DIY Bar Table Made From A Wine Barrel

We love to upcycle items, or make something new out of something that might be tossed out. Recently a neighbor gifted my mother with this used wooden barrel and they turned it into a Bar Table for their porch outdoors. They made the bar table completely out of items they had around their house (the bar stools are ones that were purchased years ago). Not only was this a frugal way to come up with extra seating for their porch, but its a real conversation piece too.

If you were to buy a pre-made wood barrel bar table, chances are you would have to pay somewhere between $500 to well over $1000. They are not cheap pieces of furniture. Even if you have to pay more then we did for some of the pieces to get this project done, chances are you will be saving big by making it yourself. We have lots of tips below on where you can track down the resources you will need to make your own Wine/Whiskey Barrel Bar table too!

Here is how they did it:

Standard bar table height generally runs around 40″ to 42″ tall
The wood barrel is about 30 inches in height, so they needed around an extra foot added to it
They accomplished this by cutting a 10 inch stump base, and placing the barrel on top of that. They live on property so were able to find a tree that was larger in diameter then the barrel and use a stump piece from that.
Cut table top out of scrap wood of your choice, approximately 6 inches in diameter bigger then the top of the wooden barrel. You can really use just about any wood that you want for the table top, just make sure its sanded down on the top and then sealed to protect it from the elements.
You can attach the barrel to the wood stump with wood glue.
Then attach the top to the barrel with wood glue, and screws (you can first attach 3 inch pieces of one by one to the barrel and then screw the table top into those if there is not a wide enough brim).

Find the supplies for a project like this could be the tricky part if you do not have wood that you can get your own stump from, or if your neighbor does not supply you with the wood barrel. Here are some tips on where you can possibly find similar supplies. Chances are that even if you have to pay for the supplies, you will still save a bundle vs buying an outdoor bar table.

Tips for Tracking Down Supplies to Make Your Own Barrel Bar Table:

Stump for a Base –

Your yard is a possible place for the perfect stump base. If that is not an option here are some other ideas you can use to try to track a stump down.

Look for folks selling or giving away firewood on sites like Craigslist. You can sometimes contact them and arrange to get a slice of the tree they are cutting firewood from, without it being cut into firewood size logs.

Local conservation areas where they regularly cut trees is a good place to look.

Side of the road(downed trees – just make sure you have the rights to take the wood).

I have heard that some of the local salvage stores sometimes might have materials like this, so you may want to give them a call to check in? Earthwise is one I have heard recommended before (note, I have never purchased a stump from them, but may be worth a try).

Once you have tracked down a stump, be sure to leave it outside (someplace covered) or inside to dry for a month or two. This will insure that any shrinkage happens before you make the table.

Barrel for the Middle –

The Barrel is probably going to be the trickiest part to find. If you want a barrel the size that is used for the bar table in this post, you will want to look for a 30 gallon barrel. You could use a smaller size to create a standard table height table. A couple of terms you can use when you are looking for this item include: wood barrel, whiskey barrel and wine barrel.

Check ebay, we found some on sale there from around $100 to $200 per barrel.

If you have display stores in your area, you might want to call them to see if they carry large wood barrels. Sometimes they will only sell them in bulk, but from time to time you can get them to sell you a single floor model. Event planning services could also be someone you could check with to see if they have a local recommendation of where to get wood barrels.

If you are striking out trying to find more authentic whiskey or wine barrels, sometimes you can find wood grain wood barrels that could work with the same look too.

Table Top –

This part is really up to you, in terms of what the look you are going for is. You could buy new wood and treat it to look older. If you want to get a similar look like scrap wood, try looking into some of the second use type stores in your area (ie in Northwest a couple of examples include Second Use, Re-store, Habitat for Humanity stores, etc.).

You could even go to a warehouse store like Home Depot and get a pre-built round table top like this one.

Also be sure to check out our post on how to recover bar stools. You could pick up a couple of used bar stools, and recover them with outdoor fabric to continue to keep your cost down!

DIY Bar Table Made From A Wine Barrel