Scrap Wood Coffee Table DIY

Our living room was missing something and since we had so much scrap wood in the garage, I figured I would try my hand at building a coffee table! The only supplies I used were 2×4’s, mdf sheets (and trim), and screws/nails! Oh and some leftover paint from our house.

To start, I built the frame out of 2×4’s. I went off the rough height to the seat of my sofa for the height of the table and then based the length and width off a scrap piece of mdf we had already cut. I screwed my frame together and then screwed it to the mdf top.

Next, I cut some extra sheet pieces of MDF to cover the sides. I cut these wider than my top piece to allow for trim on the sides.

This picture is not great but it was at this point I decided to add a shelf to the bottom. I just used 2×4’s to frame out this shelf the same way I did on top. Since we didn’t have any more sheets of scrap mdf I just used… scraps. I ended up using 3 squares to cover the bottom. It’s not perfect but was a great way to use up garbage pieces.

I used more squares to cover up the sides inside the coffee table and then leftover trim for the sides. I screwed on the bottom pieces and nailed on all the sides.

Once everything was secure I caulked all the seams. This is by far the most annoying part and I always do a terrible job at it. Maybe one day I’ll figure it out.

Once the caulk was dry I painted everything with leftover paint from our house. It’s an eggshell finish and so will likely scuff over time, but we have a lot of it left so will be easy to touch up. I did 2 coats on the top & sides and 4 coats on all exposed edges. MDF absorbs paint like crazy so if you don’t have much paint you’ll want to do a primer coat or two first.

And that’s all! This was seriously the easiest DIY project using scrap wood. It only took a day and cost us a whopping $0 (and my husband was happy I cleared some space in the garage!).

Is it perfect? No. My wood was warped as heck so my bottom isn’t totally flat. Turned out the top was actually 1/2” narrower on one side than the other so some of my trim sticks out. BUT the coffee table looks fine for now and serves a purpose. Once we’ve built a nice coffee table in here this will go in my sons’ bedroom for toy storage.

What do you think? Will you try building something out of scrap wood?