Trey and I decided to update our dining room with a new table. I loved my wood pallet table. We’ve been through a lot with that table. You’ve probably noticed it in countless food posts here on ABM. But I just felt like I was ready for a change.
A few considerations/challenges we faced: Our dining room is more of a dining area/breakfast nook. It’s quite small. We have people over quite a bit for drinks or dinner. So the more seating we can fit (comfortably) in the space the better. We really wanted to upgrade our table to seat six, instead of four.
I wish we had space for a table that seats eight, like Elsie’s dining room table. Maybe in our next house. Dare to dream. I also wanted a table I could move easily. I know, weird.
But, depending what time of day I’m photographing the recipes you see here on the blog, I often need to move my dining room table closer to the window. And hairpin legs sometimes aren’t best for scooting.Trey came up with the idea of creating a hexagon-shaped table. This proved to be a GREAT solution for maximizing the amount of seating our little dining area can accommodate. We also decided to use plumbing pipes fitted with casters (wheels) for the legs of the table. I have been loving the look of pipe leg tables lately.
Now, to outright buy a pipe leg table is quite expensive (we’ve seen them for upwards of $1500). Plumbing pipes are more expensive than you might guess (or at least more than we would guess). To build our table from scratch, with all the supplies, cost right around $250 to make—most of which was spent on the plumping pipes.
So, this table was still a bit of an investment. But, we certainly saved a pretty penny by making our own rather than purchasing one (not to mention, we couldn’t find a table for sale that really matched our exact needs). If plumbing pipes just don’t fit your budget you could easily reduce your costs with hairpin legs or even painted PVC pipe.Supplies needed:
four 10×1-inch black iron nipple fittings (yes, they’re actually called that, we learned)
eight 8×1-black iron nipple fittings
one 16×1-inch black iron nipple fittings
four 1-inch floor flanges
four wheels to fit 1 inch pipe (we got 3-in, size 6 casters with brakes from here)
six 1-inch black iron tee fittings
four 8-foot 1×12 wood planks (can be a bit longer, we’ll be cutting this down)
six 4-foot 1×2 wood pieces (can be a bit longer, we’ll be cutting this down too)
one 4-foot 1×8 hard wood piece (can be up to 3 inches wider or longer)
protractor
pencil
16 (at least) 0.75-inch screws
50 (or so) 1.25-inch screws
sand paper
wood stain (if using) and polyurethane (we used semi-gloss)
You will also need a couple clean rags or brushes, a power saw and drill. With the exception of the fitted casters (you could replace with 4 more flanges if you don’t want the mobility), we were able to find all necessary supplies at our local hardware stores.First, secure your four 8-foot planks together using your 4-foot hardwood piece using the 1.25-inch screws.
Next, you’re drawing your hexagon. Don’t let yourself get too overwhelmed by this part, but there’s a little math involved here. Trey found this regular hexagon (all angles and sides of a regular hexagon are equal) calculator to make it a little easier for him. To figure out your side, you just need to measure the width of the 4 1×12 boards next to each other and divide that by 2. That number will be your in-radius.
As you may or may not know 1×12 doesn’t necessarily mean your wood is 1 inch by 12 inches. That’s actually the measurements before the wood is dried, so 1×12 is more like 0.8×11.25. Never figured out why it’s labeled like it is, but I’ll leave that to the experts.
Anyway, luckily your box stores like Home Depot and Lowe’s are pretty consistent with their wood sizings, so you could probably get away with using our measurements:
• Inradius: 22.5 inches
• Sides: 26 inches
• Corner angles: 120° (true of all regular hexagons)
Really, all you need to know is the length of the sides of your hexagon (all are 26 inches) and the angle of your corners. Then the rest sorts itself out. So center, measure, and mark 26 inches on either side of your 4 wood planks attached together.
These should be exactly across from each other. Now break out your protractor (super cheap and can be found at any hardware store), set it to 120°, and place it at the end of all of your 26-inch side marking.
Draw yourself a starting reference line, and use a longer straight edge to continue it, completing the side. You actually only need to do this 4 times, as the remaining 2 corners create themselves. And just like that, your hexagon is drawn.
Follow your drawing to cut the edges of the table.
Put together your pipes to make sure they suit your table well. Maybe you want to swap out one of your pipe pieces for something longer or shorter (we had a little trial-and-error check with ours).
This can be done by one person, but it’s much easier with two—especially if that second person is willing to run back to the hardware store to get a different length of pipe. Just FYI. For the lip, we didn’t bother being nearly as exact on our angles, since they were pretty much never going to be seen. Cut 6 26-in pieces from your 1x2s. Then, cut overcompensated inward angles (like you’re making the bottom level of a pyramid).
We just eyeballed the angles but made sure the ends stayed exactly 26 inches. So once you were looking at the finished table, the corners were seamless. Then, using your 1.25-inch screws, secure the lip in place. This sturdies the table and makes it look quite a bit cleaner/more professional.
TIP: Your wood will never be perfect and is bound to have some warping here and there. After you’ve secured you lip, take a look and see if some of your main planks are sticking up a little. If so, just use the scrap from your 1x2s to secure the four main planks together even more. Just be sure you don’t put anything in the way of your table’s legs.Next sand the entire table, so it’s super smooth. If you are staining, add your color choice. We used wheat stain. Allow to fully dry. Seal with polyurethane. We used two coats for extra protection.
Once that’s dry you’re ready to screw the legs and wheels onto the table top (this is where you use your 0.75-inch screws). You can also do this before you sand/stain.
But we were still waiting on our wheels to come in the mail at this point. There are several methods for adding the wheels to the table, but these were super easy. Just pop them on, tighten the bolt underneath just a little, and you’re good to go!I love our new table! We added two more ghost chairs (gifted to us by Elsie) to our existing four we already had. I think ghost chairs are the perfect fit with our dining space. It keeps the area from looking overly cluttered, since we’re trying to fit 6 people and chairs into a relatively small space.
We also moved our vintage cow hide rug from the living room to the dining room. Our dining area is one of the most high traffic spots in our home, and I love how our cow hide rug has held up against all the dog hair (we have three dogs, too much?) and foot traffic so far.
Even with it being vintage (no clue how old it actually is), they are actually surprisingly durable and easy to clean. Â I can’t wait for our next dinner party. Now we can invite an extra couple! Thanks for letting us share our new dining room table with you all. xo. Emma + Trey
P.S. Our ghost chairs are all from Amazon, the peg board is a DIY, cow hide rug is vintage from Red Velvet and the “pot luck” letters are vintage from Funtiques.
Credits // Authors: Emma Chapman and Trey George, Photography by: Emma ChapmanÂ
How heavy did the table turn out? love the design and want to do something very similar but am worried about the weight especially with the piping
Cool looking table! I’m surprised though, that you suggested using a PVC material. They can contain pretty dangerous chemicals that I wouldn’t want to subject myself to, let alone children or pets.
This hexagon shaped dining table really looks great. Especially by using pipes instead of wood you have added more beauty to it.
WOW! This is absolutely stunning!!! I’m moving into a small apartment this month and we had a small dining room table, but as soon as I saw this one, I’ve been begging my boyfriend ever since that we need to build this instead!
xoxo
Taylor
www.welcomehometaylor.com
This turned out so beautiful! Of course I love anything handmade and hexagon shaped. I will have to make one for myself.
Leah Faye
a clover & a bee
what is the tabletop’s finished dimension? i might have to do this for my small eating area.
This is so awesome! Love the shape!
Lulu xx
http://luluslittlewonderland.blogspot.com
This is such a wonderful idea! It looks amazing, thank you for sharing how you made this, i have a similar problem with a small dining area.
In a million years I would never think to mix clear plastic chairs with a wood table…but it works. Love this. 🙂
That was money well spent. Altho I will miss your palette table. I guess I will just have to make one of my own. Your so creative.
Vintagehoneybee.blogspot.com
The feng shui gods would be proud with all the elements represented in your table. Really nice work!
I just wanted to throw in about funny-named construction equipment…I edit building specifications at my job and the things people call machinery and parts are just hysterical. Or I am just really immature.
This looks great – super impressive! Looks like I need to put my carpenter BF to work 🙂
Emma
www.theromanticrealist.net
It looks beyond cool!
Love it!
I really, REALLY love this table idea! Hexagons are my fave shape, so I’m totally adding this to my project list. Thanks for sharing!
You sweet girls should look into purchasing a Kreg jig. It makes woodworking fast, simple and much stronger. Plus you could buy one and share. No need to post this comment and I am not connected to Kreg in any way. Have a wonderful day. http://www.kregtool.com/pocket-hole-jigs-prodlist.html
LOVE this table – am going to try and copy it for my kitchen! Thank you for sharing – completely and utterly inspired! Do you think that it would work just as well with a rectangular top?
So lovelyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!! You rule, guys!
Claudia
Oh, I looooove it!!!! It is AWESOME!!!