Introduction: Coffee-Stained Coffee Table
This table seeks to take the stress out of owning a coffee table. You might constantly worry about stains appearing on your table from water cups or the notorious coffee cup. But with dozens of coffee stains already on the table you have absolutely nothing to worry about!
Idea inspired by a ReadyMade project a while ago. If anyone has a link to it please let me know. Nothing shows up in their project archive.
Step 1: Supplies
- Ikea Lack side table
- gesso
- coffee
- clear coat
- paint brush
- coffee cup
- sandpaper
Step 2: Sand It Down
Roughen up the surface of the table with some sandpaper. This will give the gesso a better grip
Step 3: Gesso!
Apply a coat of gesso to the surface. Without this, the coffee beads up on the surface of the table as it dries. With the coat of gesso we get nicer circles on the surface.
Step 4: Make Some Stains!
Pour some coffee into a dish and use your coffee cup to apply it to the table. Be sure to play around with different ways of using the coffee cup to get different types of stains on the table. You can get splotches, thick rings, faint rings, incomplete rings, a splatter of tiny droplets, and a light smear of a cup being moved along the surface.
Step 5: Seal It Up
After everything is the way you like it, seal it up with some clear coat. There are several manufacturers of this stuff. I like the matte finish and use Rustoleum Painter's Touch Crystal Clear.
Step 6: Enjoy a Table, Stress Free!
Your table is now ready for guests. Let them leave their drinks of the table. Who cares, right? It's already stained! Now you can think about better things, like enjoying the conversation.
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36 Comments
4 years ago
Interesting way to get it done. Stressfree indeed!
5 years ago
I made it with Wood Prix handbooks !
12 years ago on Introduction
We just bought the same table, though I don't think my dad would like it if I put coffee stains all over it =P But you did an awesome job on this, and a very clear 'ible!
12 years ago on Introduction
love it!!!
definitely will put one of this in mi house... =)
12 years ago on Introduction
haha
12 years ago on Introduction
Great idea. The only suggestion I have is that you need to try several different coffee cups and mugs. You don't always drink your coffee out of that one cup do you? Surely you have matching tea cups that match the saucer?
Now you need to reverse it. Build a nice wooden table, create a whole bunch of white rings from your iced tea glasses, and seal them in.
I can still remember Mom yelling at us, "Use a coaster!" (I think she was afraid of those white rings.)
Reply 12 years ago on Introduction
What are you talking about? My table's done and I'm happy with it. I don't need to do anything else at this point.
If you want to make your own version of this, however, you should go right ahead. :)
Reply 12 years ago on Introduction
Great response!
Why is it when someone posts an instructable there are always those who feel it is their duty to tell us how they WOULD do it better!? Instead, compliment the poster and then make your own - and maybe THEN comment how you DID make it better?
Awesome idea fungus!
12 years ago on Introduction
i love how the resulting pattern actually has an aesthetic appeal. especially from a distance, it really looks like something you might find in a trendy showroom.
How about forgetting the white undercoat and staining the whole table with coffee(is there such thing as a coffee-colored wood stain?)? what way rings aren't even noticeable. like how you wear dark clothing when you go out to eat.
12 years ago on Introduction
A few years back I came across an explanation as to why coffee spills form rings, even when no cup is present. That made me realize physics might be useful for more than making atomic bombs. Then when I read about why the Guinness bubbles float DOWN the glass I was hooked. I still have an elementary school grasp of physics but I enjoy what little I do grok!
Scholarly article in Nature Journal:
www.nature.com/nature/journal/v389/n6653/full/389827a0.html
Website of physicist nagelgroup.uchicago.edu/Nagel-Group/LabHome.html
good coffee ring info:mrsec.uchicago.edu/research/nuggets/coffee/
12 years ago on Step 3
What is gesso? Is this a brand name or a product name?
Reply 12 years ago on Step 3
Everything you need to know about gesso.
12 years ago on Introduction
Very insiprational for other potential entrants.
I'd presume you'd let the coffee dry before sealing the top?
Broke my favorite coffee mug last night. Apparently Jarvis can't really fly. ~sniffle~
Reply 12 years ago on Introduction
Good grief! I could look at that website for hours and hours :o!
Reply 12 years ago on Introduction
Yes, definitely let the coffee dry.
12 years ago on Introduction
Can I do a similar thing with blood that's dripped onto the floor of my torture room ?
Reply 12 years ago on Introduction
Or with the shredded armor that's lying about in my garden! Bloody tanks keep trying to mow over my daffodils.
This is a universally applicable concept, surely!
Reply 12 years ago on Introduction
or pre-dent the car with a lump hammer so when the wife... (you get the picture)
:D
12 years ago on Introduction
rather random, but cute
That's a table I'd proudly show to people
12 years ago on Introduction
If you have the cups to spare you can skip the roughing and gesso, if you leave the cups on the rings until they're dry they'll not be beaded up, my desk is a testament to this, same stuff as the lack. Downside is you'll have a table full of cups for a few hours.
Nice table though, another wee project for these is to get a big marker pen, pencil a design directly on to the table and draw in with markers, clearcoat on top. If you have the big chalky markers that you pump then the colours get really rich after being coated.