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