DIY Storage Basket Side Table

If you checked out my recent home office makeover you may have noticed the basket side table in the new sitting area – I’m sharing my full tutorial as part of the At Home DIY June Challenge to build cheaper than buy!

I’ve seen this style of side table pop up in a few different stores and loved the look of them. I thought adding a storage side table to my office as place to store a few of my in progress knitting projects would be a great idea, however, the price of these tables has always seemed…ridiculous.

But, browsing around HomeSense one day (that’s the Canadian version of HomeGoods if you’re not familiar) I came across this metal basket and thought – wait – I could make one of those tables!

Well, when I say I could make one, I should actually say I could try and sweet talk Chris into helping me make one. Spoiler alert: he didn’t need much convincing.

How to make your own storage basket side table

Materials

• Metal storage basket (mine is 1” x 1” x 1”)
• Piece of plywood or scrap piece of wood larger than the top of the basket
• Paint and/or stain as desired

Tools Required

• Router
• Router Bits
• Scrap piece of ¼ plywood
• Sandpaper
• Safety glasses

If your basket has handles like mine did, you will also need:

• Angle Grinder
• Metal file

Watch the video to see how the table was made, or scroll down for the full instructions!

Step One: Remove the basket handles

Chris used our angle grinder with the grinding disk attached to cut through the metal handles on the top of the basket. After the handles were removed and the basket lip was as flush as possible, he used a small metal file to remove any sharp edges.

Step Two: Cut the wood top

Trace the outside of the basket opening onto the bottom of the piece of wood you will use as your tabletop. Find the center of the circle and measure the distance from the center to the line you marked (aka the radius). Add about 1/2 – 1″ for the lip of your tabletop – this will be your cut line.

Chris cut our tabletop piece using a router and a jig that he made using a scrap piece of 1/4″ MDF.

After the top was cut, we used the router & jig again to cut a channel on the circle we traced for the top of the basket. Chris did a final pass along the top and bottom edges to make them smooth and rounded.

Step Three: Finish the tabletop

Once the wood tabletop was cut and the channel created, I did a pass over the top and bottom with 80 grit, 100 grit and then 120 grit sandpaper to make sure it was nice and smooth.

Some gel stain and protective matte top coat finished the job. I decided not to paint the basket itself, as the original grey colour is really nice, but I may change it up in the future with some coats of spray paint.

Looking for more inspiration of projects you can build cheaper than buy? Check out all the posts shared as part of this challenge on the At Home DIY Challenge website!