Birdie Coffee Table!!!

Years ago, okay almost a decade ago, I slapped four kitchen table legs on a pre-fab panel, and screwed on a couple of manzanita trees...

Almost immediately, Sally abandoned her cage, and stayed on this thing almost 24/7... She went back to her cage to eat and drink, and once I started putting her treat cups on the table, she didn't even go back to her cage for that.





I made this one in less than an hour from a bunch of manzanita that was harvested during fire season. (It's a fire hazard in NorCal. The stuff grows wild and they clear cut it... It's like found money to me!) That table top hasn't been the easiest thing in the world to clean. Now I know better. Vinyl tile is the way to go!

Sooo, I got a half priced load of six grapewood vines. What do I do with it? I know! I'll Make a birdie coffee table!

So I ran to the hardware store and picked up a few things:



A 4 ft by 2 ft craft panel (18.00), Prefab table legs (5.20 each) and fittings (1.30 each), 8 tiles (.88 cents each) some wood screws, and a couple of PVC pipes and fittings.

I had originally planned to put a canopy and add a cargo net to this thing, which you can easily do, but after the wood part was created, I decided I liked it better as it was.

Pics!?
you seems to have so many good ideas.

Ann333 said:

Pics!?
you seems to have so many good ideas.

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Nice concept....previous post you mentioned grape vines...how well dose that hold up? seems that is a bit brittle, but then I have never used it before. One thing I do in early spring is walk the beaches of lake Michigan or Huron and collect large washed up drift wood. I wash it and clean it. cut it to dimensions, makes a sweet stand, perch or climbing tree depending on size. Bark is usually long gone so it's bare wood. Birds love it.

Grape wood holds up pretty good- especially if you've got the larger pieces- the bark can be chipped off easily, but the wood underneath is pretty hard. (I have a hanging play gym made out of it)

getwozzy said:

Grape wood holds up pretty good- especially if you've got the larger pieces- the bark can be chipped off easily, but the wood underneath is pretty hard. (I have a hanging play gym made out of it)

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Need to try that.

Step one: Screw in your table leg fittings. I did these two inches from the end on all sides.



Step Two: Screw in the legs



Just like that, you made a coffee table!

Next we lay out our tabletop branches, and mark where they go, and pre-drill our holes. Mark the bottom of the branches so you remember which is which.



Next we carefully lay our tile on the top:



Now poop just wipes clean!

Then we put wood screws in each of the holes until the tips are just barely poking into the tile. (This is to prevent the tile from lifting.) Screwing the branches on is a two person job. One person holds it in place, the other screws them in. Pressure from the person pushing down on the branch keeps the tile in place, as you add branches. They just screw in tightly.









Was that a HOLY CRAP I just heard?!

Next we make a PVC edge, which will serve as both a border around the table to keep bird mess off the floor, and will prevent them from chewing on the table, which is made of pine, so it is technically just another very large bird toy...



Then we wrap the perches with our gorilla tape (I ran out in the middle of taping it, so it still isn't finished.) And we screw each of the elbow fittings into the corners of the table top with wood screws. Since we are screwing this in place, there is no need to use glue. It isn't coming apart any time soon...

And, that's how you make a really cool DIY birdie coffee table...

If you want to add treat cups to the thing, all you need to do is get a couple of those screw in treat cups they make for the Java Wood stands. My birds already HAVE plenty of food bowls to choose from, which makes my entire bird room a foraging toy...

Next we add stainless steel eye hooks in strategic places for hanging toys. Add the toys, and we are all done.

Yeah. It's a bit "man overboard" but I like it...

You can use any bird safe wood, obviously. I just happened to have a load of grapewood.

Want it taller?! Use prefab kitchen table legs instead of prefab coffee table legs, and it comes out the height of Sally's playstand in the window... or use taller trees.

Use your imagination...

That is so cool. Very good job

6 grape vines next door . They are gone until summer. I know what I will be doing this weekend LOL

You'd make a fortune selling those, Mark! It came out AWESOME.

Christinenc2000 said:

That is so cool. Very good job

6 grape vines next door . They are gone until summer. I know what I will be doing this weekend LOL

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I'm sure they won't even miss them when they come back.

JerseyWendy said:

You'd make a fortune selling those, Mark! It came out AWESOME.

Christinenc2000 said:

That is so cool. Very good job

6 grape vines next door . They are gone until summer. I know what I will be doing this weekend LOL

Click to expand...

I'm sure they won't even miss them when they come back.

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Or notice when they come over to visit... Hmmm... those look vaguely familiar... we had something like that in our yard once...

I'm not sure anyone makes a fortune making birdie playstands, but these are quite unique. I really like the way it turned out.

Christinenc2000 said:

That is so cool. Very good job

6 grape vines next door . They are gone until summer. I know what I will be doing this weekend LOL

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For good grapes you are soposed to cut them back. Charge em for the yard work!

Flboy said:

Christinenc2000 said:

That is so cool. Very good job

6 grape vines next door . They are gone until summer. I know what I will be doing this weekend LOL

Click to expand...

For good grapes you are soposed to cut them back. Charge em for the yard work!

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Yup. You guys are funny.
Its a summer home of a Lawyer and Dr. that live in Raleigh. They were actually going to destroy them all but we tend to it Just got my Macaw the end of Oct so never thought about using the Grapevines. They will be trimmed to perfection from now on.

You are SUCH a great neighbor!!!

I had a friend that had a patch of land in NorCal, and he would get fire hazard notices every year from all the wild manzanita growing on his property... I was happy to help him cut it down... (That's where Sally's bird tree table came from.)

Now, of course, that stuff is being sold to harvesting companies who turn around and sell it to perch makers, and wedding centerpiece people...

Love it, that's tremendous.

Birdman666 said:

You are SUCH a great neighbor!!!

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LOL Thanks. No way would I cut and destroy those vines. I really enjoy the grapes and I am sure BB will . Just have to look and see if I can trim large enough sections and not do any harm to the plant

They also have a greenhouse with a Lemon Tree we make sure does not go to waste.

What size wood did you use ? Rough Idea

Question, do you predrill the tile?
It is beyond fantastic!

Christinenc2000 said:

Birdman666 said:

You are SUCH a great neighbor!!!

Click to expand...

LOL Thanks. No way would I cut and destroy those vines. I really enjoy the grapes and I am sure BB will . Just have to look and see if I can trim large enough sections and not do any harm to the plant

They also have a greenhouse with a Lemon Tree we make sure does not go to waste.

What size wood did you use ? Rough Idea

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Each one was 2 feet tall.

Flboy said:

Question, do you predrill the tile?
It is beyond fantastic!

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No. You pre-drill the wood under the tile, then lay the tile on top. You'll chew up the tile if you try and drill through it. Then it looks like crap.

Holding down the branches keeping pressure on the tile screwing up from the bottom keeps the tile from coming up, or getting chewed up by the drill... That's why you put them in the holes just to the point of the screw...

Birdman666 said:

JerseyWendy said:

You'd make a fortune selling those, Mark! It came out AWESOME.

Christinenc2000 said:

That is so cool. Very good job

6 grape vines next door . They are gone until summer. I know what I will be doing this weekend LOL

Click to expand...

I'm sure they won't even miss them when they come back.

Click to expand...

Or notice when they come over to visit... Hmmm... those look vaguely familiar... we had something like that in our yard once...

I'm not sure anyone makes a fortune making birdie playstands, but these are quite unique. I really like the way it turned out.

Click to expand...

You could make nice little income from it....Some Avian stores, Not the commercial ones like petsmart, allow makers of stuff like these to be sold in their stores and do not ask much if any profit from it..There's a person I know that makes play stands and little play gyms and desplays them for sale there. Heard they make 800 to 1600 a month on good months. Not a get rich quick thing, but surely nice extra income. Which by the way your designs top any I've seen homemade sold in these avian stores.

That being said, I find table tops all the time that are thrown out, or cheap garage sale table. Sometimes you can find good discounts at Menards. I found a 48 inch x 30 inch butcher block counter top that was special ordered and never picked up. Menards sold it to me for 25 dollars. Guess what I'm going to make with that? Yep....a Bird play gym stand. And your right....vinyl floor tiles clean up quite nice...also you can use the heavy thick plastic floor mats that are use for walkways and hallways, or even see at desks where a study chair rolls on....this can be cut to fit a coffee table or placed under a cage (as I do) and cleans up in a heart beat. Poop on wooden floors is like concrete.

Bingo! Vinyl tile! Thought it was marble tile!

Flboy said:

Bingo! Vinyl tile! Thought it was marble tile!

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NOPE. The cheap stuff .88 cents each.

Cutting through marble tile without cracking it is tricky from what I understand.

Maybe someday, if my numbers hit, but right now 88 cent tile is good enough for bird poop...