Mid-Century Modern Dinette Table
Monday, September 12, 2011 at 02:19PM 
What do you do when you can’t find the right dinette table for your breakfast nook? You build one!
I spent weeks shopping for a table but everything I found was either the wrong style, size or color; or it was cheaply made; or it was super-expensive. While I was shopping, I started to get a vision for exactly what I wanted. I was looking for something retro but wth a modern twist. So I decided the best way to get exactly what I wanted was to build it myself.
I started with a piece of 13-ply, furniture-grade plywood (also called Baltic Birch) .75 inches thick. I chose this wood because I wanted to expose the edges. I cut down the board into two pieces slightly over my finished size, then glued and clamped them together to double the thickness to 1.5 inches. Next I trimmed the top to the finished size (30x42 inches), using a plywood blade to get a fairly smooth edge. I toyed with the idea of radiused corners but decided a bevel was easier. After it was cut to size, I used my router with a chamfer bit to create a relief under the table, making the top look thinner from above and it giving it a smoother edge. I filled any voids in the plywood with wood filler and sanded them smooth. I also sanded all the beveled corners to round them off slightly.
Then came the fun part, I ordered a piece of vintage-style laminate. It’s Formica brand and the color is Aqua Boomerang. Unfortunately, this color has been discontinued by Formica but it was still in stock at the Lowes warehouse. I used contact cement to mount the laminate, taking care to leave a little extra laminate around the edge. I retracted the chamfer bit on my router to about .25 inches and trimmed off the edge to create a slight relief on top. I masked off the laminate and applied three coats of polyurthane to the exposed plywood edge, sanding in-between coats. Last, I mounted the top to a sturdy restaurant table base using lag screws. I orded a new base but if you look around, you can find used bases from a restaurant supply. Mine has a powder coated flat bottom (I don’t like the ones with legs) and a retro chrome stem.
I bought a couple of chairs from Ikea and the set is complete. I think it came out really well and it cost me well below $200 (not including chairs or tools). Plus, this table is solid as a rock, it could easily stand up to commercial restaurant use and abuse.
Here’s a photo of the finished set.
Reader Comments (3)
I really love the edge. In my opinion it just makes the table pop. The laminate and chrome base also are awesome but to me that raw and natural wood edge does it!
Thanks! I think the wood edge gives it a more contemporary look vs. some of the metal edges typical on 50s tables.
I like what you did on 4 edges of the table. Very unique and gives extra elegant on that thing.