16 DIY Coffee Tables You Can Make, No Matter Your Skill Level

A coffee table is a helpful addition to any living room. Whether you’ll use your coffee table as a place to do a puzzle, corral remotes and game controllers or just rest your tired feet and a glass of wine, it’s a handy piece of furniture. 

Sure, you can go out and buy a coffee table to complete your living room. But if you’re considering dabbling in DIY projects, a DIY coffee table is a great place to start. Lots of coffee table designs are super simple to make on your own, whether that involves woodworking or simply using a bottle of Gorilla Glue. 

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Even if you’re a novice with the power tools, a DIY coffee table is a great place to start—it doesn’t have to hold a certain amount of weight, like a chair would, and it’s a smaller and more manageable project than a dining table or a bookshelf. Plus, you can choose the exact style you’d like to bring into your space, from mid-century to farmhouse to industrial and more. 

Below, 16 different DIY coffee table plans and ideas to help inspire you.

This round coffee table by @baker.blooms features a thick base constructed with dozens of rounded dowels. She opts for a natural, unfinished look, but you could paint or stain this DIY coffee table for a custom look that matches your existing decor.

This beautiful DIY coffee table from @interior_by_maria requires little more than three live-edge boards. Sure, it may not be suitable to place heavy items on, but it sure does create a stunning rustic yet modern aesthetic. 

Using only a sheet of plywood that rests atop a clear plexiglass mold, @process.doc has created a masterpiece DIY coffee table that’s reminiscent of the minimalist Scandi style. This simple yet attractive coffee table has plenty of room for key items like coffee or a laptop, but doesn’t break the clean lines of the surrounding room. 

Bloggers Whitney Gainer and Ashley Turner of Shanty 2 Chic created a gorgeous, on-trend DIY coffee table on a budget using wood and hairpin legs. For a polished look, they finished off the corners with metal hardware.

If you’re drawn to preppy, traditional pieces, you won’t want to miss out on blogger Erin Spain’s tutorial for this navy table with caned clover-shaped cutouts. Cutting the shapes requires a certain level of comfort using a jig saw, but this DIY coffee table’s frame is basic enough for beginners to replicate.

An attractive herringbone pattern adds a dose of visual interest to your living room. Blogger Zoe Hunt decided to incorporate this into her DIY coffee table, transforming an existing piece using wood that she cut into a beautiful herringbone pattern and then sanded and stained. The whole project cost just $30!

The best part of DIYing your own coffee table is that you can tailor it to best fit your lifestyle and needs. For blogger DeDe Bailey, that meant creating the perfect area to complete puzzles. A pull out drawer makes it easy to stash pieces and the wooden top unfolds to reveal a flat surface is ideal for tinkering. Best of all, when everything is closed, the piece looks like a simple, sophisticated coffee table.

Blogger Gwen Hefner needed a whimsical table for her kids’ space, so she decided to create a DIY coffee table using an ordinary wire basket and a piece of MDF. She cut the wood into a circle and painted both pieces to match. 

Blogger Ursula Carmona’s coffee table with drawers is also an excellent DIY coffee table option for game lovers. While her project is fairly complex, the multi-use table is bound to serve you for years to come.

Blogger Megan LaMacchia replicated a pricey table that she spotted at a high-end furniture store for just a fraction of the original cost. This timeless DIY coffee table adds old-world flair to her living space, thanks to turned legs and a vintage-look stain.

Blogger Kristy took a $15 thrift store table and transformed it into a farmhouse-style DIY coffee table thanks to the help of a circular piece of wood and some spray paint. Her project is proof that a few small changes can transform an ordinary piece.

Blogger Michelle Scheibe demonstrates how nice a vintage trunk can look when it’s transformed into a functional piece of furniture. Scheibe added small legs to the piece for extra height. The plentiful storage—for games or blankets—is an added bonus.

If you’re fortunate enough to have an outdoor space to decorate, you may wish to add a coffee table there, too. Blogger Amanda Hendrix built a concrete-look table modeled after one she saw in stores. For a lighter-weight piece, she skipped concrete molds and instead created the top of the table from plywood finished with skim coating.

Blogger Morgan McBride built a DIY coffee table that works well with either a wooden or glass top, making it an excellent option for those who like to change up their space’s look every now and then. The geometric base is sophisticated and simple without feeling boring.

Bloggers Caitlin and Manda of The Merry Thought constructed a similar piece to McBride’s, just with slightly thinner legs and a base that touches the ground. Paired with a darker leather sofa, the simple table adds some light and texture to this living space.

Blogger Patti took an inexpensive table she found on Craigslist and added fabric to the top to create a hybrid coffee table/ottoman. She sanded and stained the wood base to give it a charmingly rustic look.