DIY coffee table.

As much as i wish that i came up with this idea, i didnt. I found it off of pinterest of course and thought it was too ingenious to not do it myself.

We were in desperate need of a coffee table. I had searched on a daily basis every thrift store imaginable, hoping that i could find one that was short enough to be proportionate with our couch. I never had any luck, or i was being too picky so thankfully i happened upon this fabulous tutorial.

I headed to Ikea with the $39.99 'Lack' coffee table in mind. Found the table, gathered a few other nick knacks that I definitely didnt need but you cant just get 1 thing at ikea, its way too tempting, and headed towards the check out. Each time before i leave ikea i always have to look through the 'as is' section. havent heard of it? its always by the check out, where they put items that have little breakages, scuffs or tears for mostly 50% off. it is honestly my favorite part of ikea. I walked over and guess what i found? the exact table i had in my cart that was going to be $39.99 for $24.00. WHAT?! i was one happy girl and asked the random shopper next to me to help load it on to my cart.

okay so here i am at $24 for this project. Next i went to Lowes to get the wood. I gathered 5 pieces of 1x4x8 wood. side note: did you know that if it says that the wood is 1x4x8 it is ACTUALLY 1x3.5x8? it will always be a half an inch smaller in width than what it says on the sign. just keep that in mind :)
each piece of wood was only $1.48 which is a steal of a deal. I had them cut each piece directly in half, which they did for free, then next I had to deal with the legs of the table. The table was too tall for the couch, thank heavens ikea furniture comes apart so i took each leg off. I brought them with me to lowes and had them cut each leg 1.5 inches off. They were super skeptical because i guess they arent allowed to cut 'outside wood'. i wasnt about to be okay with that so i just kept saying 'okay, will you do it anyways?' and they finally did, they also did that for free. The inside of each leg is hallow, so it really doesnt cause any problems if you decide to have them cut an ikea piece.

 finally, i took everything home and painted each piece of wood lightly with a hand brush and white paint that i've been painting everything in my house. Let it dry for about 15 minutes then i used wood glue and nails to hold each piece of wood in place. I bought the small size of wood glue and almost used it all. I nailed 3 nails in to each piece of wood then i stacked a bunch of heavy items on to the top of the table to let it set and dry. I let it dry for about 24 hours then took everything off. I lightly hand sanded the top of the table then i used a circular handle sponge from hobby lobby to put on the polka dots. 

FINISHED! the total project cost was $38.00 not too shabby, right? I am so happy with the ending result. This coffee table looks so perfect in our little place and it was also a project that only took me a total of 2 hours, labor time.

please excuse all of the extra business going around in these pictures. There are lots of projects under way that i'm also having a good time with.