DIY End Table

I have been obsessed with building things lately and so far, this cute little DIY end table was the easiest to build! You can easily build this table out of scrap wood with minimal tools. Here is the inspo table if you just prefer to buy it. 😉

Materials:

1x10x8 / 3/4 trim / scrap pieces / stain

Tools:

Miter Saw / Sander / Pocket Hole Jig

Start by cutting the 2 legs for your table. I used a 15° angle and cut both legs 19” long. Next, take the other side of your legs and cut the opposite way 15°. You want the leg to be flat on the floor and also flat under the table top. This is the trickiest part of the whole table and not going to lie, I had to do a practice piece first. 😉

Once the legs are cut you can then cut the table top. I just used straight cuts and made the top as long as the legs, roughly.

Once you’ve cut the top you can attach each leg to the top with 2 pocket holes. I placed my legs about 3” away from the edge.

Then you can cut the middle brace. I just cut 1 side of a square piece of wood at a 15° angle and then marked the other side with a pencil and cut that. I didn’t measure at all, just eyeballed it. I did make sure to mark/measure the length from about halfway up the legs.

Attach the middle bar with 2 pocket holes. The angle will make it so the bar doesn’t spin but if you’re worried you can also use glue. Again, I just eyeballed this and used a level to make sure it was good. I wasn’t worried about it being perfectly center.

Now is when you can cut your faux end pieces out of scrap wood. I didn’t measure these at all- just went with what felt right. But they each ended up being less than 1.5” long

Once those little pieces are cut you can sand everything super well. I sanded everything with 320 grit and it worked great! Pine is really soft and so I didn’t want to sand too aggressively. I did put a few gouges in the edges with the sander and round over a few spots to give it slightly more of a rustic feel.

Now the stain! For this project I tried out this new stain and it is amazing! This is the first stain I’ve ever used that turned out like I wanted it to without mixing stains. Super forgiving and easy to use, I highly recommend. Just make sure you sand your piece really evenly first.

Once the stain had dried (less than an hour!) you can assemble the faux mortise and tenon joints. I used wood glue and held them together with my hands for a few seconds to allow them to adhere well. Then I let them dry for a few hours. These aren’t weight bearing so they don’t need to be super strong.

And that’s it! Top with a coat or two of poly if you plan on setting drinks on it but otherwise it’s done!

What do you think? Will you build a little side table?

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