Looking for a great table for your deck or patio? Are you a DIY type of person that wants to show off your skills to your friends during a party? Looking for a cool way to keep your frosty beverages cold during a party? Check out this DIY outdoor dining table!
The center of this diy picnic table is a 36" planter. In the photo, it has a planter with actual plants in it. We have a 2nd planter that I sealed the bottom and I've attached a clear hose to it for draining. We put beer, pop, water and juice in it with ice when we have parties. Keeps the beverages cold and people don't need to get up out of their seat to get another beer!
This is a great DIY outdoor dining table for anyone who wants a table that won't break like the glass top ones do, looks awasome, is multi-functional and shows off your DIY skills.
I found this DIY ourdoor dining table project in Handy Man Magazine a couple years back. At the time, I had no need for it, but kept the plans as I knew they would come in handy someday. This project is not that difficult for most Do-It-Yourself, weekend warrior types. As with DIY most projects, it helps if you have the right tools, but even with just the basic drill, circular saw and jig saw, you could finish this project in 1 day (with 1 coat of stain, longer for additional coats). Disclaimer: this table with the stain took me about 16 hours and that includes 2 trips (about an hour each) back to the home improvement store.
Optional Changes, Tips & Amendments to the picnic-table plans:
One thing I will say is that the shopping list on these plans is close, but unless I did something wrong, the shopping list is off by a couple boards, I needed to get two additional deck boards for the top of the table.
Make sure you bore the screw holes, If you do not have a drill bit big enough to do the boring, then you will want to substitute 5 1/2" bolts instead of 4 1/2".
For added support on the curved sides, I screwed in a deck board the entire length of the bottom of the table. The reason for this is the two boards that attach to where the planter is didn't feel stable enough, by adding the support, those two boards feel just as stable as the rest of the boards that go the entire length of the table.
I purchased a 2nd planter box as well, this way when I have a party or am entertaining friends, I can take the flower planter out and put it to the side (still a nice decoration), and put the 2nd planter in with ice and my favorite frosty beverages.
Overall, If you follow the instructions as described in the plans, and do not rush yourself, you should have no problem building this table within one to two days.
Get more information:
Download PDF of the plans for this Outdoor Dining table