Reader Redesign: Steel This Table
‘Til now I’ve been fairly proud of my self-taught woodworking skills. But I have to admit that this makes me realize how much I still have to learn about construction. Why? Because Amanda and her husband Ben said “Forget wood, we’re building with steel!” Um, gulp. Check out how their weld-it-yourself (WIY?) table helped transform their dining area.
We recently made some changes to our dining room (like adding trim and painting plus replacing the old light fixture) and I wanted to share the new dining table we built. Here’s the room we started with:
For the table, we discussed building a wooden one and painting it white. But how would we make it sturdy enough? Then Ben had a great idea. Why not build the table out of steel? It’s cheap, durable and rigid. Ben went to the local steel supply warehouse and found three-inch square steel tubing for the legs and three-inch ‘L’ pieces for the rails for a total of just $58. And the supply yard cut the pieces to length for us too.
At our local granite and marble yard we found a remnant piece of dark greenish-black marble with white swirls. Ben helped cut the slab at the granite supply shop but polished the edges at home using granite specific polishing pads on a right angle grinder.
You can learn more about the process right here on our blog: Our Humble A{Bow}d. We’re 150% in love with our new table, especially how the clean and modern parsons style legs pair with the more traditional marble top.
You can see more after pics on our blog too. Thanks for the inspiration & hard work! – Amanda
Wow. To borrow from the name of their blog, we’re totally humbled by Amanda and Ben’s amazing handiwork. I might have to go add some welding tools to my wish list. Aren’t you guys just amazed that they took on this sort of project by themselves and it came out looking so professional? Is anyone else out there as inspired to weld something? Who’s going to tackle some DIY WIY soon?
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This takes my breath away. Thanks for sharing.
Amazing!
Too cool! And my husband has mig and tig welders already! I might get him to make a little side table like this.
Ps: love that drum shade too
Wow that’s amazing… I am definitely impressed, but not sure we’re ready to tackle a project like that.
and what a coincidence that you showcased them today as I JUST discovered their blog this morning. I also love their DIY entertainment center in their living room.
The table is SO great, and so is the rest of their home! I love reading Amanda’s blog, and drooling over all the moldings that they have installed throughout their entire home, all DIY!!
What a beautiful custom, one of a kind dining room table. GREAT JOB!!
I’m going to be honest, upon first reading that this was gong to be a steel table I was not amused! I don’t like ultra modern furniture, and that’s what I assumed this was going to be. To my surprise, I LOVE what they did!!!! What a charming table that will survive the years.
I love it! This is right up our alley! My husband welded 2 super modern bookshelves for our bedroom that I should show you guys. He’s done everything from tables and backsplashes to a trailer for my son’s tricycle and truck. What I love most about his awesome projects is that he doesn’t spend a dime! He snags up scrap metal whenever he can for free. When we find we want something, his gears start turning and if it’s at all possible, he’ll weld it! You should definitelly explore the world of welding!
Thanks for new post ideas for my blog! I need to start showcasing the hubby’s projects! :-)
i love my boyfriend, and he’s very handy. but not handy enough for an acetylene torch in a rental house.
um. WOW. to the whole shebang.
Holy cow, that’s gorgeous.
Thank you so much, John and Sherry! We are ridiculously
thrilled to be featured! So thrilled that we’re hosting a giveaway to thank everyone for their support: http://ourhumbleabowed.wordpress.com/2010/08/06/friday-gimme-a-giveaway/
I love Our Humble A{Bow}d! Those two are just bursting with creativity!!
Cool to see this featured here. Good job Amanda and Ben!
Oh my! I too am humbled! That is a beautiful piece of furniture!
Great job! And I’m totally envious that you have enough room in your garage to do work like that…I really need to clean mine out.
I gotta tell ya…even I don’t think I’d have the guts to attempt this one!! Great work!!
WOW seeing this sure inspired my “thinker” you see hubs knows how to weld so I am sure I can talk him into a project or too. Ok maybe this winter since I’m sure no one wants to be welding in this humid Texas heat!
Wow, I’m very impressed. The table is beautiful and innovative. I’d love to know where the white light fixture is from?
The table is great, but I’m actually totally floored by the panelling! I want to copy that somewhere, it’s beautiful!
WOW. It looks amazing. I don’t even think I knew you could paint steel!
They do have a great site!
Looks great! I took and artistic welding class last fall and have been hooked ever since! I just bought myself a welder this summer and am looking forward to creating many more masterpieces – after the temperatures mellow out some. So far, I’ve welded up a super cool bench that doubles as a railing for our mudroom, planter boxes, and a bunch of yard art out of waste metal:)
Love it!
Oooo, I love it! I don’t think I could have come up with such a cool idea! Great work!
Hi Heath,
The dining fixture is CB2′s Eden Pendant. You can see a source list here: http://ourhumbleabowed.wordpress.com/2010/07/01/whered-ya-get-that/
Karen V- That sounds like so much fun!!
Amanda
Wow. Amazing!
Gorgeous!!! Can I buy one? :)
to be honest, I don’t understand the ‘but how would we make it sturdy enough?’ comment considering wood is plenty sturdy unless they had planned on the heavy granite prior to the steel (it doesn’t say so on this entry) but it is still a very very lovely table. I quite like it a lot. It definitely works and I wouldn’t mind having one :D
Thanks to everyone for their kind words and support! It’s so crazy! Bryanna S, we did plan to have a granite or marble stone top when we originally planned to build a table. Ben didn’t feel comfortable making a wooden base for something that is free standing and not built in, like the countertops he has done in the past.
Holy cow! There’s no way I’d even attempt this. And I definitely didn’t know you could paint steel..
I LOVE the way this table looks!! Beautiful granite!! I added some way less DIY steel legs to my desk over on my blog! :)
http://temporary-nest.blogspot.com/2010/06/hey-nice-legs.html
Check out this welded table my client made for his wife. Very similair profile but with a walnut top and can incorporate a leaf on each end to seat eight.
http://www.amrdesign.ca/blog/
Love your blog!
Honestly, I appreciate your efforts at redesigning this space, but I don’t understand that heavy looking wall with all the white. It really closes up the room and makes it look too sterile and small. Is that a built-in of cabinets, or just paneling? I always advise my clients to cut down paneling like that to half the size so that the wall color can warm things up and art add nice pops of additional color for balance and interest. What if you changed the lighting fixture and removed the ceramic dishes on top of the paneling? That would infuse some wonderful variation in color and warmth into your otherwise charming space.
Beautiful!
They should sell those tables! So beautiful…I’ve been searching for a dining room table/chairs for months now.
To the people who didn’t know you could paint steel: It’s a fair guess that 99% of the steel that we all encounter everyday of our lives is painted steel. How about household appliances like washing machines and the fridge? Or your car? Steel is even more paintable than wood. In fact, wood doesn’t even have to be painted. Steel MUST be painted to prevent rusting. While it’s good to have paint that is made for metal, it’s not necessary as long as it’s primed.
It’s absolutely stunning!
I love that table. I want to do something similar for a coffee table for our front room but unfortunately I’m not as handy as you :).
I love it! and the fact that it was WIY…I have wanted a brickmakers coffee table for sometime and can’t see spending the money they want for them…and I want a custom size…so glad you posted this because I was wondering if anyone has attempted welding themselves…seems it is so :) I’m not sure I can tackle it, but it’s great to know there is a slight possiblity. Great Job!
I absolutely LOVE their blog!
What a great transformation and how resourceful to build their own table!
Is having your own blog a requirement to be featured in the Reader Redesign section? It seems that every RR that has been featured in these parts lately has a blog attached to it.
Hey Claire,
You’re right, so many of our Reader Redesign applicants do have blogs these days! It’s definitely not a requirement, but maybe bloggers are more motivated to take photos and document their work since they’re writing about it for all to see? And then once it’s all done they figure it might be fun to send everything our way?
xo,
s
We had a few requests and questions regarding the trim in our house, so I just wanted to post a link about the trim: http://ourhumbleabowed.wordpress.com/2010/08/10/how-to-update-a-room-with-trim/
I do have a question, how do you get the little photos to appear with a comment?
Thanks!
Amanda
Hey Amanda,
Thanks for sharing that info! And here’s a post all about those fun little gravatars: http://www.younghouselove.com/2009/03/bloggy-bonuses/
xoxo,
s