My mother was given a very large burl for a table. Basically a large slice of a big tree. She is going to put it on another tree trunk piece for a nice table. You may try something similar. Even a large piece of plywood on a few tree stumps could look good.

I like the idea of a burl but I do have to say that you must secure the top well with nails to make sure it never topples over. I've lost part of a finger when my mother's burl top coffee table fell on it...

Check with your local electric supplier. They might have an old cable reel they would be willing to part with. They're sturdy enough, and you might be able to paint it to fit in with your landscape.

If you want to go cheap!

We had this huge wooden octagon planter.
I'm having DH made a top for it, sand it down a little and I'll have a beautiful table.

Look at planters. Turn them upside down.

Swimmom

We found several old aquarium stands on "large trash pick up day" and topped them with a slab of stone purchased from a supplier for about $4.00. They stay out all winter and no maintenance!

you could get about 10 2X4s; they cost less than $2 each; cut one in half and lay the others out; put the two halves on the others and screw them all to them; voila table top that will turn a nice old barn grey soon if left undone; could be painted etc; put two planters or anything under it.

Check with your local lumber yard. They may have a pile of pallets that are free for the taking. You could fashion a table out of the wood.

We just picked up three truckloads of them yesterday for the bonfire for the after-grad party that will be held in our field this weekend. Bet you are glad you don't live near me!

I've seen some gorgeous "shabby chic" ones done from old glass pained doors then set on block or even horses.

For the base:

I saw an AMAZING HGTV book at the bookstore the other day of landscape redos.

They'd built a shelf that had legs made of 12 or 16" concrete pavers, with a stained wood tabletop.

Briefly:
Drill a hole through the middle of the each of the pavers, wide enough for a piece of rebar. (You'd need a big ol' masonry bit for this.)

Drive a piece of rebar into the ground where you want the table to be.

"String" the pavers on the spike sticking out of the ground, putting a little concrete or mortar between each to bond them together. They staggered the edges for a neat random effect, but you could also stack them straight into a square column.

Your table could have holes for the rebar too. All you'd have to do is figure out how to hide the rebar sticking up out of the tabletop. If you didn't want to mess with that, you could just pound the rebar down until it was flush with the top of the paver stack and cement the tabletop to the top paver.

If I were going to do this, I think I might make four columns instead of two just to make myself feel better about its stability-- but you could support a LARGE tabletop on four 16" concrete columns!

our first outdoor table when we moved here was made of 2 saw horses from the curb trash and some boards....got a lovely tablecloth from the dolloar store! LOL! It worked for our first summer here and now comes in handy when we need extra table space...our friends do it too. Went to a party last weekend where they did it for extra chips and salads that wouldn't fit on the other table.

For a smaller version use old coolers that everyone throws away for the base(s). Happy trash hunting!

I'll second Our Half Acher's advice, above, re the cable spool. Here's one I talked a worker out of on a school building site. The chairs I trash-picked from my (Massachusetts!) neighbor, and they have traveled w/us to India, and now to Holland. The plant stand I got at a TS here for about 2 bucks.

{{gwi:1257}}

Barbara

If you go to this link then 'Featured Resource' & then 'Items to send for or download' you'll get directions for a picnic table from 1 sheet of 4x8 ply that fits together like a puzzle for easy transport & storage.

Suzi

Here is a link that might be useful: table fro 4x8 sheet

And don't forget that sheets make great inexpensive tableclothes!

Carol