Category: DIY Furniture

We say this a lot, but we love seeing an old piece of furniture turned into a new one. Joan chose our tapered angle iron legs instead of one of our many hairpin leg styles. Her feeling was that the angle iron legs would share the sturdy, blocky feel of the tabletop and we agree!

This is a table made with 100+ year old cherry that has been covered with glass. We’ve seen other customers cover tabletops with glass as well, and a glass covering does a number of things. First of all it protects the tabletop itself. Spills or damp materials that might otherwise damage antique or untreated wood will be well protected by a thick piece of glass. Secondly, it puts the tabletop on display. A glass covered tabletop highlights the unique features and draws the eye to the tabletop itself.

A third great reason to add glass to the top of your table is the added options it provides. Wood that is slatted, uneven, or otherwise not flat is given a flat surface with glass—allowing nearly any building material to become a tabletop. One of the things Joan appreciated about our metal legs is,

the fact that we could order legs to make an optimal height table for computer use

To ensure the table is just the right height for you, measure the thickness of your tabletop –and glass if you’ll be adding that to the top–and subtract that sum from the overall height you want your table. We offer modern metal legs (including hair pin legs) in many different heights so you’ll have lots of options to make sure your future table is just the height that works for you. Thanks for sharing Joan, we love the table!

Our metal hairpin legs are designed to last—heck, they are made of ½ inch steel! The legs can weather the typical use of any table leg with flying colors. Leaving them just the way they are when you take them out of the box is just fine. Or you can dress them up a bit with paint or further protect them with a clear coat.

Mike decided to dress his 3 rod hairpin legs up a bit by allowing they to rust a little bit and then preserving the finish. Mike used lemon juice to add a fine patina and then sealed that in, creating a look his clients were looking for. Here’s what Mike had to say:

My client wanted a “classy workbench” and his wife suggested using hairpin legs to give it a modern, lighter appearance. I took those two design desires and turned this out. Your hairpin legs were first oxidized using about 2 gallons of lemon juice and a six-hour bath in plastic trough, then dried and hand waxed to preserve the patina. Thanks again for the great product.

Metal legs will be great for use on a workbench. They are durable and won’t be easily banged up like wooden legs can be in a working environment. Thank you for sharing Mike! The finished piece looks great and thanks for sharing another great way to use hairpin legs.

Whether you’re using our hairpin legs for yourself or for a client, there are many ways to dress up the metal legs to further customize them for a specific project. From painting to oiling to oxidizing, let us know if you come up with a great way to finish your metal hairpin legs!

Here at Modern Legs we love what we do – making metal legs. But even more, we love seeing what our customers do with them. A custom made piece of furniture can really dress up any space it’s added to. Sometimes a unique piece of furniture transforms an office or a home into something amazing, instead of the cookie cutter feeling so many workplaces have. Office spaces tend to be standardized and less imaginative that our homes.

Annie has made sure that won’t be said of this conference room. The table she constructed transforms the atmosphere of the room and nicely brings together all other aspects of the room from the wood décor to the metal support structure. The wood is a gorgeous live edge piece that brings the wildness of the tree into the more sterile interior world. Annie has used metal bench legs to create a simple yet strong supportive look for this conference room table.

The metal bench legs…or should we say, metal table legs are a solid metal leg style that offers great stability and can handle heavier loads than standalone legs. We offer two styles – tube steel and flat bar – in standard and custom heights. Get in touch if you want to make a custom piece like this and chances are we’ll be able to come up with a perfect fit for the table, bench or anything else you’re thinking of building. Great job Annie! We’re proud to share your piece as inspiration for others, and we know you’ll get compliments on the table for years to come.

Here at Modern Legs we offer lots of style and size options for our hairpin legs. And this table is a great example of why we do that. This is a beautiful night stand made by Elyse.

As you can see the hairpin legs are much shorter than the standard 16” coffee table size to accommodate the greater height of the wooden tabletop. One nice thing about hairpin legs is that it raises the table to just the height you need while still providing room underneath. This provides foot room for coffee tables and dining room tables, it makes room for storage underneath, and provides more light and airflow for an open feel to the room.

This nightstand combines round and square angles well and will be a very functional stand for years to come. Elyse did a great job of matching the finished piece to the wood bed in the room–both are on short legs.

Our metal hairpin legs come in even measurements from 4” to 30” to provide you with metal legs that will work well on your next table build. We also offer them in multiple diameters to best meet your table load and if there’s a project you have in mind that would be best suited to custom sizes, drop us a line and let us know what you have in mind; chances are we’ll be able to accommodate. We look forward to seeing what you come up with!

No, that’s not a typo, this really is a ‘window table’ and it’s a unique piece we had to share. This customer did a great job of upcycling and created a great table in the process. During a house renovation windows were being replaced so this customer made one of the windows into a coffee table using our tapered angle iron legs.

This table has a very unique look and keeping the old hardware on the window adds to its character. The old-school look of the tapered angle iron legs went perfectly with the vintage window…in fact it almost looks like the window is in a new frame the way these metal legs form a solid square around the window. The other great aspect of the window table is the light it lets through. It really keeps the room open and light with the added light on the floor under the table. What a great idea!

Our tapered angle iron legs are a great option in addition to the metal hairpin legs and bench legs we offer. We hope that offering a variety of metal legs allows you to find the perfect match for your next DIY project, and we’re pretty sure this project proves it! Whether you’ve got a tabletop in need of metal legs or a project you’re making from scratch, there are lots of great options to make a unique and functional piece. And don’t forget to send us photos of whatever you come up with!

Entryway tables are highly functional and lately we’ve seen a rise in the number customers who are making them. Often our hairpin legs are used to make a longer and thinner table that accommodates entryway spaces and provides a great location to place belongings upon entering and exiting the house, but Bruce decided to use our tapered angle iron legs, and we can’t argue with the results.

This entryway table Bruce made is just magnificent! It has a beautiful marble top as well as storage underneath with beautiful cabinet doors. The tapered angle iron legs go perfectly with it. This style of metal table legs offers a more structured look to the finished piece and they are very popular with our customers.

Just like our hairpin legs and metal bench legs all of our tapered angle iron legs are made to order and manufactured here in Colorado. If you have something special in mind let us know what you’re thinking of and we’re confident we can help you build a custom solution that ensures your finished piece is exactly what you had in mind.

 

Most people know us for our hairpin legs and bench legs – and most of our work is metal legs, but we’ve been known to do some fun custom metal work for our customers as well.

Take Karen’s coat rack for example. She wanted something unique and contacted us with her idea. The bent railroad spikes were a perfect finishing touch for for Karen’s wall mounted coat rack design. She mounted them on a beautiful slab of wood that really highlights so much of what is beautiful about wood. The rings, wood grain and the live edge of the wood are all present here.

The dark metal of the railroad spikes contrasts nicely with the light colored wood and highlight the darker edge as well. If you’re looking for custom metal work, contact us to let us know what you’ve got in mind. From table frames to Karen’s railroad spikes we’ve made components for all kinds of projects.

We’re always curious to hear what our customers have in mind and if it’s made of metal, we can make it. Have a look through the blog to see some of our past projects and before you know it you’ll have your own custom piece!

 

 

Sofa tables! There are so many ways to add a small piece of furniture to the home that makes a big impact. We think the sofa table is high on that list. What a great use of space to provide additional functional space while using the couch. In almost any configuration, a couch table provides space to put drinks, reading materials, and anything else you may be using while on the couch—or want out of your pockets while you relax. Another great feature is that the table is accessible no matter where you are on the couch – not just from each end as with end tables.

This sofa table was made by Benjamin who says, “[the legs] look great. I will definitely keep coming to you guys for future orders.” Benjamin used our flat bar bench legs –one of two styles of bench legs we offer–to make this great table. We offer hairpin legs and bench legs in a variety of heights and diameters, but Benjamin knew exactly what he wanted to build, so he got in touch about a custom set of legs. We welcome custom orders so check out or standard offerings and contact us if you have something else in mind. Thanks Benjamin for sending us a picture of this table, we’re sure we’ll see more sofa tables in the future!