How To Use PVC Pipes To DIY A Stylish Side Table For Your Patio

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A few well-placed side tables next to the chairs in your outdoor living area may be the difference between the space being comfortable or not. Consider your morning coffee without a handy place to sit your cup down between sips, and you'll see what we mean here. Fortunately, stylish solutions to this dilemma are to be found at your nearest big box store. For the non-DIYer, this means buying a full-blown table, ready to unbox and place on the patio. For DIYers, it's an opportunity to turn some PVC pipes and a pre-cut wood round into a bespoke side table that fits your patio's aesthetic perfectly — and more importantly, gives you an excuse to get those creative juices flowing.

You'll be looking for a couple of items when you're out shopping for supplies for this DIY. First, you need three soon-to-be repurposed PVC pipes. Something like IPEX 3-inch by 24-inch PVC Pipes would work. Next, you'll need a ready-cut wood round, like Home Depot's 18-inch Pine Wood. You'll dress the wood up with a coat of stain and some urethane and the PVC pipes with some spray paint. The particulars on these are up to you and should be based on the aesthetic of your patio. 

Once you've gotten all the raw materials for this DIY, take a trek to your tool shed. From there, you'll grab a sander and some fine-grit sandpaper, some rags, sponge brushes, rubber gloves (for when you apply the stain and urethane), a mask, pencil, and some painter's tape. You'll additionally need some clamps and a caulking gun filled with construction adhesive.

The PVC pipe will likely have some black writing down its side. Sand it off with your sander. Keep in mind that you'll eventually paint the pipes. To get the paint to stick better, you should give the pipes a light sanding with a 220-grit paper once you've removed the black writing. Sand each pipe from top to bottom.

Then, stain the pine wood round and add a coat of urethane. Or, use something like Varathane 1-Quart Dark Walnut Semi-Gloss if you'd like to do the stain and urethane in one step. Next, line the pipes up so that the ends of them are even. Then, glue the two pipes together with the construction adhesive. Use clamps to keep them together until the glue dries. Once it does, glue a third PVC to the three; the bottoms of the three pipes will form a triangular shape. Once that's done, spray paint the pipes.

Finally, glue the three PVC pipes to the center of the wood round. It may help you to place the pipes on the wood and mark their positions off with the painter's tape before you add the glue. Turning the table upside down and placing a heavy object, like a brick, on the pipe base keeps everything in place until the glue dries.

This patio side table's simple design practically invites creative embellishments, which are, fortunately, both easy to do and inexpensive. Swapping out the stain for the paint color of your choice is one obvious way to do this. For example, paint the wood round a solid color, and then paint three stripes down its middle to create a permanent runner on the table. Or, mimic the look of nostalgic home decor brands like Mackenzie-Childs by painting a black-and-white checkerboard pattern on the table.

As for the PVC pipes, they offer you an opportunity to introduce some texture to your creation. "How?" you might ask. It can be as simple as painting them with something like Rust-Oleum Hammered Gray Protective Enamel Paint. The finished product will look like hammered metal. A more involved idea would be to sand the pipe with an 80-grit paper to mimic the textured look of wood grain before painting it.

And speaking of texture, there are a few ways to add it to the wood round. If you have some old chipped china, this project is a good reason to break up that porcelain to DIY a mosaic table for your patio. Or, if you're feeling adventurous, exchange the plain wood round for a Vintiquewise 18-inch Dia Barky Natural Wood Slab. This wood round design still has bark on the sides. Just spray some urethane on it to keep the look of the natural wood intact as the seasons change.