The Card Bar - Functional Cardboard Furniture

 by The House
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This project is used nothing but Gorilla Glue except for the table hinges and height adjuster and took about 20 hours during this past week and cost about $100.    

It can hold 200 lbs and is solid as rock.  Hope you enjoy!




Folks,  this is my first instructable.   I AM PSYCHED!   I have been lurking here for about a year and a half and have read just about every 'able on the site.   I love it here.  A bunch of intelligent, motivated and fearless group of people make this stuff.   They lay in bed, unable to sleep dreaming about how to get their project off the ground.  I sift through hundreds of pages of content just to see how to soder a wire, cook a jar pie, fix a flat and even build a wind turbine.   So, I felt I had waited long enough and decided to throw my name in the hat.   

Moving into my 300 square foot apartment with my new fiancee was awesome till we realized we don't own much and don't particularly make enough money to improve our .... coolness.   So I started thinking about crazy ideas to improve our situation.   We don't own a kitchen table and eat on tiny little square tables usually knocking things over and making a mess.   So as these last couple weeks went on my idea of building my own cheap table started to evolve.  I wondered how I could save space but give my fiancee and I something cool.   Something to feel good about ourselves.  That first thought of building a table slowly mutated into my Card Bar idea.   A bar, made of piles of cardboard that also functions as a table.   If you are standing you might just want to sit down for this.   

Here we go. 
 
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Step 1: ....With Secret Dinner Table

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We only have soo much space in our apartment,  so we decided to put a dinning table on the front.   We used a basic but cool design and a very creative sliding mechanism to keep the pretty decorated side facing out with the table top facing the inside of the bar.   Hidden but accessible. 
sciman1 says: Mar 26, 2013. 5:30 PM
love your ambition!! I too construct monstrosities from cardboard (and anything else free). now i just wish I didn't dread writing them up it feels too much like one of my engineering lab write ups. yuck!

PROPS! so many props!`
banterboy says: Sep 15, 2011. 3:47 PM
I too have been trolling around in the background, looking for home improvement ideas and hope to one day produce my own instructable.

I absolutely love your idea of using cardboard and the finished product is awesome. You wouldn't know that it hadn't been bought in a shop. Well done, it is impressive.

Love the design and the height adjustable table is an awesome idea.

Keep up the goof work and hope to see many more design ideas come to fruition.
bricabracwizard says: Mar 19, 2011. 3:09 PM
I love your card table it is fantastic, my only comment would be your fold down legs which takes away from your great design - one idea would be to create columns sort of like greek columns out of card (semi circular so that the flat side goes against the bar) and you still wouldn't be able to work out that there is a dining table hidden there. This is still an incredible 'ible.
frason says: Jan 4, 2011. 7:51 PM
OMG this is the best thing EVER! <3 you're awesome!
Calorie says: Dec 20, 2010. 11:31 PM
Everyman's Composite Construction. Nice job!
captain Jack says: Dec 17, 2010. 9:41 AM
Ok. i gotta ask. How sturdy is this thing? What could it hold? 30 lbs? 80 lbs? Like could you sit on the top of it?
The House (author) in reply to captain JackDec 17, 2010. 10:50 AM
Extremely sturdy. The vertical studs are all 8 pieces of cardboard thick and hardened with gorilla glue. They are only spaced about a foot or so apart so there isn't much of a gap. When I was glueing the top board (Also 8 layers thick) I placed about 200 lbs of free weights I had laying around. Solid as a rock. My lady sat on top of it for some funny pics (which she wouldn't let me include) and it felt like any other type of table. Mind you she is only 105 lbs. But yea, if you glue every layer solid (like spread the glue evenly) and place weights on top while it dries it will hold 150lbs with no problem.
paranoid android says: Dec 3, 2010. 11:06 AM
You could also coat the cardboard with Minwax wood hardener. It would make the cardboard even more sturdy.
GpaSteve says: Oct 20, 2010. 7:36 PM
This is a very cool idea. going to have to give something like this a try.
The House (author) in reply to GpaSteveOct 21, 2010. 7:41 AM
Let me know if you have any questions or if I didn't explain anything clear enough. It it were well planned out and you had some space it should take you around 3 days after work to get it done. Mine was a lot of trial and error (lots of error)
lemonie says: Oct 10, 2010. 3:18 AM
That's impressive, good job.

L
The House (author) in reply to lemonieOct 12, 2010. 12:03 PM
Thanks lemonie. I honestly can't believe 1) it actually looks decent and 2) it is exactly how I want it to look and work. Solid and light. More things are going to be made with left over cardboard.
lemonie in reply to The HouseOct 12, 2010. 12:43 PM

Used right it's a good material. Now, could concrete-shuttering be done I wonder?

L
The House (author) in reply to lemonieOct 13, 2010. 1:47 PM
what is concrete - shuttering? Is that a design or molding type? If it's cool, I will try anything.
lemonie in reply to The HouseOct 13, 2010. 3:38 PM

It's the boards used to cast concrete into. A large volume of trees are turned into ply' / OSB for concrete-shuttering.

L
The House (author) says: Oct 13, 2010. 6:41 AM
I can't wait to show the updated pics since I worked on it. Fixed the color of the legs and added two more sections of vinyl in the front so you can't even see the table till it swings out. Just a lot of cool finishing work. I will update after the competition.
mickgoth says: Oct 11, 2010. 7:28 PM
very nice, and recycled material! ... after a few drunk nights you may have to make a new one tho ;P
The House (author) in reply to mickgothOct 11, 2010. 7:33 PM
haha luckily I am a seasoned drinker...... which means I waste little. It all gets to where it is intended to go....my liver.
mickgoth in reply to The HouseOct 12, 2010. 7:51 AM
good man! keep building im sure we all look forward to more designs :)
Allard says: Oct 11, 2010. 10:56 AM
good concept, but why cardboard?
The House (author) in reply to AllardOct 11, 2010. 2:00 PM
Well.... it was laying around and I needed to get this design out of my head. First thought of using wood but thought this would be cool to re-use the wasted cardboard. And to be honest it weighs like nothing and I put wheels on it so I can move it around.
aebernatchez says: Oct 11, 2010. 1:38 PM
ken, you are so epic. i hope you win an ipad, and share with me!!!
jbernatchez says: Oct 11, 2010. 10:32 AM
you are amazing
MichelMoermans says: Oct 10, 2010. 9:38 AM
I have subscribed and favorited!

Seeing this I expect great things from you in the future! :D

Don't be a stranger on the forums :)
The House (author) in reply to MichelMoermansOct 11, 2010. 6:45 AM
The whole thing is cardboard except for the table and the bottom. I am putting wheels on the bottom to help it move so I can slide it in and out from the wall when we arent using it. I like that it has functionality and looks.
Dentroman765 says: Oct 10, 2010. 8:20 PM
This is incredible! Amazing work.
The House (author) in reply to Dentroman765Oct 11, 2010. 6:44 AM
Thanks. I only started building it on tuesday after work. And I had a wedding on sat and sunday so we got as much done as we could. It needs some cleaning up but I am really psyched with how it came out...... and I really want an Ipad.
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