DIY Outdoor Buffet

What? I didn’t know anyone needed a DIY outdoor buffet! But, oh you do if you love to grill out!

Reclaimed lumber

I thought I might use this free wood to make another potting table or outdoor entertaining station. But now that I’ve completed my diy outdoor furniture project, I like to call it a DIY outdoor buffet!

Now, let’s see how all of these bits and pieces came together to make this DIY outdoor buffet.

Vintage Windows

I sort of knew what I wanted in my head. So, I grabbed a couple of windows and 4×4’s from my stash and started measuring.

Reclaimed 2×4’s and 4×4’s were used to build the base of the diy outdoor buffet.

Basic Construction of diy outdoor buffet

This picture makes me giggle. It’s one of those aha moments! I made the front section and the rear section, then stood them up and instantly realized that I did NOT need those tall 4×4 supports in the front. I guess those of you who sketch out your projects would figure it out before it gets to this stage.

Nothing that my Ryobi reciprocating saw can’t handle.

There’s nothing wrong with plan B

There we go! much better!

I used 4×4’s for the legs, and 2×4’s for the horizontal braces. For a temporary hold, I have a fence board screwed from front to back to keep everything held up. I started the build on this porch to make sure that everything was level and squared.

For continuity keep all weathered pieces visible in the front

To keep everything looking uniform I tried to use original ends toward the front instead of fresh cut ends. Exterior wood screws were used for this project. And for those of you who don’t own a Kreg Jig – no worries – all of these joints are simple butt joints. No jig needed.

This is the bare bones of the base of my furniture project. The stained boards I showed you at the beginning of this post were only 36” long, so I had to get creative on adding them.

Begin building out outdoor buffet

I’ve cut the boards for the upper back, and the table top. But I wanted to get everything cut before I started attaching anything. Although I used reclaimed lumber, you could easily buy cedar fence boards for this project.

While I was cutting more stained boards, it started pouring rain. I had to quickly gather all the boards, put the large saw away in the garage, and drag this monster to the carport. It rained a lot for a long time.

After getting most of the boards cut, I started attaching the boards along the side of the outdoor buffet.

Continue attaching fence boards

Working through the rain I got all the boards attached. I used some new screws, but many of the screws I used were removed from the stained boards. I used my jigsaw to notch the bottom boards in the back, and the lower shelf (near the front).

Using windows as doors for outdoor buffet

The carport is very uneven. I had to use some boards to try to level it out while attaching the windows—that’s why there are boards scattered everywhere. I used sewing cabinet hinges for the windows/doors. For the inside shelves I used some reclaimed wood fencing that simply rests on the side braces.

Now this is where it got ugly. I painted the windows to give them a fresh look. Someone had “sprayed” the panes before I got them. Scraping “my” paint off was very easy. However, scraping the sprayed paint took forever!

I finally ended up laying the diy outdoor buffet on it’s back and spread some soapy water on the paint and let it soak before scraping it over and over again. It seriously took me hours to get all of that paint off of the glass.