and use it as a home for small decorative objects. HGTV's Keith Bynum certainly thinks so, saying, "There's really a lot that you can do with these!"