$90 DIY Plywood Waterfall Countertop

Hey guys!! Lets get the laundry room tutorials goin’ shall we?!

When I was planning the laundry room makeover I knew that I wanted the countertop to be wood. Wood just adds so much life to a space and with all of the tile and painted surfaces it needed some liveliness! It also needed to be budget friendly so spending a $1000 on butcher block was just not going to happen. Factor that in with the 2 week turn around and it was even more far fetched. Do you know what I love? Projects that just seem completely impossible, that is where creativity thrives (when you read the word thrives picture jazz hands!)

We pulled this whole job off for under $90! WAHOOO! And in case you were wondering if we were still loving the stacked plywood look, the answer is a resounding yes. We get so many compliments on the tables at Durango’s, it just makes my life.

To make this project you’ll need:

(2) 4×8 sheets of plywood (1 premium and 1 not-so-premium)
Wood Glue
Finishing Nails
Wood Screws
Feet
Brackets
Polyurethane

Start by measuring the size that you want your countertop to be. You’ll need to leave at least an inch between the top of the washer/dryer and the countertop and an inch on each side. I had some people ask about their dancing appliances. If your washer/dryer move around when they are cycling they need to be balanced better, it shouldn’t effect your countertop design. Heck maybe it will help tone it down a little?

It was super important to me design wise to have the wood grain waterfall down the side (so that its continuous) because plywood comes in an 8 foot length you’ll want to keep that in mind if you are planning on doing the same! We used the entire 8’ length for our countertop.

The first step is to glue your sheets of plywood together. You’ll need 1 sheet of premium plywood (ours was Birch) and one sheet of regular plywood. Using the regular plywood on the second layer will save $, which is always a good idea. We started by gluing together the sheets of plywood with Titebond III wood glue and letting it cure for 48 hours. You can use wood clamps to hold it together while its curing, or you can use screws. If you are using screws, just make sure that they aren’t placed where you need to make your cuts!

Once everything is dry, use a table saw to cut it to size. Make sure that the side that waterfalls down is cut at 45 degree angles so that they match up! (You’ll do this by setting your saw blade to 45 degrees before you make the cut!)

We didn’t attach the corner together until we were installing the countertop. I didn’t want the waterfall side of the countertop mounted to the brand new tile, so to stabilize it we used feet. That way they could be adjusted to the exact height and easily level everything out.

To brace the countertop we installed 2×4’s into the studs along the back wall and corner brackets along the side wall. Make sure that they are level and at least an inch above the height of your washer and dryer.

We secured the top of our countertop to the brackets using wood screws.

To join our 2 pieces to make the waterfall, we put brackets on the top piece and secured it to the side of the vertical piece.

Once everything was installed I gave it a light sanding with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth everything perfectly and applied a coat of Triple Thick Polyurethane.

If you have any questions, leave them in the comments, I’ll be happy to help answer them!