Open floor plans and wide doorways are fabulous ways to allow light and air to flow through our homes, especially in smaller house or apartments that could otherwise feel cramped. My apartment might have low square footage, but the arched doorways connecting the living room, dining room and kitchen make it feel quite spacious. There’s only one drawback that poses a big challenge: where to position the furniture! A lack of long, solid walls means paring down the number of pieces, and while that can be a good thing, it also means hard choices. In my home’s case, we positioned our sofa along the one long wall in our living room, giving us plentiful seating but eliminating room for end tables. This decision led to another question— where to put things like lamps, framed pictures, or the occasional glass of wine? Luckily for us and for all of you in the same situation, the DIY masters over on Always Never Done have been there, done that, and now they’re sharing their solution with all of us: a sofa table for behind your couch!

So smart, right? By inching your sofa forward just a few inches, you can slide in a table to give you as much flat surface as you could possibly want without having to block the open flow of the room. You’ve probably seen similar tables in stores, but this DIY version is so much better. For one, you can adapt it to fit your room and sofa. For another? It’ll only cost you around $25! Here’s what we learned from Always Never Done.

You’ll Need:
– 1 – 1-inch-by-6-inch-by-8-foot pine board, cut to your desired length
– 2 – 2-inch-by-2-inch-by-8-foot furring strips, cut to your desired length
– Bannister rails or 2-inch-by-2-inch wood, cut to desired height
– Star-end construction screws
– Screw driver
– Clamps
– Stainable wood filler
– Stain
– Paint

Note: The dimensions for the wood are based on those used by Always Never Done. If you’d like a table thinner or wider than their 6-inch deep one, or one longer than 8 feet, of course adjust your pine board and furring strips accordingly.

How To:

1. Attach the furring strips to the long pine board – which will serve as your tabletop – by first using clamps to hold the furring pieces to the board. Drill pilot holes every foot or so, then screw in the pieces to fully attach.
2. For table legs, attach the bannister rails or the cut 2-inch-by-2-inch wood pieces by first flipping the tabletop right-side-up. Drill pilot holes, then sink screws into those holes. Flip the tabletop over and attach the legs by driving the screws into them.
3. Further secure the legs by drilling additional pilot holes on the outsides of all four legs. Then use a bigger driver to create the pocket to sink the screws, and drive more screws into those pockets.
4. Fill in the wood holes with the stainable wood filler. Allow to dry, then sand smooth.
5. Stain and paint your table however you want.

That’s it! As you can see, essentially you’re just making a high, long, skinny table, and the great thing is, you can adjust it however you want! The important thing is that you’re able to give yourself more surface space without disrupting the flow of your home. For more information and detailed explanations of each step, be sure to check out Always Never Done’s post. Have you ever made a table like this one before? Do you have a sofa table?