IKEA VITTSJO Nesting Tables

Materials: VITTSJO Nesting Tables, Miter Saw, Jigsaw, Paint

Description: The VITTSJO nesting tables seem perfect in concept, except what's up with the child table being twice as long as its parent table? Not sure what IKEA is going for there. I would prefer that the smaller table nest fully within the larger table.

The original VITTSJO

There were five major steps with this hack: cutting the metal frame, piecing back together the frame, cutting the MDF shelf, cutting the glass and painting the legs.

#1. I needed to make six cuts and used a grinding wheel on my Ryobi miter saw, which was fast, accurate, loud and sparky. Hence the precautionary fire extinguisher.

#2. Sawing left me with four pieces. Modifying the bottom rails was easy; I just needed to drill new screw holes at the end of each piece to replace the holes I sawed off. The top was more challenging because I needed to reconnect the pieces in a way that would be as stable and seamless as possible.

I walked around The Home Depot inserting all manner of things into the hollow metal tube to determine what would allow for a nice, tight fit. The winner: a piece of 1/2 inch hardwood. It fit perfectly tight - so much so that I didn't need glue. I touched up the cut edges with a Sharpie paint pen.

#3. Reducing the size of the metal frame means the particleboard shelf will be too long. Nothing a jigsaw can't fix.

#4. The IKEA glass is tempered, so it can't be cut. I had a new piece of glass cut to fit at a local shop. $34, which isn't cheap, but $34 + the $60 tables is still significantly cheaper than anything I found elsewhere.

#5. I dressed up the tables a bit with some gold dip-dyed legs using Plaid's Liquid Leaf in Brass.

See more of the VITTSJO nesting tables.

~ Marti, Chicago