14 DIY Coffee Tables to Suit Any Skill Level

Crucial to any living room? A coffee table where you piece together a puzzle, store your next read, work on your laptop, and eat dinner in front of the TV if need be. And while there are tons of beautiful coffee tables that are ready to buy, this is one project that’s super DIY-able. Even if you’re a power tool novice, a coffee table is a great place to start—it doesn’t have to hold a certain amount of weight, like a chair would, and it’s a smaller and more manageable project than a dining table or a bookshelf. Plus, you can choose the exact style you’d like to bring into your space, from mid-century to farmhouse to industrial and more. Below, 14 different DIY coffee tables to help inspire you.

Bloggers Whitney Gainer and Ashley Turner of Shanty 2 Chic created a gorgeous, on-trend table on a budget using wood and hairpin legs. For a polished look, they finished off the corners with metal hardware.

If you’re drawn to preppy, traditional pieces, you won’t want to miss out on blogger Erin Spain’s tutorial for this navy table with caned clover-shaped cutouts. Cutting the shapes requires a certain level of comfort using a jig saw, but the table’s frame is basic enough for beginners to replicate.

If your existing coffee table has seen better days, you can always make like blogger Zoe Hunt and redesign the top. Hunt transformed an existing piece using wood that she cut into a beautiful herringbone pattern and then sanded and stained. The whole project cost just $30!

The best part of DIYing your own coffee table is that you can tailor it to best fit your lifestyle and needs. For blogger DeDe Bailey, that meant creating the perfect area to complete puzzles. A pull out drawer makes it easy to stash pieces and the wooden top unfolds to reveal a flat surface is ideal for tinkering. Best of all, when everything is closed, the piece looks like a simple, sophisticated coffee table.

Not into the all-wooden look? There are plenty of other options for DIY. Blogger Gwen Hefner turned an ordinary wire basket into a mod table by adding a top made from an MDF board cut into a circle and painted to match the base.

Blogger Ursula Carmona’s coffee table with drawers is also an excellent DIY option for game lovers. While her project is fairly complex, the multi-use table is bound to serve you for years to come.

Blogger Megan LaMacchia replicated a pricy table that she spotted at a high-end furniture store for just a fraction of the original cost. The timeless piece adds old world flair to her living space, thanks to turned legs and a vintage-look stain.

Blogger Kristy took a $15 thrift store table and transformed it into a farmhouse-style piece thanks to the help of a circular piece of wood and some spray paint. Her project is proof that a few small changes can transform an ordinary piece.

Blogger Michelle Scheibe demonstrates how nice a vintage trunk can look when it’s transformed into a functional piece of furniture. Scheibe added small legs to the piece for extra height. The plentiful storage—for games or blankets—is an added bonus.

If you’re fortunate enough to have an outdoor space to decorate, you may wish to add a coffee table there, too. Blogger Amanda Hendrix built a concrete-look table modeled after one she saw in stores. For a lighter-weight piece, she skipped concrete molds and instead created the top of the table from plywood finished with skimcoating.

Blogger Morgan McBride built a coffee table that works well with either a wooden or glass top, making it an excellent option for those who like to change up their space’s look every now and then. The geometric base is sophisticated and simple without feeling boring.

Bloggers Caitlin and Manda of The Merry Thought constructed a similar piece to McBride’s, just with slightly thinner legs and a base that touches the ground. Paired with a darker leather sofa, the simple table adds some light and texture to this living space.

This coffee table, from Emma Chapman’s coffee table, has the whimsical look of a life-sized game of Jenga. Chapman pieced together wooden boards of various sizes and then added sleek white hairpin legs before sanding and sealing the tabletop.

Blogger Patti took an inexpensive table she found on Craigslist and added fabric to the top to create a hybrid coffee table/ottoman. She sanded and stained the wood base to give it a charmingly rustic look.