Build a pier table - oasis style

Versatile and ultra-chic, this pier table looks so stunning you’d never believe it was so simple to build. Personalize your table by painting or staining it in a colour to blend perfectly with your decor or by applying a “crackle” type faux finish.

Level 1, less than 4 hours
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List of tools
List of materials
Step-by-step
This elegant and versatile pier table is built from pine and hardwood and measures 42" long by 12" wide. You will need to use a router for the finishing work. Personalize your table by painting or staining it to harmonize perfectly with your decor.

The assembled table is held together with the help of small pre-drilled blocks, or cleats, which have several advantages: they provide solidity, they are invisible, and their screws can be tightened if necessary.

List of tools

  • Mitre saw
  • Router
  • Driver drill
  • Countersink drill bit
  • Clamp
  • Square
  • Pencil
  • Measuring tape

List of materials

  • 1 pine board 11/16" x 12" x 48"
  • 1 pine board 3/4" x 4" x 96"
  • 1 wood strip 3/4" x 3/4" x 72"
  • 4 hardwood table legs
  • Arabesques
  • 1", No. 8 screws
  • 1 1/2" No. 8 screws
  • Wood glue

Step-by-step

  1. Cut the pine board down to 42" and sculpt all four rims (edges) of one side with a router.

  2. Using the router, sculpt just one edge of the 3/4" x 4" board, then cut the board into two short sides of 6 3/8" and two long sides of 36 1/4".

  3. Cut the 3/4" wood strip into 14 cleats of 3 1/2". These cleats are used for screwing the table’s sides to the legs and the top.
  1. Prepare the eight cleats used for screwing the sides to the legs. To do this, pre-drill two holes 1 ½" apart on one side of the cleat and two holes on the adjacent side, staggered slightly so that the screws will not come into contact.

  2. Prepare the six cleats used for screwing the sides to the top by pre-drilling two holes on one side of the cleat and just one hole on the other.
  1. Screw two cleats to the top of each leg so that their edges are touching. (1 1/2" No. 8 screws)
  1. Screw three cleats for the tabletop along the top edge of each long side as follows: one in the centre and the two others 2 1/2" from either end. (1", No. 8 screws)
  1. Complete the construction of the base by screwing the ends of the short sides into the leg cleats.
  1. Lay the tabletop flat and place the base on it. Centre and fasten through the pre-drilled holes in the cleats.

  2. Glue on the arabesques.

  3. Paint, stain or varnish.

    You could just as easily make a piano bench based on the same plan, using hardwood for all the parts (including the cleats) and making the legs shorter.
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