The glass coffee table is a great focal point for any room. It can take the shape of anything because basically all you are doing is placing a thick glass panel on a sturdy base and viola, you have a nice coffee table. However, one of the designs I made in the past gets a lot of attention because it is particularly unique in the area where I come from.
I used to have a glass coffee table that I made from an old fashioned lobster trap and everyone seems to comment on it every time they walk into my house so I thought I would write this article here and let you know 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 nautical equipment. You can find anchors, steering wheels, decals, oars, fishing nets, all kinds of old materials that will really make your room stand out if you go for that nautical theme.
Anyway, one day I came across this old wooden lobster trap. It was quite beaten up, as it was once used in the depths of the sea to catch lobsters for food. Some of the pieces inside were broken and the net was a bit broken. In case you didn’t know, a lobster trap has a wood paneled frame and within that frame are two separate mesh compartments. The net is designed so that the lobster crawls to catch the bait but can never get out. If you’ve ever watched the Deadliest Catch show on the Discovery channel, you’ve seen the advanced version of these things. In the old days of lobster fishing, you had a trap for maybe two or three lobsters, now the scale has gotten a lot bigger.
So I fixed the lobster trap by repairing some of the broken pieces and then I went to the local hardware store and asked them to cut a thick glass for me. The lobster trap is a rectangular box, so I only measured the top and made the glass with those measurements. Once I got the glass I put it on top of the trap and viola: instant coffee table.