Looking for a craft table that inspires you? This shows how to build a craft table that can be decorated with whatever gets your creative juices flowing. We went with a seascape, but you could do whatever inspires you.

Plans are available for this table at my website.

This Instructable contains affiliate links.

Step 1: Gather Materials and Supplies

This build could be done entirely with a circular saw, drill, driver and pocket hole kit. But I used a few more tools because I have them.

2 Sheets of 3/4" Plywood
1 1/4" Pocket Hole Screws
DecoArt Paint
Stencils: https://amzn.to/2wNcUrt and https://amzn.to/2wNcUrt
Table Saw
Miter Saw
Circular Saw
Drill / Driver
HVLP Sprayer
Spray Shelter

Step 2: Break Down Plywood

The first step was breaking down the plywood. I like to use my circular saw with a track to get everything to manageable pieces. Then cut to exact size at my table saw.

Step 3: Edgeband Visible Plywood Edges

Plywood edges aren't very pretty. To get the best results when I paint, I edge band all of the edges that will be visible.

I like to use iron on edge banding for this, it's fast and looks really good. I've tried a variety of trimmers for edge banding, but I've found a sharp chisel works best for me.

Step 4: Build Table Aprons

The table top is basically a large shadow box that'll be topped with a piece of acrylic.

To achieve this, the base of the top is wrapped with a double apron. The outside pieces are mitered, and the inside pieces butt against each other and support the acrylic.

To get the correct spacing, I cut a spacer block the same thickness as the acrylic to use as a guide for how much to offset the inner and outer apron.

Step 5: Drill Pocket Holes

This build is entirely held together with pocket holes. I prefer to drill all of the holes in one go, and not as needed. Just seems to go faster that way.

Step 6: Attach Apron to Table Top

With the pocket holes drilled, I could start assembly.

First is getting the top together, which means attaching the aprons to the base of the table top. This is done with pocket holes from the underside.

The bottom of the inner apron rests against the top of the base. The height of the inner apron determines the depth of the shadow box.

Step 7: Partially Assemble Shelf Cubby

I'm going to do some pre-painting next, but before I do that I went ahead and partially assembled the cubby part of the base because it'll be easier to spray this way (means less pieces I have to find a place to lay while they dry).

Step 8: Pre-Paint Pieces

With the top and cubbies assembled, I go ahead and spray paint everything. I'm pre-painting because once I get the shelves fully assembled, it'll be very challenging to get an even paint job inside of all the shelves.

Step 9: Assemble Bases/Shelves

With the paint dry, the assembly continues in earnest. The only significant assembly in this build are the two shelf/bases that support the top.

First, I place the cubby on one end and screw it to the top (I'm building upside down to give easy access to the pocket holes).

Then I add the shelves into the cubby.

Next I screw in the leg to the other side of the top.

Then I begin adding shelves. I use spacer blocks to support them and maintain even spacing as I go.

Step 10: Attach Top to Bases

The bases are fairly light, but the top has a good bit of weight so don't be afraid to get some help if you're not used to moving large awkward objects around.

I alternated the direction the bases were facing and placed the entire table top assembly onto them and added a few screws down through the top into the bases to keep everything stable and locked together.

Step 11: Install Acrylic Top Supports

I used .22" acrylic, it's plenty strong for the application but will have a tendency to bow due to the distance it has to span. To keep the top flat, I added some little dowel pieces with a bit of felt in the middle of the table to support the acrylic. I attached them with CA glue and activator.

Step 12: Decorate the Table and Top

Now we were on to the fun part, decorating.

I built this for my mother-in-law, who is a total beach nut, so we went with a beach theme and did a sea scape in the shadow box and added some nautical stencils.