-this post contains affiliate links-
We bought this awesome hot tub, but there was only one side that had cup holders, which is fine when there is just one person in it, but we have friends over to enjoy the hot tub and movie night all the time! Plus the large main jets are on the opposite side of those cup holders.
So we decided we needed hot tub side tables! I originally built some out of cedar fence planks because cedar is supposed to be a good wood for outdoor use. I put them together with wood glue and brad nails. But I really didn’t like them and they started warping and the brad nails came loose on areas. Plus they weren’t really that pretty.
So I ran to Home Depot and picked up some framing lumber. I bought untreated because it’s prettier and straighter. I bought a 2×12 and six 2x4s. Turns out I only needed four 2x4s, but they are cheap and they come in handy to have on hand sometimes so I didn’t mind buying extra.
I had a plan in mind. I wanted the tables to look kind of like these. But I definitely wasn’t going to spend that kind of money on them! This is the beauty of DIY! Two tables cost about $50-60 each.
I got my wood cut down with my miter saw and pieced it together to see what it would look like. I guessed the angle that I would be cutting the legs at, then cut a piece down for the top middle and placed the top 2×12 down to determine the sizing. All the angled cuts will be the same. Once I figured out how far apart I wanted the legs to be I placed all the wood on the floor to determine the length of the bottom middle support. This will make more sense when you see it all put together. In the right photo below the legs are upside down.
Once I figured out the length of the bottom support I got those cut too and then put pocket holes in everything with my Kreg Foreman.
This is the angle I cut the legs at, about 14 degrees.
Then I got everything sanded down. I started with 180 grit sandpaper and then sanded again with 220 grit sandpaper and my orbital sander.
Then I screwed everything together using clamps, wood glue and pocket hole screws and my drill. I often use my feet to make sure the pieces stay aligned while I screw them into place. Especially on builds like this that don’t have to be exactly perfect, otherwise I use clamps and put it on a taller surface so I can clamp it all together well (usually my kitchen countertop since I don’t have a large working countertop area in the garage). But the floor works too! I secured the bottom support about 1.5-2in up from the bottom of the feet.
Once the legs were put together I brought the tables inside to put them all together because the garage ended up smelling like gas. We have a gas heater in there we used for the first time and it was way fumier than we expected it to be!
I’m using 2x4x6 for in between the legs so they are 6in apart. I’m attaching these with pocket holes as well. I also put some on the bottom too, making sure the pocket holes were only visible from the bottom.
Then I centered the top, clamped it and screwed it on from the bottom up with my starhead screws I love so much! I used 2in screws for this.
Then I stained the tables using Early American. I always use medical gloves and either a blue paper towel, or a regular paper towel if I don’t have any blue ones on hand. The blue paper towels are stronger than regular ones. The color wasn’t nearly as dark as I was thinking it would be, but I didn’t hate it.
I used a BEHR spar urethane in semi-gloss for the clear coat once the stain was dry and this is how they turned out.
Because framing lumber isn’t the straightest lumber, the tables were a tiny bit wobbly. So we ordered some adjustable feet to make them not wobble. This also helps so the feet aren’t sitting on the ground so when it rains they aren’t just soaking in all the water. They are sealed, but I have a feeling the feet will make them last longer outdoors.
You first drill straight down into the feet with a drill bit the size of the anchor piece. Then we vacuumed it out to make sure there wasn’t any saw dust or wood chunks left in the holes. By “we” I mean “Tyler” because the feet were his idea! haha
Then you place the anchor piece in, hammer it down and then you can screw in your foot.
You don’t want to tighten the feet too tight so that you can easily adjust them when the table is flipped back over.
We replaced the cedar with these new ones and we loved them! The color actually looked nice with our fence and the black hot tub!
But my friends also had a new patio poured and got a hot tub like ours because they loved our set up so much! They asked me if I could build them some hot tub tables too. I ended up giving them these and figured I’d make us some more since they were pretty quick and easy to put together! Their new patio is gorgeous by the way, and the tables go really well with the stain on their pergola!
So I ran back to Home Depot for some more wood to make me 2 more. Plus some oak board for another project I was working on.
I got the new wood all cut down to size, added pocket holes and sanded everything down. This time I did a smaller degree of angled cut for the legs, I believe it was about a 6 degree angle, give or take. you can experiment with the angle if you want to make some of these yourself, I think it’s all personal preference.
This time around I stained the wood before putting it all together because I figured it would be easier this way. This time I used the color Dark Walnut.
I screwed all the pieces together the same way I did on the last tables.
I like the angle of these legs better I think. What do you prefer?
I got the spar urethane coat put on these and then added the feet like we did the other set and then took them outside to be put to use!
What do you think? Is this a project you think you could take one? These were pretty easy to put together, I think they are a good beginner friendly project! Also, do you prefer the lighter or darker stain color and do you like a steeper angle, or a lesser one?
Side note: We are still LOVING our louvered pergolas and storage box we got from Mirador on Amazon! We got the 10x20ft pergola to go over our hot tub and outdoor kitchen area and the 10x12ft one to go over our outdoor dining table I built. The storage box can hold all the cushions from our outdoor furniture we have currently too and all our hot tub supplies.
Speaking of outdoor furniture, we used to have a gorgeous outdoor sofa from Safavieh that we really loved.
But the size and shape of it just wasn’t working with our new patio arrangement so we ended up giving this set to our neighbors and we have another set for now from our other neighbors that I gave the first set of hot tub tables to. But the plan is to build a new outdoor sofa that fits our space better. I want to buy the cushions, because I don’t sew! Then I’ll build the sofa to fit the cushions.
So that is the next project on my list for this outdoor space!
Leave a Reply