Stylish DIY Bedside Table

by Katie at Matsutake
 
Katie is a genius coming up with this simple to make but oh so effective bedside table. How stylish. Have a look at her tutorial below and follow her instructions. Enjoy.




The cardboard tube comes in a 4 ft length.
My local Lowes stocks the 8" and the 12" diameter, but I think the Sonotube website has a larger selection.
I went with the 8" diameter. I cut a 27" piece.
Yes, twenty seven inches tall! To cut the tube, first mark the tube, then cut sort of on a tangent. Remember geometry? I looooved geometry!
Once you've cut through the cardboard, you can insert the saw into the hole and cut around.
I used a keyhole saw that I got at Target for $7.
This scrappy little saw has changed my life. I do everything with it, I swear. I cut the bottom circle with it, too.
Rips right through 1/4" mdf.
 
I got my wood circle table top at Lowes, too. It was about $16, and it's 24" wide! Yay! I can put sooo many martinis on it! So back to work...place the cardboard tube on the tabletop and center it. Trace a circle. Screw bits of scap wood inside the circle.
Now stand up the tube and place the table top on it. Screw through the cardboard into the scap wood bits. 
 
Attach the bottom the same way. I cut my bottom circle a little smaller than the top (18"). You can buy another circle (Lowes sells lots of sizes) but I cut mine from mdf I had on hand to save $.
Paint and polyurethane! I wanted the top super shiny so I used a high gloss polyurethane. The tube is just white primer, because it won't show very much.
While the paint dries, you can cut a million little strips of vinyl. Mine are 2" wide and 36" long. I didn't really cut a million. I cut 25. More geometry! Yay!
Tack the vinyl on like this. I spaced the strips an inch apart. I used regular thumbtacks, but you could get fancy and use upholstery nails.
 
Now wrap one strip around the middle like a belt and temporarily clip the edges of it together with a binder clip. Weave the long, hanging strips under the belt.
Pull each strip under the table so that they're smooth and tight and temporarily attach with tape until you figure out the spacing and tension you want. When you like the way it looks, you can replace the tape with staples. Also, remove the binder clip from the belt and secure it to the cardboard with tacks.
All done!