Here are one of my favorite sets of basic plans for an outdoor table, my DIY Restoration Hardware Table plans.  We’ve all seen these tables in their stores, and we all know how beautiful and expensive they are.  Well you can build you own for thousands of dollars less.  The plans for this table are below, and you can also read my post on my journey as I built a modified version of this DIY Restoration Hardware table.

For outdoor usage, I prefer to use rough sawn cedar (as seen in this outdoor farmhouse table I posted previously) for it’s natural rot and bug resistance.  If you are using rough sawn cedar from an actual lumber yard, expect to pay about $500 for all of the materials.  Of course, you could also just use regular lumber from a big box store and spend as little as $150 in materials.

Note: These instructions are based on using lumber from a lumber yard.  If you plan to dimensional lumber you buy from the big box stores you’ll have to adjust the measurements slightly to account for the difference in actual measurements.

Required Lumber

• 4 – 4″ × 4″ x 8’
• 6 – 2″ × 4″ x 8′
• 4 – 2″ × 10″ x 10’
• ALTERNATE TOP: 5 – 2″ x 8″ x 10′

Tools

• Tape Measure
• Saw – Circular,or Miter Saw (preferred)
• Drill
• Countersink Drill Bit
• Kreg Jig
• Square
• Sand paper or sander
• Exterior wood glue

Step 1: Build the two leg structures

You will build two sets of legs for your DIY Restoration Hardware table, each exactly the same.

Start by cutting all four legs to length, with a 10° miter on each end. Then cut your two leg stretchers, also with a 10° miter on each end – but note these miters are not parallel to each other so the stretcher is an Isosceles trapezoid instead of a parallelogram like the legs themselves.

To attach the stretcher between the two legs, put a mark on the inside of each leg 2 7/16″ up from the bottom.  Then lay out the entire structure on a flat surface, ensuring the bottoms of the legs are perfectly in line.  The bottom of the stretcher should sit right on that line on both legs.  Once you have it positioned exactly how you like, use three 5″ lag screws per leg in a triangular pattern.

To secure the legs to the Top Support, use your 3” screws to secure down through the Top Supports and into each leg with four screws per leg. Be sure to countersink so there isn’t an issue with the additional pieces in the table frame laying flat.

Optional Enhancement: If you’re like me, or you’re following my post on building a similar table, you may want to try mortise and tenon joinery so you don’t have the visible lag screws here.  Though this skyrockets the difficulty level for the beginning wood worker.

Step 2: Center beam

Fasten the center beam between the leg structures: Use your 5” lag screws to secure the Bottom Brace to the Leg Stretchers. Use your 2 1/2″ pocket hole screws to secure your Top Brace to the Top Support.

Optional Enhancement: As in the previous step, you could opt to use mortise and tenon joinery to eliminate the lag screws showing.

Step 3: Middle cross brace and trusses

First, cut and fasten the middle center brace.  Use your Kreg jig to drill two pilot holes on each end, and then use 2 1/2″ pocket hole screws and wood glue to screw the cross brace into the top supports of the leg structures with the pocket holes on top (these will be hidden by your table top boards.

Now cut and fasten the trusses. These will sit at a 45° angle which means you will need to cut each end at a 45° angle (creating two more parallelograms) . Secure to the top middle brace using 3” wood screws in the same manner you secured the top supports in Step 1. Use 5” lag screws from underneath to secure to the cross beam.

Step 4: Attach the remaining cross braces

Use your Kreg Jig again to drill the pocket holes, then use more 2 1/2″ pocket hole screws and glue to secure the remaining four cross braces, spacing evenly across.

Step 5: Attach the top boards

The last step is actually one of the easiest – but you’ll want to ensure you have your boards centered and square as you attach your table top boards by using 2 1/2″ wood screws to secure from underneath and up through the cross beams and top supports

Alternate Top

There is one thing I do not like about this table design when using four 2x10s for the top – the 1/2″ gap between the two center boards is directly above the middle cross brace.  This means you won’t have proper drainage if this table is used outdoors.  Now, you could drill out a series of 1/2″ drain holes every six inches of the cross brace, or you could switch to a design with five 2×8 boards on the top instead.

Using five 2x8s does require a few adjustments to ensure the edge boards have enough support.  For the top of the leg structures, instead of cutting your top board at 31.5″, you’ll want to extend this to 33.5″ to provide an extra inch of support.

Then, put align your outside cross braces with the outside edge of the top support and space the other two evenly between the outer cross braces and the middle cross brace.

There you have it, you have a completed DIY Restoration Hardware table.  The last step is just to finish as you prefer. If you used wood from the big box store, I’d recommend staining with outdoor wood stain and sealant in a similar fashion as you would stain your deck.  I prefer using an oil such as Teak Oil on my tables built from cedar.  The oil provides a rich look, and allows water to bead and run off easily.

I hope you found these DIY Restoration Hardware table plans useful.  Please leave me comments below if you have any questions!

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