DIY Bistro Table With Pedestal Base Made of Wood Salad Bowl and Pipe.

Jen Panguluri
by Jen Panguluri
14 Materials
I'm always on the look-out for things to make into furniture, so if I'm visiting your house you can be sure I'm looking for things you don't "need" that I can repurpose.
While visiting my sister, I noticed an abandoned wooden salad bowl that was keeping the cat company on the back porch. No, she didn't need it. Yes, I could take it home with me. I packaged it for the airplane flight and brought it home. I didn't know what I was going to do with it at the time, but later I repurposed it into part of the pedestal base for this bistro table project.


The table has three main parts that are assembled together later: the table top, the pipe and two flanges of the pedestal base, and the wooden bowl forming the bottom of the pedestal base. I weighted the bowl with concrete so the bistro table is nice and stable.


The first part of the project is getting the bowl ready for adding concrete. How do you get a bowl ready for concrete? Well, because I wanted to be able to take the table apart for moving or storage, I decided to attach the bottom flange with bolts that I embedded in the concrete, so I had to get the bolts and associated nuts, washers, and wire in place.


The photo below shows the bolts, with some washers, nuts, and picture frame wire on the inside of the bowl.
Bolts installed on the inside of the bowl .
On the outside of the bowl, the flange was positioned over the ends of the bolts, and cap nuts were screwed onto the end of the bolts to keep it all in place.
Cap nuts hold bolts in place on the flange.
Ready for concrete! After I got the bolts in place with the cap nuts on, I turned the bowl over and filled it with concrete. I let the concrete in the bowl cure for a few weeks, but one week is probably enough. When my bowl was ready, I sanded the wood and finished it with Wipe-On-Poly.
While the concrete was curing, I worked on the rest of the table. I spray painted the pipe and two flanges.
My table top is a round edge-glued pine panel, widely available at the big box stores. I sanded all the wood and added flattening cleats to the underside of the table. After this, I finished it with Minwax Wipe-On-Poly.


The last part of the project is assembly. I attached the top pipe flange to the underside of the table top.
Then I positioned the bottom flange on the concrete-filled bowl and connected it with the cap nuts. (After the concrete cures for a day, you can take the flange off to paint it.)
You can use your bistro table inside or out. If it is going outside, I suggest finishing the wood with spar urethane or another moisture-resistant finish.
That's it for the bistro table. It's perfect for a cup of tea with a friend on a patio or in a cozy nook of your home.
Please join me at DIY Furniture Studio for the full tutorial for the bistro table as well as many other DIY furniture projects.
Suggested materials:
  • Wooden bowl   (gift (Walmart))
  • 1/2" galvanized pipe and flanges   (Menards)
  • 24" pine panel, round   (Menards)
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Jen Panguluri
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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  3 questions
  • Lori Beth Merrill Lori Beth Merrill on Jul 19, 2016
    Is there a reason you didn't stain the pine to a color to match the bowl? Really nice bistro table.
  • Toni Toni on Jul 19, 2016
    You show flattening cleats on the underside of the table top. When you show the underside flange arrangement the cleats are not there. Do you leave the cleats on or do you remove them ? Your finished picture does not show the underside cleats and your material list does not list the extra pieces of wood.
  • J. Jacobs J. Jacobs on Jul 19, 2016
    Neat idea. Did you put felt on the bottom so it wouldn't scratch the floors or decking?
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  • Susan Susan on Jul 20, 2016
    How clever you are! Stylish, Architectural Digest look out! I could have used this idea a few years ago, when my large dog was still learning to manage his tail. Ha!! he knocked over a few tables. Now he is a lamb, and knows to tuck his tail under. Boy, he can do some damage with his tail. Ha!
  • Taq1740391 Taq1740391 on Jul 20, 2016
    Love it just love it
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