DIY Hall Table

Hi, my wife had been busting my chops about buying or making a table for our hall for ages. I had contemplated buying one but when I lucky enough to come across some wood that was about to be dumped from a school I decided to make it myself. The wood had been used as seating in the school gym for years and had a few coats of some psychedelic looking paint!

Have a look at the video above to watch how I made this hall table or have a look at my guide below.

The overall size of the table are 39 & 3/8 inches (1000mm) long, 31 ½ inches (800mm) high & 12 ¾ (325mm) deep but it is totally customizable. There are drawings, leg details and measurements after the credits on the video. The wood I was using was 10 (254mm) inches wide and a full 1 inch (25mm) thick.

Firstly I gave the wood a quick check for any defects, holes or nails. I roughly cut the wood to length allowing plenty for waste.

I then set about marking out the legs. (See the end of video for sizes and layout of the legs). I used an off cut of plywood that was flexible to mark the curve of the leg.

The legs were cut out using a jig saw. After I cut the first leg I used it to mark the other three legs.

I then clamped the 4 legs together and sanded them using a belt sander to make them all uniform in thickness.

Using a straight edge and a circular saw I ripped the rails and shelf to the correct width. You could do this using a hand saw but if you have the tools use them I say!

The wood was not wide enough for the top so I had to join two pieces. I used dowels for a stronger joint. I marked the position and drilled holes for the dowels. Be precise when marking and drilling these holes!

I then applied plenty of glue to the dowels and edges and clamped it all together until set.

As there was paint on all the wood I was using I sanded everything clean at this stage.

I mitered the ends (45 degrees) on the two long and two short rails so I could glue and nail them together. You could always spend the time making joints to connect everything but I decided to make this the easiest way possible so it could be easily replicated. And also it’s a hall table so it won’t be taking any abuse.

The legs were attached using glue and nails.

To attach the bottom shelf I used some off cuts to hold the shelf up while I glued and pinned it. I then drilled some holes and put in some screws. The holes were then filled using some plugs.

I attached the top using some corner brackets. I used 6 in total.

Any holes or marks were then filled with wood filler and when dry everything was given a quick sanding. I don’t really have patience for sanding!

I applied two coats of a satinwood finish.

That’s it!! Hope you like it. It is quite an easy project to make. If you are going to have a go at making one yourself and using new wood it should be that much easier as you won’t have to go through the process of having to remove all the old paint like I did. It looks really well in our hallway as it would in yours. I am really pleased at how it turned out and more importantly my wife is! That’s one project off her list onto the next one……. :-)

If you liked this project and would like to see more from me you can subscribe to my YouTube channel here: Eamon Walsh DIY