3-Pointer! Recycled timber vs basketball vs Ikea Klubbo

Materials: Klubbo (Nest of 3) Tables

Description: We'd bought an Ikea set of tables a few years ago. They served us well, even surviving our first daughter and her drawing / painting / play-doh / doll mash-ups. Over time the veneer cracked, and edging started to peel away. The tables' futures were sealed...

We needed new tables but i'd also been reading a lot about recycled timbers, particularly local Australian native hardwoods. These woods have beautiful colours, are very high quality and unique. Moreover, if you can locate a specialist native timber recycling yard, you are doing your bit to repurpose rather than always 'buy new'.

The metal Klubbo frame was still in good condition, so I simply wanted to remove the tops, and replace with great quality timber, that could I cut to size.

The great folk at the urban salvage yard, helped me select some colourful Blackwood timber, previously used as Basketball court floorboards. Best part, was it retained all of the line markings, and when put together with careful selection, allowed great patterns - Unique, quality design to be proud of. The timber cost a bit, but I was able to saw to size, and configure to the right height & shape (different for each of the three tables), to still nest together.

(Oh, and the old table top(s), became the base for a 2nd artwork, using old fence timber.

Happy with the outcome.

~ Jonno Cartwright

Mosaic Coffee Table

Materials: Klubbo coffee table

Description: I had this chocolate Klubbo coffee table for quite some time. It's getting some chips and wear so I decided to give it a new layer so a new look.

I got some turquoise, magenta and ceramic mosaic tiles. Some of the tiles were nipped into 4 tine squares.

Scratches were made on the table surface for a better adhesion of the tiles to the former veneer surface. The tiles were then glued to the table top according to my design.

The tiles were left to dry overnight. On the following day, grouting was then done to fill up the gaps in between the tiles. Grouting and cleaning up the grout were the most tedious steps as there were 5 sides to work on ( the 4 sides and the top). I used unsanded grout. After drying, some grout actually sunk in. So I had to grout a second layer to create smooth surface.

I took some effort to clean away the access grout, then to finally achieve a smooth surface. I got some grout waterproofing liquid and applied onto the white grout. This helps protect the white grout from staining.

~ Wai Hoong, Singapore

Ikea hacked coffee table turned upholstered ottoman

Materials: Klubbo coffee table

Description: When I first moved into my place, I purchased an inexpensive coffee table from IKEA. It was the right length and height for my sofa, although I was not crazy about the hard laminate top.

So I decided to turn it into a ottoman I could put my feet up on. First, I purchased my supplies (which totaled around $60). A piece of foam, batting, spray adhesive, and fabric. I already had a staple gun and staples.

Step 1 was to flip the table on it's top and remove the legs. Luckily, this was a very simple table to assemble and disassemble. It took me less than three minutes.

The next step is to flip the top back over and spray a thin coat of adhesive on the laminate (open a window!). Then place the foam, spray on top of the foam, and place the batting on top. Then lay the fabric on your floor and flip the table on top of it it. Next, staple the fabric to the wood. Make sure you place one staple in the middle of each side pulling tightly to start. Then staple the rest. The final step is to make a neat fold at each end and staple.

I then reattached the legs and now have beautiful upholstered ottoman.

See more of the coffee table ottoman.

~ Simply Kelly Blog, Austin, Texas

Klux4

Materials: Klubbo Nesting Table, 1" wood screws, 2x4s, wood stain, polyurethane

Description: 

Step 1: Remove top of Klubbo Nesting Table

Step 2: Measure area where you want 2x4 surface.

Step 3: Got to Home Depot or Lowes and purchase 2x4s, screws, and wood stain/ polyurethane of your choice.

Step 4: Get 2x4s cut to your liking.

Step 5: Mount wood to metal leg base, and use scrap wood as a cross support.

Step 6: Stain and polyurethane.

Step 7: Enjoy :)

~ George, California

Rustic Klubbo

Materials:
Klubbo coffee table (the frame)
Screwdrivers/Drill
MC HAMMER
Sandpaper
Some 2x4s
Wood stain of your choosing
Home Depot employee to cut your wood
Metal straps/something to attach all strips of wood
Patience
Upper body strength, or someone with it

Description:
Ikea klubbo coffee table. You're cute, but can do better.

First step... get wood. Har har. For this you'll need to end up with 7 pieces of 2x4s, each 97 cm long. We wanted the new top for our coffee table to be flush with the shorter sides, but have just a tiny bit of an overhang on the vertical sides. But you can play around with this a ton... just measure the size of the frame so you know what you're working with. I took all the wood outside to sand everything down, wipe everything with a damp cloth, and apply the stain. I used Minwax "English Chestnut". It smells gross and feels gross too. Yuckfest 2011.

Once everything had 1 coat of stain, I let them dry outside for 3 hours. Then I took a few pieces of them inside, just to see how I felt about the shade under my living room light. Momma like.

This is the part where you find someone else to do the rest of the boring labor for you with zero pay (slave). My boyfriend unscrewed the old top off the ikea table in about 3 seconds. Even a sloth could do it. (We actually ended up using the old table top to work on, as to not muck up our floors). After I let the wood dry for like 14 hours, I took it all inside and lined it up just PERFECT. Next, my boyfriend flipped everything over and centered the frame on top. The wood was not cut totally awesome, so not eeeeeeverything lines up perfectly, but life sucks and I've learned to love this and call it "character".

Making sure all boards were sitting snugly together in perfection, my boyfriend started drilling the frame down. Then this is where things get ghetto fabulous. I am not sure if this was ideal... but we just took an old piece of spare wood and hammered it down diagonally along everything. It's just a coffee table.... all it holds up are our feet...

See more of the rustic Klubbo.

~ Sarah, Toronto Canada