| | | | |

DIY Fire Pit Table Top

This is my firepit.

Firepit

 Which my kids seem to think should double as a sand box (even though we built them a perfectly nice sandbox down by the water). It drives me nuts, because as you can imagine sooty ashes, kids and my white couches just don’t mix.

 So, meet my brand new table! It totally makes my fire pit a multi-tasking super hero – perfect snack table by day (banishing naughty children who like to be covered in soot) awesome fire pit by night (covering previously mentioned children in marshmallow goo instead).

A close up of a picnic table and fire pit

Need your very own DIY Fire Pit Table Top? You can totally make this too! So here’s the scoop, this month Ace Hardware is celebrating their 90th Anniversary, fun right? To celebrate they challenged us Ace Bloggers to complete a project using only $90. My table came in right at $87.98, boom!

Flowers on a fire pit table

 I saw a fire pit table top at a home and garden show and have been wanting one ever since. As usual the friendly people at Ace Hardware were amazing in helping me figure things out, because being the professional blogger person (insert sarcasm here) I am, I walked in there with a really fancy crayon drawing of what I wanted to make, but I wasn’t really too sure how to make it.

They were up to the task, quickly walking me around the store showing me the various brackets and wood that might work for me. We were all brainstorming and finally came up with a plan. Then I have to tell you awesome they are, because once I decided on the wood I needed I was really worried about it all fitting in my car, and they said no worries they would follow me home in one of their trucks with the wood if it didn’t fit, how nice is that?

 Luckily one of the guys got it all loaded in my car for me and I was ready to go.

First step was cutting my boards down to a more manageable size. My fire pit is 48 inches in diameter, so I cut them down closer to that size. I used 4 – 1 in x 8 in x 8 ft  boards.

Table and Fire Pit

The next step was drawing a circle on them, I nailed down a piece of string in the very center of my fire pit. Then I tied a pencil to the end and drew a big circle.

Table and Fire Pit

Next I screwed all the pieces together with a 1 x 4 that I cut in 3 pieces and some metal brackets. I wanted the table to sit flush down inside my fire pit, so I couldn’t just put the 1 x 4’s  all the way across, I had to use the metal brackets for the end pieces. I cut the 1 x 4’s to the right length, so they would fit snug inside the opening of my fire pit. I didn’t want the kids to be able to wiggle the top back and forth.

Fire and Table

I used 2 different lengths of screws, longer (1 ¼) for the wood brackets, and shorter ones (¾) for the metal brackets. I screwed them all down with an electric drill making sure they didn’t poke thru the wood on the other side.

After it was all secured together, I was ready to haul out my favorite new toy – the jigsaw (read all about it here). I was surprised at how easy this circle was to cut out, my saw zipped right thru the wood. Ignore my ridiculous winter gloves, it was 30 degrees the day I built the table…last week…in April – sigh!

Jig saw

Next I sanded the whole thing down with a palm sander and applied a coat of wood conditioner to help the stain take evenly.

Wood table stain

Then I applied 2 coats of walnut stain, followed by 2 coats of outdoor quality polyurethane. Make sure to polyurethane both sides to help waterproof your table.

A can of wood stain

Tada! Isn’t it so pretty? We have been LOVING this table! It’s the perfect height for the kids to sit and have an afternoon snack and it also a great spot for family game night too.

Fire Pit Table Top

The table is nice and light too, and I have no problem taking it off myself and rolling it away when we are ready to get our s’mores on!

A chair sitting in front of water

 

Make a wood table top for your fire pit

UPDATE: I know this probably goes with out saying, but make sure your fire pit is absolutely extinguished and cold before putting your table top on. We always throw water on our fire and wait until the next day to replace the cover. We don’t want your handwork going up in flames!

Also you may want to try pressure treated lumber to create this project, we have had a very rainy summer here in Michigan and I had one of the boards warp a bit. I added a couple more metal brackets to the back and that pretty much took care of the problem, but you may avoid the problem all together if you use treated wood.

Disclosure: I’m a member of the Ace Hardware Blogger Panel. Ace Hardware provided me with products and compensation for this post, but all opinions are 100 percent mine. All opinions and positions here do not necessarily reflect those of Ace Hardware.

Similar Posts

127 Comments

  1. I plan to make a patio in my yard and “Ace Is The Place” to make it all happen!

  2. I would get started on my spare bedroom remodel—I need drywall and paint and….! Love the fire pit table top! Do you have instructions for the fire pit as well?

    1. I don’t have instructions on that, it was just a pre made fire pit kit that we bought at a lawn and garden center, but it was so easy to put together!

  3. I will send this to my son…he has a fire pit like this. Where did you find the water container with the cork lid ?

  4. Would love a gift card, would actually start our outdoor fire pit project! Thanks for the awesome tutorial!

  5. I would buy materials to build a wooden outdoor chandelier. (And put what I could toward a battery operated drill! :)

  6. I’ve got lots of projects started, and need to finish before we host our son’s graduation party this July :) Extra funding always helps! Thanks, and great job on the fire pit. What lake do you live on? Looks awesome :)

  7. Oh boy, I would begin my master bathroom makeover! Paint my vanity cabinets, retile my floor (It is pretty small and I already have the tile) and repaint my walls! I might be able to squeeze in a couple of accessories too! Dreaming over here! :)

  8. My daughter is getting a brick patio installed next week with a fire pit off her Lanai. This table top would be perfect for her too! The $90 gift card would pay for all the supplies. Thank you Kelly & Ace Hardware!!

  9. I have many outside projects I want to do at our lakeside home this summer and that gift card would certainly help!

  10. A $90 gift card would come in handy with the workshop that my husband is building. Thanks!

  11. I would use the Gift Card to purchase some new paint for the trim of our house. We live in a log home on a lake in MN and the trim needs to be refreshed. It would look so nice to spruce up the outside and make it look pretty again!

  12. I would love to take up our well used carpet in the basement and stain the concrete floors. I have seen them in some restaurants and think they are beautiful. It would be great to have a $90 gift card to purchase the products needed.

  13. with a $90 gift card i would begin my project of transforming and updating the kitchen – there are some new and neat products to transform your cabinets/countertops and floor, all at a fraction of the cost of a total renovation…so there is my plan ;)

Comments are closed.