Convertible Plywood Coffee Table

Space is always at a premium so I wanted to make a coffee table that could easily fold out to become a dining table.

We have a full step by step video here:

Supplies

Materials Used:

Tools Used:

Cut Plywood Pieces

I've kept the table design really simple. The top consists of 3 pieces. 1 Piece cut at 70cm x 60cm, this will be the central piece. 2 pieces were also cut to 60cm x 35cm and these will be the folding side pieces.

For the leg's I went with a modern angular design. You can really go with any design and shape you like though. All you really need to make sure is that the legs are ever so slightly shorter than the central piece is long. In our case, I made the legs 5mm shorter at 69.5cm. The legs also need to be narrower than the fold-out pieces which for us measure 35cm so I made sure the legs were no wider than 33cm.

All these pieces can be cut with a handsaw. You can use the simple cut list above to get the top pieces cut for you if your DIY store has a cutting service.

I cut out 8 leg shapes using the first one as a template to trace around.

Construct Legs

The reason for cutting 8 leg shapes rather than just 4 was so I could double up the thickness. I think the thicker legs look a lot better and will offer a lot more support.

I simply glued 2 pieces together and added clamps until the glue dried. I could then sand the edges flush and smooth. I did this to all the pieces which gave me 4 legs that are 36mm thick.

I personally really like the look of exposed plywood edges so I wanted to keep those visible. I did however paint the faces of the legs grey. I used furniture paint for this.

Attach Legs

With the legs constructed, it's time to attach them to the 2 fold-out top pieces.

I first marked out where the legs can sit. I needed to make sure that when the table folded the legs would hit into each other. I placed one leg 3cm in from one edge and the other 8cm in from the opposite edge. I did the same on the other fold-out piece to make sure they would have enough clearance when folding.

With the position marked, now is the best time to add the wax stain. It's easiest now because then you don't have to worry about getting stain on the legs.

Once that was applied I could attach the legs. I applied both wood glue and super glue. The wood glue offers real strength but takes a while to dry. The superglue isn't very strong on wood but it sets really quickly. So I use to just help hold the pieces together. In this case, it holds the legs in place while I can flip the pieces over and add 2 screws from the top. These screws will fully secure the legs in place while the glue dries.

Once the glue was dry I removed the screws, drilled out the holes to 8mm, and added wooden dowels and glue. These wooden dowels will add a lot more strength compared to the screws and they will blend in with the top better too.

Once the glue was dry I sanded the top and applied some wax stain to add some contrast.

Add the Hinges

Now it's time to add the hinges and finish the table.

I laid out the top and 2 side pieces so they would butt up against each other and flush along the edges. I then add 2 hinges on each side to allow the sides to fold. I made sure the knuckle of the hinges were centred on the joint of both sides.

To try and remove the play that was in the hinges I also added some adhesive rubber feet to the inside of the joint. I did this on both sides and it did work quite well.

Done!

After applying a coat of clear wax all over the table is done.

In the coffee table position, the legs form a kind of X shape to their design. To convert it into a dining table you just simply fold out each side. In this position, the legs have a nice sleek taper to them.

This is going to be a real space saver for us. I hope it's inspired you to have a go for yourself. Everything used for this project can be found from your local DIY & Hardware stores or easily sourceable online too.

We'd love to hear how you get on with the project if you do give it a go for yourselves so please do let us know.