I recently built a coffee table for our game room. We had some remnant marble from our kitchen remodel and I wanted to use it (since we'd already paid for it) in a way that showcased its natural beauty and also added function to an existing space.
A coffee table for playing board games and putting your coffee on (and sometimes your feet) was a perfect fit for the material and for the timeframe I had to make it happen.
We wanted clean, modern lines with a simple base that also needed to be very solid structurally to support the countertop thick 1.25" marble, so an interlocking X form would work nicely.
Entryway shoe rack mid-project with 3/4" oak veneer plywood.
I had previously built a shoe rack bench for the entryway from a repurposed Ikea tv stand and an oak veneered 3/4 plywood so I used that for the coffee table base as well for consistency.
There is a lot of oak in our house so it's a pretty safe bet when I'm trying to get approval on aesthetics from the boss. :)
Had to double up the 3/4 plywood to have more surface area for the marble to rest on and also give me a fuller edge to put on some finishing oak strips so it feels like a solid piece of oak.
Siliconed the marble onto the X frame and made sure the kids didn't sit on it for 24 hours.
west elm Version
I actually found a similar style coffee table at West Elm with an oak base and a thin marble top for $999 that would've worked in the space as well.
But - from my experience, the West Elm materials look beautiful but absolutely do not hold up in a house with kids. The marble is probably a thin veneer that when (not if) the kids scratch it, shows the wood below and makes it look well... less than great.
It also cost a thousand bucks... this one cost me under $100 since I had the marble and the oak plywood ($80) and finishing strips ($12) were pretty reasonable in comparison and I know it will last for years. If I had to buy the marble on it's own, it would've added about $500 so still a good deal.
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The finished product turned out pretty well and I'm happy with it. It has the right form and function so now, let the games begin!
#To Do List #Build #West Elm #DIY #Coffee Table #Home Ownership #BetterForLess
