Coffee table, end table or console
A top, legs or a frame, and sometimes a glass panel or a lower shelf. Usually the quickest build in the house.
Not what you bought? Try Four-leg desk or table · Sofa, loveseat or sectional
What you need
In the box already: Allen key · Leg bolts · Leg plates · Rubber or suction pads for glass · Leveling feet
Before you open anything
- Work with the top upside down on the box. Same as every table.
- If there is glass, leave it in its packaging until the very last step, and never set it on a hard floor on its edge.
- Check whether the legs are angled. Many modern tables have splayed legs that must all lean the same way.
Please don't skip these
- Tempered glass shatters into fragments if you knock an edge or over-tighten a clamp. Handle it by the faces, never the edges.
- Never tighten a bolt that passes through glass beyond finger-tight plus a small nudge.
The whole thing, step by step
8 steps-
Top upside down on the cardboard
Lay the top face-down on the flattened box. Sweep the floor first. One piece of grit under a table top leaves a scratch you will see forever.
- Sweep, then lay the cardboard
- Top face-down
- Legs and hardware to hand
-
Check whether the legs are angled
Many tables have splayed legs. If the leg plate is angled, all four must lean outward in the same way. Hold each one up and look before you screw it.
- Look at the leg plate: is it flat or angled?
- Angled plates must all point outward
- Hold two up and compare the lean
Watch out. One leg mounted with its angle pointing inward makes the table rock and look wrong, and is very easy to do by accident. -
Screw the leg plates on, loose
Position each plate on its holes, start every screw, and leave them all loose. Use only the short screws for anything going into the top.
- Short screws into the top, longer bolts through the legs
- Start all screws before tightening
- Plates square to the table edges
Watch out. Compare screw length to top thickness. This is the step where people put a screw through a brand new table top. -
Fit the lower shelf or stretcher
If there is a lower shelf or a bar between the legs, fit it now while everything is loose. It is what stops the table racking.
- Bolt both ends finger-tight
- Check it is the right way up
- Make sure it sits level
Tip. A lower shelf often doubles as the brace. Leaving it out because it looked decorative is why some tables wobble forever. -
Tighten diagonally, two laps
Tighten opposite corners rather than going round in order. Then do a second lap, because the first one loosens its neighbors.
- Opposite corners, in a cross
- Shelf or stretcher last
- Second full lap
Tip. Firm and stop. These tops are usually chipboard or MDF with a thin veneer and they strip very easily. -
Flip it and level it
Lift it over rather than rolling it on a leg. Then press each corner and adjust the feet until it sits dead still.
- Lift, do not lever
- Press each corner to find the short leg
- Screw that foot out, or add a felt pad
Tip. Felt pads on all four legs: protects the floor, stops the drag noise, and gives you a free way to shim the short leg. -
Fit the glass last, with two people
Stick the rubber or suction pads on first, then lower the glass straight down onto them. Two people, handling it by the faces.
- Clean pads stuck in position first
- Two people, flat hands on the top and bottom faces
- Lower straight down, do not slide it into place
Tip. Clean both the glass and the pads with glass cleaner first. Dust under a suction pad means the glass will shift.Watch out. Never slide glass across a frame or set its edge against anything hard. Tempered glass fails from edge damage, and when it fails it goes all at once. -
Load test and finish
Press down firmly on each corner and the middle, then push sideways to check for rack. Any movement means one more tightening pass.
- Press each corner and the center
- Push sideways at the top
- Retighten anything that moved
Tip. Re-tighten once more after a couple of weeks. New tables settle, and two minutes then saves a wobble later.
If something has gone wrong
The table rocks on my floor
Find the leg that lifts, then either screw out its leveling foot or double up a felt pad underneath. Most floors are not flat, so this is normal and permanent.
The table racks sideways when I push it
The lower shelf or stretcher is loose or missing. That part is the brace. Tighten it, or check the parts list to see if you skipped it.
One leg sticks out at a different angle
An angled leg plate is mounted the wrong way round. Unscrew it, rotate it so the lean matches the other three, re-screw.
The glass top slides around
The rubber or suction pads are missing, dirty, or not stuck down. Clean the glass and the frame with glass cleaner, apply fresh pads, lower the glass straight down.
A screw went through the top
Wrong length screw. Back it out, fill with a colored wax repair stick, and use the short screws. Always compare screw length to top thickness first.
Words you will see in the manual
- leg plate
- The metal plate that screws to a table or sofa underside and gives a leg something to thread into.
- stretcher
- A bar between table or desk legs. It looks decorative but it is the brace that stops the piece racking.
- leveling foot
- A threaded foot you turn in or out to stop furniture rocking on an uneven floor.
- tempered glass
- Heat-treated glass used in table tops. Strong on its faces, fragile at the edges, and it shatters all at once rather than cracking. Handle by the faces.