You’ve heard of coffee table books, you probably have a few adorning your own coffee table. Well after staring at a stack of books that I’d read many times it occurred to me that the stack was the perfect height for a coffee table. So I hot glued each book to the next, made several stacks, and had myself a book stack coffee table.

I finished mine off with a tray but you could also place a piece of glass over your book stacks. The end result can look contemporary, oriental, country, traditional, Victorian … well you get the idea, depending on what types of books you use. 

Easy End Table

Use the same idea as for the coffee table but stack your books to use as an end table. Since this is just one stack, even gluing them together won’t be super sturdy so you may want to use the directions below for a sturdy table.

How to Make a Sturdy Book Table

Use a wooden dowel or straight branch that is shorter than the stack of books by ½ the width of both the top and bottom books. Drill a hole through the center of each book (except the top and bottom books) that’s just a hair larger than the dowel. Drill the same size hole ½ way through the top and bottom books. Squirt glue into the bottom book’s hole. Insert the dowel. Spread glue around the one or two inches of the dowel that is sticking out of the top of the book and slide on the next book. Continue gluing and sliding on books until you come to the top book. Squirt glue into the hole in the top book and slide onto the dowel. I like to use these end tables in spaces where I need somewhere to rest a coffee cup but there isn’t enough space for a larger table.

The cool thing about this method is that you don’t have to worry about where the holes line up from  book to book as long as they’re roughly in the middle of each book. A slightly askew stack of books is charming.