Making a piece of furniture from cardboard


Using double and triple wall corrugated fiberboard and cardboard I can make practical, robust and waterproofed items of furniture.

CARDBOARD JAPANESE-STYLE LOW TABLE

Low table made from cardboard
Here you can see a Japanese-style low table made from cardboard that I recently made by slotting different sheets of cardboard together.

The table frame

making the frame of the cardboard table
First, I started by cutting out lengths of cardboard in the shape I want, 3 in all. The middle length of cardboard is used to house the slats that form the main frame of the table and which will give it strength. The hulls of boats are constructed along similar lines. You need to set the 3 lengths in place and glue them together. I placed several sheets one on top of the other for greater strength. I use 2 or 3 sheets to make a length of cardboard, it all depends on the piece of furniture in question and how strong and hard-wearing you want it to be.

covering the table

cardboard table in the process of being made
When the cardboard lengths are put together, I cover the entire structure with cardboard so that there are no openings in the table. The table covering is gradually stuck on using self-adhesive kraft paper tape, and the piece of furniture slowly takes shape, step by step. This helps give the table a more robust structure.

Table with coating applied

Applying coating to cardboard table
As a finishing touch, I coat the entire table with a home-made whiting-based coating. Here's how to make this coating: 9 parts whiting,  6 parts of PVA glue (white wood glue), 3 parts water, 1 spoonful of linseed oil. Next, I paint the table (it can also be covered in hand-made paper) but I prefer paint. To protect and waterproof it, I coat it with a polyurethane aqueous phase varnish (varnish used on parquet floors, for example). The table is ready. It's protected if it gets splashed with water and you can set heavy objects on it, as this table can bear up to 100 kg per m2 (about 20lb per sq ft).