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In this post: Love the look of balustrade coffee tables, but not the hefty price tag? Let us show you our DIY Balustrade Coffee table. Plus where to get balustrade coffee table legs too! (Canadian and U.S. Sources!)
I’ve loved the look of the Restoration Hardware Balustrade Salvaged Wood Coffee Table for a very long time. I mean, Timothy Oulton knocked it out of the park with that design! However, after our last table experience with RH, and the hefty price tag that went with it, I was not ready to pull the trigger and buy one. Instead, I spent some time dreaming up a way to make a DIY balustrade coffee table!
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Where to Get Balustrades
Of course, we’ve built tables and all sorts of things before and Dean has a LOT of tools. But he does not have a lathe, nor the experience to use one at this point. So, finding a source for the balustrade legs was necessary if this project was going to work.
So, I began to search for balustrade coffee table legs online. Initially, I could only find an American source for them. An Osborne Wood company recommended by Jen at House of Wood. However, when I looked a little further, I realized the cost was going to be more than I bargained for. I mean, it was still way less than the RH table. But by the time I figured in shipping and the current horrible exchange rate between U.S. Dollars and Canadian Dollars, it was more than I figured YOU would want to spend.
So, I kept digging and searching online.
Until I finally found a Canadian source AND and American source! #woohoo #happydance
Click here for the U.S. Source for Unfinished Balustrade Coffee Table Legs.
Click here for the Canadian Source for Unfinished Balustrade Coffee Table Legs.
Dean and I ordered our table legs from Twig and Anchor (our Canadian source above), since we live in Canada. We ordered the pine, since we were trying to keep the cost as low as possible. And we’re totally happy with them! (They didn’t sponsor this project, by the way. We just found them and paid our own money to buy the table legs. We’re even looking at some of their dining room table legs for a future project too!)
Our DIY Balustrade Coffee Table FINISH
If you follow us over on Instagram, you may have seen us posting sneak peeks and progress pics and videos of the table. It was actually really quite fun to share the progress with you!
I get a lot of enjoyment out of finishing the furniture Dean builds for me. Playing with different combinations of stain and wax, etc.
1. For this coffee table, after Dean sanded it, I coated the whole thing with Minwax Pre Stain Wood Conditioner. This just makes the stain apply more evenly. It really just looks like water when you’re applying it. But it really does help with the evenness later.
2. Then I worked in small sections, applying Varathane BriarSmoke stain (<– that link works, but it’s cheaper at your local hardware store!) and quickly wiping it off. I had used Briarsmoke a week or so before on a blanket ladder, so I knew leaving it on for any length of time would make the table too dark.
For a step-by-step tutorial on how to stain wood, check out this post.
3. After the Briarsmoke stain was dry, I applied Varathane White Wood Grain Enhancer (<– that link works too, but it’s also cheaper at your local hardware store!) liberally. I did not use the wire brush as the instructions say, but that would have made the white grain much more noticeable. This way it just added a subtle dimension that wasn’t there with just the stain.
4. Once all of the grain enhancer was fully dried, I applied a dark-ish wax to the surface of the table and buffed it with a lint free cloth. I have several waxes on hand, and the one I used is no longer available. But it was called Van Gogh Beeswax in French Coffee I believe. You could use any dark wax though. Do be sure to let it sit for awhile with the dark wax though, or else you may wipe some off onto rugs and clothing unintentionally.
DIY Balustrade Coffee Table PLANS
When we began our table build, we were planning to share the whole DIY, step-by-step here for you. But once we got into it, we realized that Ana White has a full tutorial with printable plans already on her site! So, we continued to build and took a few in-progress pictures and videos which we’ll share here.
We built our table mainly the same as the Ana White version. We used pocket holes made with our Kreg Jig. And Dean glued everything with wood glue. Plus he used his brad nailer for attaching the bottom boards to the frame.
Although, since we have a sectional, we built our coffee table closer to square, at 31 inches by 36 inches finished size, rather than a long rectangle.
We also saved money and bought the cheapest wood that would work, pine and I believe a bit of spruce. As well as the pine balustrades. All in I think we spent about $350, given we already had tools and stain on hand. Even if you had to buy that, it would still come out way less than comparable tables.
You can go here to get the Ana White DIY Balustrade Coffee Table plans.
So, what do you think? A good substitute for the RH version, yes? Do you have any questions for us about the table build or finish?
