1959 – Make a Mid-Century Modern Coffee Table

Woman’s Day magazines would often feature a how-to section that educated readers about how to do a variety of things. Here is an example. This article from the February 1959 edition gave step-by-step instructions showing how or build a Danish coffee table. The table and instructions were supplied by the award winning team of Peter Hjorth and Arne Karlsen who had recently won first prize in Copenhagen’s Cabinetmaker’s Guild competition. Their goal was both form and function.

Their philosophy of design is that furniture should be, first of all, a tool for everyday use, but in addition, it should be beautiful and artistic.

Woman’s Day’s goal was to provide a project for beginners.

The table shown above was actually built and tested in our worship. We used the simplest methods of construction so that only a few ordinary workshop tools are needed to make it.

If you love the look of mid-century modern and are handy with a saw, here are the instructions to download.