DIY bath tables: 5 assembly options

We have already mentioned the fact that most of the time a person spends going to the bathhouse is spent not in the steam room, but in the dressing room or relaxation room. And in these rooms the most important piece of furniture is the table. This unique king of the feast can be a standard one, purchased at a nearby supermarket, or it can be unique down to the last piece, made independently. Today, we choose a table for the bathhouse, meticulously and competently.

When shape and size matter

It must be said that a bathhouse, in most cases, has quite limited dimensions of the interior spaces and this circumstance must be taken into account when making superficial design sketches or when serious and detailed interior design. In any case, it is necessary to take into account the unwritten rules of the domestic bath tradition:

1. The table for the bath, however, like the rest of the bath decoration, should be as practical as possible. If you are faced with a dilemma between choosing an elaborate and elegant one or a modest but very comfortable one, give preference to the second. You will never regret it.
2. The interior decoration of a real bathhouse should be natural. You should also not overuse various decorative chemicals, which give simple wood the charm and shine of exotic varieties. Believe me, there are many ways to refine wood without resorting to impregnations, stains, paints and varnishes. An exception may be perhaps completely substandard wood, the defectiveness of which should be masked with the help of global toning. And objects treated in this way should be located away from the steam room, with its temperature and humidity.
3. Internal space should be used rationally. Surely it’s worth sacrificing one seat, rather than all the participants in the feast experiencing global inconvenience.
4. If the interior space, after installing the furniture, in particular the table, looks excessively cramped and cluttered, then it is necessary to use bath tables with high legs and focus the visual perception on the horizontal elements of the structure.
5. When placing such a large object as a table in the internal volume, always use the golden rule - the farther from the steam room, the better and more durable.
6. Don't get hung up on stereotypes and dogmas. You need to feel free to experiment. For example, with wicker furniture. Lightness, openwork, naturalness, along with sufficient strength and durability make you look closely at objects of this type. Leather furniture can also be good, but only natural, with sufficient strength and resistance to the difficult conditions of a bathhouse. It is necessary to select an appropriate table for it, which will look harmonious and natural, framed by leather splendor.

Homemade furniture for the heart of the bath - steam room

In a good, proper steam room, apart from places to lie down and a few handy accessories (rest for head and feet, basin, ladle), there should be nothing superfluous. It is important that hot air circulates freely in the steam room, so you should not clutter the steam room. You can make shelves for your bath or sauna yourself.

Before you start making sun loungers for the steam room, you need to decide what you need. What shape, width or size should the shelves be, how will it be located: in the form of steps or along the perimeter of the steam room; what it is intended for: for sitting or lying - all this depends on the desires and imagination of the owner, as well as on the characteristics of the room.

Before you start making furniture, prepare drawings

• The first stage of making a shelf for a bathhouse is measuring the room and sketching the future lounger. It is necessary to measure the steam room as accurately as possible and draw a schematic drawing of it, where you must indicate the location of the boiler and door. Then draw the future shelves on the drawing, indicating its dimensions and attachment points.

• After all measurements have been taken, boards and timber have been purchased, you can begin to work. We assemble a frame from timber (section 100 x 50). The racks can be fastened together with metal screws, so they will not be on the surface. The distance between the posts is no more than 45-50 cm.
• Next we make seats for the shelves. They can be made from well-sanded boards or from lining. The boards must be fastened at a distance of 1-1.5 cm from each other. This will allow water to flow down smoothly and also allow the seats to dry out faster. It is better to fasten the boards for the seat with wooden dowels, since you can subsequently get burned on the metal heads of nails or screws.

Advice! Do not treat wooden products in the steam room with anything: varnish, paint, chemical impregnations. At high temperatures this is fraught with toxic fumes and poisoning.

Wooden splendor

The wooden bath table continues to be an unfading classic of the genre of domestic bath interior. Wooden objects have many advantages:

• High ecological purity of the product, its naturalness and naturalness in the interior decoration;
• Low thermal conductivity and heat capacity, which is a very valuable quality in relation to the realities of a Russian bath;
• A wooden table for a bathhouse has the necessary margin of strength and natural durability with relatively simple and unpretentious maintenance;
• Wood is easy to process and to work with it you need a fairly small list of available tools.

To be fair, it is worth mentioning the use of other materials from which it is theoretically possible to make a bath table:

• Plywood and MDF are unique substitutes for solid natural wood, in the production of which various chemicals are used, including alkyd resins;
• Plastic - some of its types, manufactured to food grade tolerances, are suitable for the production of furniture and tables in particular. Products based on plastic masses are durable, lightweight and sufficiently strong. Caring for them is easy. However, the presence of plastic in the bathhouse interior negates the charm of the bathhouse itself;
• Metal - due to the characteristics of steel, cast iron and tables made of non-ferrous metals and their alloys, their presence in the bathhouse is appropriate in the form of individual elements, but not the structure as a whole.

Types of wood for making bath tables

A wooden table for a bath is made from certain types of industrial wood that have the necessary consumer qualities. These include the following:

• Linden. A pleasant, easy-to-work wood with well-structured wood of uniform color and a pleasant aroma. Retains its original qualities for a long time;
• Alder. Wood of this species should also be classified as a priority. It is easily and predictably processed, and is satisfactorily resistant to warping under conditions of frequent temperature changes. The wood texture has an attractive appearance with minimal decoration and processing. When choosing commercial raw materials, special attention should be paid to the degree and quality of drying; for alder raw materials this is fundamental and important;
• Aspen. It is distinguished by good quality solid wood, in which knots and other serious defects are rarely found. Materials of this type are affordable and well processed. Among the disadvantages, it should be noted the tendency to warping and drying out. It is worth remembering that aspen tabletops do not withstand significant mechanical loads very well;
• Poplar. In terms of their characteristics, materials made from this type of wood are close to aspen. However, despite being cheap and accessible, poplar products are not particularly durable;
• Oak. It’s especially nice to make a table for a bathhouse with your own hands from this wood. Its noble color, deep original texture, and spicy oak aroma distinguish it from a host of other species. Excellent strength and record durability put oak furniture beyond competition. The disadvantages include the high cost of conditioned wood and the tendency to split when fastened with self-tapping screws.

A word from Experienced! You can avoid chipping when fastening with self-tapping screws by pre-drilling. Drilling of the fastening channel is carried out with a tool whose diameter is 25% smaller than the diameter of the self-tapping screw used.

It is worth mentioning separately about the use of coniferous wood in our carpentry practice. Spruce and pine are among the most affordable lumber on the domestic market. However, making a table for a bathhouse with your own hands from such raw materials is not always rational. Firstly, all conifers are quite resinous, secondly, it is unlikely to obtain a beautiful and bright texture without subsequent processing and, finally, using them in conditions of high humidity means dooming them to a short life. From coniferous wood, it is worth using cedar and larch, and the latter is more preferable in terms of the cost of raw materials.

How to make a ladle with your own hands: video tutorials

Hand-made furniture can be made in a variety of variations. But before you start the production process, decide on the desired set of furniture. Among the most common pieces of furniture, it is worth highlighting: a bench, a basin with a tub, a font, bath shelves and a table.

A bench consisting of four legs, a seat, crossbars and braces can be made very quickly. In addition, such a design will be highly stable. To begin, cut the components of the bench: legs measuring 5x5 cm, a seat 5 cm thick and struts the same size as the legs. Make cutouts for the crossbars on the inside of the legs.

For those who like to do everything with their own hands, there was a video on how to make a carved ladle. A special cutter with different attachments is used here, but if desired, everything can be done with hand tools. It will undoubtedly take more time, but it’s hardly worth buying equipment just for a couple of buckets.

The second video is about how to make a carved ladle for a bath. Here the master works exclusively with hand tools. His dexterity is enviable.

The process of arranging your own home is an extremely sensitive and heartfelt process. The same applies to arranging a bathhouse or sauna. After all, this is the place where the process of relaxation and restoration of mental and physical strength will take place. Therefore, the selection of furniture should be approached consciously and thoughtfully.

Wooden furniture is best suited for a bath

Naturally, the most suitable furniture for a bathhouse will be furniture made of solid wood. For example, from linden or aspen. This wood can withstand high temperatures and high humidity well, has low thermal conductivity, so it will serve in your corner of health for a long time without deforming or causing harm to its owners.

With a little construction skills, almost anyone can make a dressing room table or steam room shelves for themselves and their loved ones. You need to be patient and have the desire to create something.

Choosing the shape of the tabletop and legs

The design idea is played out around two main elements of the table design: the table top and its legs.

When discussing the shape of countertops, we can distinguish several main, key types:

• Round - they look original, they unite the bath company in the manner of King Arthur’s knights, but they set strict requirements for the usable area of ​​the rest room. It is worth remembering that a table for a bathhouse with your own hands, which has radius elements in its design, is much more difficult to process than rectilinear ones;
• Oval - in terms of the totality of consumer qualities, they are close to round, but are even more demanding on the space of the room. An important positive quality of both types of tables is the complete absence of sharp corners, which has a beneficial effect on the level of household injuries in the conditions of a particular bathhouse;
• Square and rectangular are classics of the bath genre. They are compact and practical, more convenient to manufacture and finish than their curvilinear counterparts.

The next component of the table, on which, in fact, the tabletop rests, are the legs. Their variety is small and the main types should be considered as follows:

• A table with four legs is a classic design. Allowing maximum stability over a large area. This solution frees up space under the tabletop, providing ample freedom for the legs of the participants in the feast;
• A table with three legs is a less common solution. Due primarily to the insufficient stability of the entire system as a whole and requiring the use of a tabletop of a certain shape;
• A table with two legs is a simple and well-deserved design. Suitable for massive countertops in a simple rustic style. The overall strength of the table is determined by the use of additional fastening elements, which somewhat limits the free space below;
• Table with one central leg. This solution is applicable for round and oval-shaped countertops. For acceptable stability, the surface area of ​​the table should be limited to accommodate a group of 4 people.

Preliminary preparation of lumber

Antiseptic for steam rooms

Be sure to keep in mind that the humidity in bath rooms is very high. Before making furniture, treat the lumber with antiseptic and special polymer preparations. So, your furniture will last much longer!

Do not forget that it is strictly prohibited to coat furniture for bath rooms with varnish! This is because it contains chemicals that, when heated, can be hazardous to your health and the health of your friends.

Self-production: from a set of tools to the finished product

Before you make a table for a bathhouse with your own hands from wood, you should definitely take care of the availability of high-quality raw materials and a minimum sufficient set of tools.

The choice of raw materials consists of selecting boards, timber and slats. Lumber must meet a number of requirements:

• Have acceptable geometric parameters regarding straightness and absence of signs of warping and torsion;
• A sign of good quality material should be the absence of through knots, the so-called “nails”;

Important! When purchasing lumber made from larch, you should know that the wood of this species very often has “knots and nails” and purchasing a board that is absolutely free of such defects is a real success.

• The wood should not show signs of damage by insect borers, fungi, molds or other biological defects.

The list of tools needed to make a wooden sauna table with your own hands is also not particularly sophisticated. The minimum set includes:

• Tape measure or carpenter's ruler. Provides preliminary and assembly marking of workpieces;
• Bubble building level. Allows you to control the straightness of the structure, both at the cutting stage and during assembly;
• A wood hacksaw or circular saw, the so-called parquet type. Will help in cutting blanks into the necessary individual structural elements. When making a table with a large number of radius curves, it is worth taking care of the presence of an electric jigsaw equipped with a blade for figured cutting;
• A screwdriver, corded or cordless, or a screwdriver with a Phillips-shaped working part;
• Sanding paper on a wooden block or belt sander. Necessary for finishing the external surfaces of the structure;
• Hand router with collet chuck and set of wood cutters. It is not a mandatory tool, like a jigsaw, but it will significantly improve and decorate the product by milling edges and applying decorations of a different nature;
• Fastening elements. These include self-tapping screws, wooden nails - spikes, bolts, studs, nuts. In the case of merging parts using a classic tenon joint, high-quality wood glue will be required;
• To eliminate defects, wood putty is a good help. Often such material is tinted to match the color of solid wood of a certain species.

Washcloths

There is a wide range of sets of bath accessories, which include brushes, washcloths, peeling stones, etc. If you want an original product that satisfies all your preferences, make it yourself.

A washcloth is necessary for body cleansing and wet massage. This procedure is not only pleasant, but also beneficial for the body. Sponges can be of different hardness, sizes and shapes. You need to choose a washcloth based on your personal tastes.

To knit a washcloth from natural materials, choose the wool of goats, sheep or any other farm animals. You can also use linen. The yarn for the washcloth must be thick, since the product itself is subject to mechanical stress, so choose the appropriate size of knitting needles or hook.

Most often, washcloths are knitted using the “checkerboard” or “tangle” pattern. The main part of the washcloth is knitted after the handle is ready. The handle must be tight, otherwise it will lose its appearance immediately after the first use. The product will not be so tough if you pour boiling water over it.