Category: DIY Furniture

We all come across indoor and outdoor benches in our daily lives but sometimes the only place they come to mind is in the park. Benches have a wide variety of uses and are uniquely well-suited for a number of purposes. A bench can be a stand-alone piece of furniture or it can be part of a larger furniture set-up such as at a table. Sure, benches are often used with picnic tables or patio furniture, but they also go well at dining room tables.

Customers tell us they love the versatility of benches at the table. They offer a varied amount of seating space – just a person or two when there are fewer people, or many more when there is a party, holiday or just a big family meal. And more people can usually fit together on a bench than trying to a dozen chairs around the table. We’ve even had customers us our bench supports for the table itself! Benches also go well in an entryway space or mudroom. They give place for people to sit and take footwear on and off. They also provide a great place to put groceries or other items being carried in or out. And of course benches do go well outdoors.

They work well in the garden, next to the pool, or even in that sauna you’re dreaming about building. We offer two types of metal bench legs: flat bar bench legs and tube steel bench legs. Each offers the stability and durability of bench legs and they can support much more weight than other leg types. But far be it from us to tell you which style of bench leg is best for your application…you decide, and send us a picture of your final piece. We love to show off the creativity of our clients!

A lot of customers approach us asking how to solve the problem of wobbly wooden table legs. Why does this occur? How can this be prevented? Unfortunately poor construction is often to blame for wobbly table legs. But sometimes heavy use – or even continuous routine use – can make wooden table legs wobble. In order to prevent table legs from getting wobbly they need to be a stable leg suited for the rigors of daily use, and they need to be properly attached to the tabletop. The bent hairpin table legs we offer are durable and long-lasting – and able to handle the demands of everyday use. The legs themselves are hand-constructed from a steel rod – sounds tough, huh? This makes them virtually indestructible. As you can see from the picture we just got from Cindy, hairpin legs offer a simple, sturdy solution to any table build.

The way they are attached to the table makes a big difference. Our legs are not attached to separate brackets that are then attached to the table – they are one solid unit made to be screwed directly into the tabletop itself. If you’re concerned about heavy loads you can also check out two bent hairpin table legs with extra stability built into the design: the Just the Tip legs and the 3 Rod hairpin legs. No matter which hairpin table legs you choose, we know they’ll go well with your tabletop and will support a multitude of uses for a long time to come. Send us a picture of your project when you’re finished!

 

 

 

We just received some photos of a matched set of DIY tables made with our tapered angle iron legs, and they look great! Friends of the company Tomi and Andy came up with the classic design for their new living room, and we’re glad to be a part of the end result.

As you can see, the tabletops are a classic blonde wood with a little touch of weathering if you look closely. The coloration of the modern steel table legs and the greyish portion of the weathered sections of wood play nicely with each other, and the final products look great!

Thanks to Tomi and Andy for sending these photos over, and as always, we love seeing our legs in their final homes…so send us pictures any time you finish a project!

 

 

A custom coffee table is an expression of who we are. As a centerpiece of the living area, coffee tables are a highly visible part of our daily lives. It is great to have this central piece of furniture express who we are and how we keep our homes. Making your own coffee is the very best way to make sure it truly expresses who you are. And it need not take long to make it. Do you like rustic pieces with an antique touch? A great combo for you might be an old wooden door with Square Bar hairpin legs or tapered angle iron legs. Like things more refined with a classic look? Than a refinished oak desk or table top with classic metal hairpin legs may be your style.

No matter what you choose to use, it is easy to get your own coffee table put together. Once you’ve picked out the top you want and the style of metal hairpin legs you just need to attach them with wood screws and you’re all done! Customers have told us that with a rough-style tabletop the whole process can take under an hour. With more attention to detail, like refinishing the tabletop, it could take an afternoon to get all of the pieces ready to be put together. It’s up to you how much time you want to take but either way you’ll have your very own hand-build table in less time than you may think.

You don’t have to take on a finished project like our customer Marco did here (thanks for the pic, Marco!), but it’s proof that if you can dream it, you can make it.

We wanted to take a minute to share a customer photo of a beautiful dining room table Mary made from a great big slab of rough cut wood. She finished the top with a medium-dark stain and finished it with rectangular tube steel bench legs. Above a certain length / height ratio, we suggest using tube steel rather than flat bar steel for custom bench legs. It adds much more stability, along with a square look to the table which some of our clients prefer.

We’re happy to be a part of this amazing creation, which will certainly last Mary and her family for years and years. Here is what she had to say, “I love the legs on my new table! Thanks for your help.”

Thank you, Mary, for choosing us to help finish your DIY table, and send us photos of your next DIY furniture project!

Want your desk customized just for you? Well who better to make your perfect desk than you? We spend lots of time at desks these days and it can be a pleasant or unpleasant experience depending on the desk itself. Style, comfort, and ergonomics all play a role in how much we enjoy using our desks.

Here at Modern Legs we know the perfect desk fit is essential so we offer a range of hairpin table leg sizes – and we’ll even customize the size just for you if the heights we offer don’t meet your needs. Maybe you already have a desk that just needs a height change – or maybe you want to start from scratch. Either way, try out different desktop heights to see what works best for you. What is comfortable and what height makes it easiest to use the desk for all its purposes? Keep in mind that the height of your chair will factor into your desk height. Now that you’ve determined what height you want, measure from the floor to the bottom edge of where you’ll be attaching the hairpin legs. This location may be the underside of the desktop itself or it may be the underside of the drawers.

Now check out what style of hairpin legs you want – the Original hairpin legs, 3 Rod hairpin legs, Square Bar hairpin legs…the list goes on. Once you’ve decided on the style you can see what heights are offered for that style – 4” to 30” in even sizes are the standard heights offered. If the size you want is different than what we want, let us know – we can customize any size up to 30”. You’ll be glad to know all of our metal hairpin legs are made to order right here in the United States from environmentally friendly 100% recyclable steel!