The glass coffee table is a great focal point for any room. It can take the form of anything because all you’re basically doing is putting a thick glass panel on top of a sturdy base and you have a nice looking coffee table. However, one of the designs I’ve done in the past draws a lot of attention because it’s particularly unique to the area where I come from.
I used to have a glass coffee table that I made out of an old lobster trap and everyone seems to comment on it every time they walk into my house, so I thought I’d write this article here and tell you what I did to build it.
The lobster trap coffee table is relatively easy to build. I grew up in New England, so there were a lot of stores that sold vintage boating equipment. You can find anchors, steering wheels, decals, oars, fishing nets, all sorts of vintage materials that will really make your room pop if you’re after that nautical theme.
Anyway, one day I came across this old wooden lobster trap. It was pretty beat up, having once been used in the deep sea to catch lobsters for food. Some of the pieces inside were broken and the net was a bit torn. In case you didn’t know, a lobster trap has a wood paneled frame and inside that frame are two separate net compartments. The net is designed so that the lobster will crawl to reach the bait but can never get out. If you’ve ever seen the show Deadliest Catch on the Discovery Channel, you’ve seen the advanced version of this stuff. In the old days of lobster catching you would have a trap for maybe two or three lobsters, now the scale has gotten much bigger.
So I fixed the lobster trap by repairing some of the broken pieces and then I went to my local hardware store and had them cut me a thick pane of glass. The lobster trap is a rectangular box, so I only measured the top and made the glass to those measurements. Once I got the glass I put it on top of the trap and viola: instant coffee table.
