Hourglass Bedside Table

If you love having things in your home that no one else has youll truly appreciate an hourglass bedside table that you can make yourself. Dont need a bedside table? Make one to use as a plant stand, or even one to use as a small, breakfast nook table. The unusual table, with its hourglass shape, creates a unique and beautiful accent in most any room of the house.Large home improvement stores sell Quik-tubes; theyre cardboard tubes made for creating concrete pillars. Purchase one of the cardboard tubes in the diameter you want for the table. Youll also need one circle of wood, which is thick and large, and another circle of wood, which is thinner and smaller. The larger piece will be the top of the table, with the smaller piece acting as the bottom.Lay the smaller piece of wood on the floor and center the cardboard tube on it. Draw around it and move the tube out of the way for now. Screw small chunks of wood into the bottom, staying inside the circle youve drawn. Position each of four wooden chunks around the circle, evenly spaced, and right next to the drawn lines. Cut the tube to the length you want, stand it back up, over the top of the wood chunks, and screw the tube to the chunks to connect the bottom stand.Do the top in the same manner. Draw a circle on the underside, screw in four chunks, then set the top on the tube, and screw the top edges of the tube to the chunks of wood. Paint the entire table - stand, tube, and all.The hourglass shape is made when you use your choice of ribbon, vinyl, or similar material. Youll need many wide strips to create the look. One way to get cheap and colorful ones is to use plastic party streamers. Lay one short end of the material against the side edge of the table, and use upholstery tacks at each corner to secure it. Lay the next one beside that one, and put in the two tacks. Continue to do this until you go all the way around the edge of the tabletop with the streamers and tacks. Cut each streamer to be long enough to go down to the floor, and halfway back up again.After the streamers are attached to the top, gather them together around the tube, and tie a ribbon or cord around it all. Then, pull the end of each streamer down to the bottom board, and glue them to the underside. Pull them tight without putting extreme pressure on the middle tie.The hourglass table isnt all that hard to build and can be used in many ways. The round wooden pieces are available in a huge assortment of sizes so you can build just the table you want.