DIY marble coffee table using a slab of Carrera marble and midcentury modern hairpin table legs.
DIY Marble Top Coffee Table. You’re thinking this is made up, right? Nope, it’s my DIY dream come true 🙂
Months ago… I was at my parent’s house (they live in the same town). This is pretty much how the conversation went between me and my Dad:
Dad: Hey, my friend gave me a slab of marble, would you want it?
Me: (perk up like I’m a labrador who just heard “Squirrel!”) What? Where?!
Dad: In the garage.
Me: (already halfway across the room, racing to the garage)
Haha, my friends give me koozies (that came from a bank or an insurance agent). If I’m lucky, maybe a donut.
After calling dibs on the marble, I called around town to see who would clean it up. It had some rust stains and appeared to have stains from a harsh cleaner. The edges are a little rough; the place I took it to thought that it was in used a courthouse a long time ago. They did what they could to help polish it up, but it’s still far from perfect. It works for me. And bonus is that they didn’t charge me to clean it up since they felt they didn’t do much to improve it.
This post contains some affiliate links. Click here to read my full disclosure policy.
I bought the legs from Etsy. I ordered them on a Friday and they were on my doorstep by Tuesday the next week! If you’re an Amazon Junkie, here are some picks from there:
DIY Marble Coffee Table: HOW-TO
- Go to your favorite home improvement store, and buy a 3/4″ piece of plywood. I think mine was $12
- Ask the friendly folks in the lumber aisle to cut it to size. I had mine cut 10 inches off the length and width because I didn’t want it seen from someone sitting at the table.
- Use a wood file to clean up the edges. File straight up and down, holding the file perpendicular to the end of the wood.
- Use Paint Thinner to clean the legs – this process stinks, so consider yourself warned.
- TIP: Consider where you want the bottom of the legs to be in relation to the top of the table. For example – hairpin legs are angled, so you don’t want to attach them at the very corners, or you’ll end up tripping over them. You’ll want to bring them in a couple inches. Think back to high school geometry, and picture a right triangle. The leg when it’s on the table (upright on the floor) is the longest side. From the top of the table go straight down from where the bracket is screwed in. Then measure from that point on the floor where the leg ends. That’s how many inches you want to bring the bracket in from BOTH sides.
- Screw legs to ‘underside of table’ using screws that are short enough to not go through the wood.
- Spray laquer on the legs to keep them from rusting. It dries in a couple of minutes.
- The slab is so heavy that when we put the base and slab in place to test it out before gluing, we decided the heck with gluing. It weighs so much that there’s not a snowball’s chance that someone can move it.
What I learned about DIY’ing a Marble Coffee Table:
- Marble weighs a freaking ton.
- Account for the thickness of the plywood when estimating how tall you want your legs.
- Cutting the board too narrow will determine where the legs go. In hindsight, I would have trimmed off less so the legs were farther out. Then again, with the legs further in from the edge, the less likely I am to accidentally kick it. #klutz
Now that it’s done…
At first I thought it was too tall, but now I like it. I’m tall, and I tend to use my coffee table as a desk if I feel like blogging from my couch 🙂 If I change the furniture layout of the room, I might redo the base and go wider and longer to move the legs out. Truly, I love it. It’s what I wanted, and it’s the first step transforming this room. Have you noticed that my carpet, furniture and walls are all… (…wait for it…) BEIGE?! If I could only decide on flooring, sofas etc. There’s always something! 🙂
Want to see how it looks in my new living room? Check out my One Room Challenge Living Room Makeover!
Have a great one enjoy the spring weather and DIY something!
Courtney @ Foxwood Forest says
Looks so great! I love hairpin legs!
Your dad's buddy says
Jen, looks terrific!!
the cape on the corner says
that’s great, and i love the color combos of your pillows.
b
Sam @ Living The Dutch Dream says
Fits in great with the room. A job well done!
Denise Bryant says
Nice job…beautiful table.
Nate says
Hi Jen – looks awesome. How big is your slab of marble? I’m looking to make a similar coffee table and marble is freaking expensive, so wondering about the size.
Jen @ The Striped House says
Hi Nate, the slab is 28 x 44. Good luck with your table!
Carolann says
I love it! It’s so chic and the hairpins legs are perfection!
Sam @ Raggedy Bits says
Love those hairpin legs!
Karla says
My father made me the same coffee table with hairpin legs back in 1976 or so, with a piece of finished marble he got on a construction job (bank). My husband and I retired it after we moved into our new house in 2005, but you’ve inspired to put it back together. I will have to order new hairpin legs, so thanks for the resources. It will look fabulous with our newly redone living room! Thanks for your posting!
Jen @ The Striped House says
What’s old is new again, right? That’s so great that you can put it back together again! If you can, email me a photo – I’d love to see it 🙂 Jen (at) thestripedhouse.com
Christine says
I loved this idea so much that I made one myself! I found a granite slab at a local stone shop, made the base like yours and it’s stunning! I can’t seem to post an image or link to it. imgur.com/nG3oVzG.jpg
Jen @ The Striped House says
Oh my gosh, I would love to see it! I can’t open the link, can you email me a photo? My email is Jen (at) thestripedhouse.com
Susie says
Hi Jen! I’d be so thrilled to have a coffee table like that! What an epic score! It’s just perfect! Love the tutorial, too. Someday I hope to use it. LOL… Congrats on a great DIY!! ~~ Susie from The Chelsea Project
Sherry says
Hi there,
I know your post is several years old, but I stumbled upon it while attempting to make my own marble table. I’m making a side table (using a marble pastry slab from Crate & Barrel) and hairpin legs. Do you think it’s a must to do the plywood underneath? I’m afraid I made a mistake by not doing it that way 🙁 Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks so much!
Sherry says
I should mention that the slab is 24x16x1.
Jen @ The Striped House says
Hi Sherry! Hmmm, I’ve never attempted to drill into marble, so I’m afraid I can’t be much help. I suppose it’s possible with the right drill bit and screws??? Let me know if you try it and it works!