Part of our modern transitional living room makeover involved building an easy DIY coffee table. My goals: modern luxury coffee table meets coffee table with storage.
After building the Arhaus media console dupe, I wanted something easier and more straightforward for the coffee table. And since I’m legit obsessed with the fluted cabinet doors I used on the media console, I wanted to carry those through to the coffee table as well. Repeating design elements throughout a room creates intention and cohesion.
If you would like to watch me put this together, I will link my youtube video below, where I walk through this DIY project as well as two other IKEA Hacks! For more detail and product links, read below!
The Frame
The hardest part of this build was figuring out the dimensions of the frame. My goal is to eventually create build plans for this table to give specifics, but for now, I will walk you through the steps I took to get the measurements.
Since the dimensions of the cabinet doors are set (I didn’t want to cut and risk ruining them), all measurements are around those. I built a square bottom and square top, connecting them with 1×2 and 1×5 boards to get the height I needed.
If I could do this build all over again, I would have gotten a slightly smaller drawer insert and used 2×4’s for added support. The drawer insert I used was 20×22 inches, so I didn’t have room for the thickness of a 2×4.
Make sure you decide how you want your cabinet doors to come together since that impacts the dimensions as well. I had to account for the sides overlapping, pictured below. Therefore, the depth of the base is slightly longer than the width.
Adding boards across the bottom of the frame gave me something to screw the drawer insert into. This method only works if the drawer is a bottom mount. Some mount onto the sides. The drawer insert is linked here. Also important to note, I didn’t want the cabinet doors touching the floor or the table top. I added about 1/4″ to the height of my frame to allow for 1/8″ to stick out above and below the fluted sides.
The Butcher Block Top
It’s easiest to attach the drawer slide before adding the top and the sides. Using a butcher block top from Home Depot (linked here) kept things easy for the top. Rounded corners would look incredible, but I also love the rectangular look more than I thought I would.
I did NOT use glue to attach the top to the base for a couple reasons. One, if we move, I want to be able to separate the top from the base to make it easier. Two, if I need to access the drawer slide, it’s a lot easier to do if I can remove the top.
Four screws are holding the top in place, all accessible when the drawer is out. The “streakiness” of the butcher block made me a little nervous with staining. I think using a prestain wood conditioner helped a lot. It actually stained SO nicely…. the dark walnut semi-transparent stain is a perfect match!
I used General Finishes water based top coat in flat to seal the tabletop. You paint a coat, let it dry, sand with super high grit sandpaper, then paint again.
The Fluted Sides of the Base
The best and final step…. adding the IKEA cabinet doors! The doors are linked here and the same ones I used for the media console, just a slightly smaller size. I used liquid nails and attached by screwing from the inside of the base into the inside of the doors. No holes to fill!
Cost Breakdown
IKEA Cabinet Doors – $45 x 4 – $180
Butcher Block Top – $144
Drawer Insert (optional) – $100
Wood for frame – I used scrap wood. I’d estimate $40-ish?
Total – $464 for a custom coffee table with storage
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