Verlie Feeney
When I was growing up one of our home’s “design features” was a 5-foot long slab of unfinished black walnut wood sitting on top of a half wall. I’m not even sure if the wood slab was secured to that half wall, but it acted as a catchall counter of sorts.
If you’ve never heard of this sport, watch this YouTube video of one of my other relatives, Mel Lentz.
The half wall was removed and that gorgeous wood slab I had spent my entire childhood dusting went into storage.
When I came home this last time for a visit, I walked into the living room and was greeted by this beauty: a DIY coffee table from that wood slab. My stepmom (aka The Junk Whisperer) had a vision for using the wood slab as a coffee table that was absolutely perfect.
If you buy this type of pipe, you’ll notice that it is coated in some sort of oily film. I thought the slab was cool in its original state, but a few coats of clear sealant really made the wood pop! Run home RIGHT NOW and scour your parents’ garage for any treasures that can be reused and repurposed. If you’ve learned nothing else from reading this blog, you should know that my life experiences often serve as a lesson of what not to do.
It’s a lot easier to fit a wood slab in your suitcase BEFORE your parents realize what they have on their hands and turn that beauty into a coffee table. If you have how-to questions about making this DIY live edge coffee table, let me know and I can dive into that in the comments section or in a separate article.
The coffee table book is Best-Kept Secrets of Ireland by Kevin Eyres.
