How to Turn Scrap Wood Flooring Into a Coffee Table

Our coffee table upcycle starts with a base we found in the trash on garbage day that was missing it's top. Hubs and I didn’t see eye to eye on how we should upcycle it. So he’s going to indulge my idea now and maybe I'll reciprocate one day ;).

The top comes courtesy of leftover scraps of wood flooring we kept after finishing our basement. You can read all about our engineered hardware flooring installation here if you're curious to see where these scraps came from. But you can see Hubs having fun with the installation in the second picture. If you have leftover flooring, this Instructable will show you how easy it is to repurpose it as a top!

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• Coffee Table Base - ours was found on garbage day
• Scrap flooring (ours is engineered with a thin veneer of oak)
• Paint - we used PPG BreakThrough in a colour called Icicle White
• Devillbis Paint Spray Gun
• Porter Cable Air Compressor
• Paint Pyramids
• Spray nine - to clean plastic caps
• Laser tape or scrap wood trim

Since we're painting, Hubs gives the wood a light scuff with fine sandpaper. That will give the wood some tooth to grip the primer or paint. Don’t forget to remove any hardware that can get in the way of sanding, like those plastic caps over the screws that are holding the base together!

Hubs conducts a 'scratch test' first to test for adhesion. A scratch test is especially important to do when primer and paint get old. However, it's a good thing to do regardless.

With garbage finds, it's anyone's guess what the original finish might be: laquer, polyuréthane, varnish, or oil based vs water based. Since you never know how paint is going to react, Hubs always tests paint and primer first. Sometimes the original finish on a piece will repel primer – even when it’s been sanded. With paint being so expensive, we don’t want to repaint again if the primer/paint turns out to not be durable on the surface we’re painting.

Hubs actually wanted to prime first and then paint, but I was curious to see if we could save ourselves some time and just paint with Break-Through (which is my favourite furniture paint). So we tested both.

Always do this test somewhere that won’t be seen; flip the base upside down to work on the underside. We used a brush to apply our samples. Then we labeled each one on a piece of painters tape so we can remember what each one is! Here’s the order of what’s in the picture: 1) Styx primer, followed by 2) PPG Breakthrough paint, 3) a water based primer called Insl-X Aqua Lock. The last one is a primer by Benjamin Moore called K46 – better known as Fresh Start. That one is tinted blue, in case I decide to go with a darker colour paint. Tinting a primer means you can use less coats of more expensive paint.

We left the swatches to set up for a full 24 hours. Then Hubs tries to scratch them off with his fingernail. Anything that can be scratched off is immediately eliminated. If it passes the scratch test, we know it will adhere well to the project as well as subsequent coats of paint.

After testing the samples, it turns out we can skip the primer and use Break-Through! It passes the scratch test with flying colours, so no need to prime. We settled on a colour called Icicle White.

Although it's not necessary because it won't be seen, we sand our samples off the bottom before painting.

Before painting, make sure every spec of dust is removed. We use a slightly damp cloth and let the surface dry.

Spraying with a paint gun is the best, and fastest way, to get a flawless finish. Start with the piece upside down, and then turn right side up after spraying underneath. That will ensure any paint drips won’t be seen on the ‘good side’.

Elevate the work so you don’t have to bend over to spray. We have an adjustable height table and set it to the lowest setting. Good paint posture is key to saving your back! Lay plastic over the work surface to catch paint overspray.

We use these paint pyramids to lift the legs off the table so we can spray right to the very bottom. Place them under each leg, then tape them down securely to the table top so they won't shift on you as you work.

Spray

Hubs starts with the base upside down and sprays at every angle. Flip the piece over, positioning the legs over the pyramids and continue spraying from the top.

Let dry thoroughy before moving onto a second coat. Then repeat the process.

I’m building the top with the same glue we used when we originally installed our flooring. Again, we're using our leftover 'scraps' which is great because it's made specifically for the flooring.

Clamp a deeper board onto one end of the table. This will act as a stop so you have something to work against. Place the first board against the stop with the tongue facing it. Then turn the next board with the groove facing up and squeeze the glue into the groove of the plank. Be sure to get even coverage of the glue.

Slide the now-glued plank against the first board. Use a piece of cut-off from the flooring to hammer against the edge with a mallet. The cut-off will prevent accidental damage to the board.

We don't have clamp long enough to clamp the flooring together so we do what the manufacturer suggested when we laid the floor in our basement. Take pieces of blue tape and run them across the seams. The blue tape stretches and will help keep the planks together as they dry. With this particular glue, if any squeezes out, let it dry slightly first, then you can peel it right up. But if you let it dry too long, it will be there permanently so don't forget to do that step!

Once the glue dries, our boards are 72" long so will need to be cut down to fit the base.

We’re using a circular saw to cut, and want the edge as smooth as possible, so we’re switching to an ultra fine blade.

If you want to keep the boards their full width (which we do), measure the width of the plate on the saw to determine where to clamp a straight edge so you’re only taking off the tongue.

We end up clamping a long board to the wood, plus a metal ruler. That's so we can keep the clamps out of the way as we run run the base of the circular saw against. We start by cutting off the tongue on the edge.

Then we measure and cut the board down to 44″ wide x 26″ deep. That leaves a 1-1/2″ overhang around all the edges.

The glue does a great job of attaching the flooring together, but as a table top on a coffee table, you’ll need to add more support. So Hubs adds two rails using 1 x 3’s and countersinks holes into the wood before attaching them to the top with screws.

You'll first need to calculate the spacing. As you can see below, the rails are spaced to fit in between the side stretchers of the coffee table base. This will keep the top from shifting side to side.

The rails help with side to side movement, but to keep the top from shifting along the length too, we add four corner blocks. To do that, flip the base upside down and place it onto the top. Then it’s easy to position the blocks in each corner. We move the blocks forward about 1/8″ to leave a bit of clearance.

For this step, you can use shorter screws than you used to secure the rails.

Like the rails, the blocks are also drilled and countersunk first before screwing them into the rails.

If you like, you can paint or seal all the raw wood with a clear coat to finish the underside. However, since Hubs is going to reimagine this again one day, we leave that step for now. For our coffee table, we're also not going to permanently attach the top to the base so it's easily removable. But if you have kids, and you do something similar, you definitely should attach them together for safety reasons.

Before we reassemble the top and base we clean up the plastic caps that cover the screws. We also give all the screws a tighten to ensure the base is good and solid.

The last step is to cover the raw edges of the top. The circular saw doesn’t make the most perfect cuts. Ideally we would add some wood trim and putty any gaps, but at the time we made this, we were in lockdown and couldn't get out for buy any. Taping the edge with veneer would be another good choice, but I didn't have any on hand. So I reached for something with flexibility instead.

To solve the dilemma, I found something in my craft stash: laser tape! I positioned it against the bottom line of the wood veneer. As you can see, there’s still a 1/8″ reveal of lighter wood below the tape. I don’t mind that; it provides some definition. If that lighter reveal bothers you, try a stain pen. Just match it as closely as you can to the colour of the wood veneer, and run it along the bottom edge before applying the tape.

One day when I have some leftover scraps I can use instead, we'll swap this out with wood. But for now, it's a great solution.

Here's a another look at the before and how it transformed.

The finish on engineered wood flooring these days is so durable. It will easily stand up to everyday use and water spills from plants.

I think our salvage flooring makes a great coffee table top to pair with our upcycled base! What do you think? If you look at the 4th pic, you can see we even had some fun at Christmas by adding letters that spelled 'Merry Xmas'. More scraps from my craft stash.

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