April 17, 2016

Easy DIY Side Table with Magazine Rack

Jen Panguluri Easy Furniture Projects, Legs, Lumber, Magazine Rack, Rectangle/Square, Side Table, Table Top easy, magazine rack base, narrow, painted table top, side table

Really easy-to-make DIY side table, mid-century modern style.

Learn how to make this easy, stylish side table. I used a magazine rack as the base and added a painted pine board table top.

An easy DIY furniture project! Mid-Century Modern style side table with a magazine rack.

Easy DIY side table with magazine rack storage.

When I started thinking about this project, I knew I wanted something easy. It’s spring cleaning time, and the grass is growing and needs mowing. Also, I was away from home and the blog for a while, visiting my sister who is recovering from a medical situation. And of course, my husband and kids always need tending to. So I needed an easy project. In fact, I like the idea of easy projects so much that I’m making a new category called “Easy.” These will be projects that can be done fairly quickly and involve mainly painting/staining (as options to your taste) and assembling by screwing or hammering things together.

The Side Table with Magazine Rack project has three parts:

Choose and prepare the table top
Choose and prepare the magazine rack
Attach the table top to the magazine rack

CHOOSE AND PREPARE THE TABLE TOP

Tools/Supplies (as options):

palm sander
coarse, medium, fine sandpaper (60, 150, 220 grits)
masking/painters tape
spray paint

I chose a piece of scrap “value wood” pine board that I bought at Menards for less than a dollar. It was the perfect size (1 inch x 12 inch x 19 inch), so there was no cutting involved. If you buy a full-length board, you can have the store cut it to the length you need. My board was kind of a lackluster piece of wood, with not much distinct color, grain, or other character, so I decided to paint it. Well, I decided to paint the top and bottom of the board, leaving the edges natural wood.

First, I sanded the top and bottom of the board with medium, then fine sandpaper. I sanded the edges with coarse, medium, and fine sandpaper.

Before painting, I covered the edges of the board with masking tape. Normally, I would use painter’s tape but what I had on hand was too wide. The masking tape worked fine.

Then I spray painted with Rust-Oleum Ultra Cover, Lemon Grass.

After spray painting, I coated the board with Rust-Oleum Ultra Cover, Clear (semi-gloss) as a protective coat.

Here is a photo of the two shorter edges. I liked how the grain looked and, as I mentioned, I didn’t paint the edges.

CHOOSE AND PREPARE THE MAGAZINE RACK BASE

Tools/Supplies:

magazine rack
spray paint (optional)

I bought my magazine rack at St. Vincent dePaul, a second-hand store near my house. I looked around and found what I think is a similar magazine rack at Bed Bath & Beyond for about $15.

Photo source: Bed Bath & Beyond

The magazine rack for this project can be a style of your choosing, according to your design sensibilities. Look for one that is sturdy enough to function as a side table base and is structured so that the top of the magazine rack is flat so that the table top can set on it.

My second-hand magazine rack find needed a paint touch-up. I painted it with Rust-Oleum Universal Metallic spray paint, Flat Soft Iron color.