Have you ever seen something on the Internet or been shopping and fallen in love with something, only to discover that it’s out of your budget? Of course you have. Everyone has.
For me, it was a marble daisy-shaped coffee table that I first spotted from Anthro. I started googling around to find something similar, but every other one I found was still a little pricey.
I knew the table would compliment my eclectic living room perfectly, and that’s when my DIY brain kicked in. If you can’t buy it, make it!
I’m going to take you on my journey today, mapping out the steps I took in case you’d like to make your own. If interested, here are the supplies and tools you will need to build your own, in no particular order:
Supplies:
-pine plywood
-concrete planter (I found mine at Target)
-Liquid Nails
-wood filler in white
-flat metal wire
-metal circle (mine was 6″- I recommend getting one custom cut)
-screws
-sandpaper
-white paint
-Briwax
Tools:
–jigsaw
–sander
–screw gun
-wire cutter
-rolling pin
I began by cutting a circular template out of cardboard. From there, I divided the circle into eighths. Let me tell you, that was some math I hadn’t used in a while! I created the rounded edges by placing a record in each section and tracing around. Depending on the size of your table, you can use any round household item.
Once my cardboard template was made, I took it to my friend, Lindsay, to cut with her jigsaw. I wanted this to be a lasting, quality piece, so I knew this was no time for me to learn how to use a jigsaw.
Since our piece of plywood was large enough, she was able to cut it in half and make two wooden daisies out of it. $30 went a long way here. We glued and screwed the two pieces together, and I got to sanding. A lot of sanding.
Once I got through the beginning stages of my table, I hired my friend, Evan, to do the routing for the metal pieces. I had considered just using metallic tape, but like I said before, I really wanted this to be a quality piece that lasts a long time. Evan did an amazing job with the routing and I was seeing my vision transform in front of my eyes!
I got the table top and bottom all painted and let it cure for a couple of days. Once it was ready, I used Liquid Nails to glue the concrete planter to the bottom of the table (where the screws are).
Don’t let the photo above fool you, I was a bit conservative the first time around with the glue and the base came off when we tried to flip it. Glue that puppy on there! Then I let it cure for a day.
As I was getting closer to the finish line, let me tell you—I was giddy! Wood filler came next to fill in any gaps, then there was another coat of paint, and then the sealer.
There are a lot of ways you can seal a project like this, but after doing A LOT of research, I landed on sealing it with wax. I waxed, buffed, and repeated. If you buff the wax enough, you get this lovely semi-gloss sheen. It’s a game-changer.
The last step was applying the metal to the table. This was tricky at first because my flat wire came in a roll, and once you get to unrolling it, the metal starts to bend and get wavy when you straighten it out. Ugh. Solution: my wavy, curling strips were introduced to my rolling pin.
They didn’t come out ABSOLUTELY perfectly flat, but very close. I applied them to their routed homes using a bit more Liquid Nails, and used my small rubber mallet to hammer down any difficult pieces. And then, I WAS DONE.
Here is a visual on how the flat top looked vs. the finished top. Yeah, it was a bit of work, but like I said, we made a lasting piece of lovely furniture. I definitely think it was worth it.
Since I either owned tools or was able to borrow tools, with hired labor this table only cost me about $200. That’s definitely better than the $1,700 table I fell in love with. I mean, this isn’t real marble (I decided not to faux marble it), but I also don’t have to worry about knocking my shins on real marble. Ha!
I really am in love with this table. We’ve been using it for a couple of months now and I haven’t experienced any scratching or staining. I was actually the first one to knock over a glass of water and the droplets just rolled right off.
Talk about a relief! Anyway, even if you don’t make this particular table, I hope it inspires you to think outside the box and achieve your style in a budget-friendlier way. And special thanks to Lindsay for humoring me and kicking this dream off with her jigsaw. xo. Katie
Love, love, love this! This may be one of my all time favourite DIY projects on this entire blog, and that’s saying a LOT. I never would have thought of this one my own. This is such a beautiful project; so unique and eye-catching, yet still elegant and understated that it doesn’t completely overtake the room. I really do adore this!
Your whole living room is so cute!!! I’d love to see a house tour post.
Hi Chelsea! Here’s a tour of Katie’s home from a few years ago— https://abeautifulmess.com/2017/03/at-home-with-katie-shelton-in-springfield-missouri.html
I gasped when I saw this post because like you, I’ve been coveting a flower-top table. Only the one I have been after is the Richard Schultz 1960’s table from Knoll:
https://www.knoll.com/product/petal-dining-table
I want to make a new top for my dining pedestal table and this tutorial is exactly what I want to do! The inlaid metal makes it look so high end, too. Thank you so much for sharing your process – now that I see it’s possible I’m motivated to actually do it!
Any chance you could list the measurements of the circle you cut etc. or the size planter you used for the bottom please?!
Hi! My tabletop was 40″ in diameter and the planter is about 16″ in diameter.
This is awesome! Please do more DIYs like this!!
This is so pretty and unique!! Thanks!
Really really CUTE !!! Well done Katie !
This is so cute! I also fell in love with that table on Anthro and right out of love with the price tag. You did a fantastic job! Unrelated, can you share some details about that snail vase?? 🙂
Pretty, and a great example of creative problem solving/thinking outside the box. Even if we dont make this table, it IS a good lesson in resourcefulness. It also often is portrayed that we have to do all the steps to a DIY ourselves. I like how you’ve shown you can use someone else’s expertise and still come in at a reasonable price.