Quick Outdoor Tables You Can Make

Whether your favorite spot outside is a hammock under a tree, or a lounge chair in the shade, you’ll need a small table nearby to set your drinks, magazine, and other outdoor necessities. There’s lots of ways to make a table, some will cost you little or nothing.

A log section makes a perfect table. If it has a level end you can use it as-is for a table. Or, you can use a round or square piece of glass, balanced on the log, to complete your table. It’s important that the ends of the log be very flat and level or you’ll risk having it fall over and break the glass.

Purchase quick-concrete by the bag – it’s very inexpensive – mix it, and pour it into thick cardboard boxes. After the concrete sets, you can remove the concrete and use the block to balance a piece of glass or wood to use for a table. You can also pour a more shallow boxful of concrete to use as the table top.

Purchase large plastic flower pots and make them into tables. Set one upside down, then use contact cement to glue another, right side up, to the first one. The set of pots can then hold a piece of glass or wood. The pots come in many sizes and colors, and are very inexpensive.

Large plastic bowls are sold at dollar-theme stores and can be stacked to make tables. Turn one bowl upside-down and use contact cement to affix the next one, upside-down onto the first. Continue adding bowls until the stand is as tall as you’d like. If each bowl you add is slightly smaller than the one before, it won’t take many bowls to make the stand. Turn the last bowl right-side up before attaching to the others, if you want a large base top, or just stack all the bowls upside-down before adding the glass or wooden top.

Use a plastic birdbath to make a table and you’ll have a really unique conversation piece. Fill the birdbath with silk flowers, colored marbles or stones, or artificial greenery. Place a piece of glass over the birdbath and you’ll have a beautiful table.

Need a temporary table? Plastic-covered cardboard could do the trick. Glue plastic to a thick square of cardboard and set aside. Use 4 tubes, usually used for mailing documents or posters, as the legs. Wrap plastic around them and tuck the plastic into the openings on each end of each tube. Glue the tubes to the corners of the top and your table is complete.