DIY - Tripod Side Table

This little table was of the the items done for the guest room reveal. Even though it was difficult to notice it because of all the light coming from the window, my friend Beck spotted it immediately, not surprisingly, she is a photographer's mother.  ;)
The table was born out of necessity. Since the bed is a daybed, both side tables are a bit useless when you're laying down.

I wanted my guests to have something at their side to place a book or a glass of water when they're in bed rather than going over their heads to reach the side table.

Of course, the most important item you need to create this kind of table is a tripod. I had this one that our friend gave us a couple months ago. He was getting rid of lots of stuff because he is moving out of state, and this tripod came with us with lots of other items. I have to say, it's not one of the strongest tripods I've seen, in fact is one of those I call "chepo" tripods (sorry about that, friend ;), I was not going to use it for its intended purpose, a little table that I could easily move around the house was a better option for this babe ;)

The piece that its supposed to hold the camera in place was easily taken off by just getting rid of a screw, not the same for the top part of the pole (the black cap the arrow is pointing at), I didn't see a screw holding it in place, I tried hard to pull it off but no, it didn't budge. It looked like it was glued on. :/

So, I set the whole tripod, or what remained of it, on the vise and using gentle persuasion...   :)

Two big whacks and it flew away ;)

With the tripod free of unwanted items, the next step was finding a good tabletop. ¾" plywood remnants came in handy. You can use a jig saw to cut out the circle, I used my Rockwell BladeRunner and even though there is a special attachment to create perfect circles, I simply used the regular mechanism and my circle was really good. (12" diam.)

The edges were a bit rough, a good sanding is a must.

In order to attach the round tabletop to the tripod I bought a ¾" metal floor flange and ¾" x 2" pipe. I was a bit chocked at how expensive those flanges were $10/each!

I couldn't find a better alternative, and I was happy they fit nicely on the tripod, as you can see.

Attaching them to the underneath of the tabletop was easy, center the flange, mark the locations and do pre-drills before driving the screws.
Once the flange and pipe were in place, hot glue was added to the top pole of the tripod before bringing it into the pipe.  Work quickly, the hot glue dries fast, I had to fight pushing down the tripod onto the pipe because the glue was getting hard.

Finally, the tabletop was stained and its rim was painted blue, it also got blue booties. ;)

There are some bumps on the edges of the tabletop, those were the times it dropped while working on it. :/

I like it, though it's not a strong table, it all depends on the kind of tripod you use. The fact that I can adjust its height is very convenient too.

More Guest Room projects:
Final Reveal
How the room looked before, right HERE.
The direction I wanted to give to this room HERE.
Painted Designs on Floor, right HERE.
Diy Daybed from spring box
Old Lamps transformed
Office chair makeover
Old window memo board
Diy Round Mirror
Table Makeover
Black out curtains