Ikea Lack Coffee Table Re-do

When Rob and I were thinking of ideas for decorating our new abode, I suggested visiting Ikea for some inspiration. As we strolled through Ikea's maze-like setup, we noticed that they used a white coffee table in most of their living room "demos." We really liked how the white coffee tables seemed to go with any color scheme and given that we hadn't settled on a sofa yet we thought a white coffee table would be a great starting point for the living room. With our modest budget, the Lack tables were right up our alley. They have three options of varying sizes and after we chose a cream sectional from Value City, I felt that the square version for $29.99 was a good fit. At first we planned to keep the table as is, but then I came across this pin on my coworker's Pinterest page and I loved how it turned such a plain table into an expensive looking rustic piece. After reading the original blogger's post, I fell even more in love with the idea and felt that it was a fairly simple project for someone who doesn't really know what they are doing (i.e. yours truly). The origin of the pin can be found at The Feminist Mystique.

We started by taking the measurements of the table which was 30 3/4" x 30 3/4", and taking a trip to Home Depot to get supplies and pine boards. We also used two 3-inch foam brushes, wood glue, a plastic drop cloth, sand paper sheets, a paint stirrer, disposable gloves, Minwax Wood Finish in Early American, and Minwax Polycrylic in Satin Finish (purchased after I changed my mind on the Clear Gloss pictured here).

Like the original blogger, we used 1x4x8 boards. Here's a tip I learned while researching this project, 1x4's are actually 1 x 3.5's. We bought four and had them cut three 31" boards out of each so that we ended up with 12 shorter boards. Out of those, 9 ended up fitting perfectly with approximately 1/2 inch of board hanging over the east and west edges of the table. The north and south edges had a couple of centimeters hanging off. If you want them to hang off equally on all sides, I would do a better measuring job than we did lol. What's cool is that the nice people at Home Depot will cut the boards for you! Here is our Home Depot associate hard at work cutting our boards to size:

Here is the Lack table all assembled without any thing done to it. It's a nice simple table as is.

Next I spent a great deal of time figuring out which nine boards fit tightly together without significant gaps between them. This is important because many boards are warped and are not completely straight. Once I found a combination of boards that satisfied me, I lined them up on top of the table to see how it would look and numbered them so we would know which order they should be glued onto the table.

I haphazardly measured how much the end boards would hang off the edge of the table and had Rob help me glue the boards to the table using wood glue. Again, if you want more exact measurements, I would be more detailed than I was. We completed the gluing by putting wood glue on the table and on the side of each board, then pressing them together for a snug fit. It would probably be best to do this with clamps, but we don't own any. Once all of the boards were glued, we used random heavy things (boxes and weights) to make sure the boards stayed in place.

After letting it dry for 24 hours, I started the sanding process...by hand. If you have it in your budget to buy a palm sander or can borrow it from a friend, I highly recommend you do so. Hand sanding is a lot of work! I sanded the top and edges of the table over the course of two days until everything was very smooth and boyfriend approved. I took extra care to make sure the sharp edges were rounded.

Next, it was time to stain.  Unlike the original blogger who stained the boards before she glued them to the table, I did it in reverse and attempted to use plastic grocery bags to protect the table during the staining process after forgetting to buy painter's tape. This didn't work out too well and I'll explain why in a minute.

During the staining process, I used WAY TOO MUCH and it dripped everywhere, including down the sides of the table and underneath the bags. We were able to clean up some of it, but there are spots where the white table has permanent stain on it. However, it's not noticeable. I used Minwax Wood Finish stain in Early American 230.

After approximately 10 minutes, we wiped off the excess stain with a dry cloth. The color I achieved was just what I wanted - a rich medium brown , not too light and not too dark. After letting dry for 24 hours, I applied 3 coats of the Polycrylic following the directions on the can. Here is the finished result.

I love it!