Life at the Chicken Coop

From Legs to Table

I have been looking for a console table for my living room for several months and couldn't seem to find anything that worked in my price range (I know, $20 isn't much!)

So on my last trip to Boise, I sent my Mom on an outing across town to find some legs that I could use to make a table. And, she did it! She found these two solid wood legs for $4 a piece at a second-hand store. I was so glad she found them, as they are perfect for what I had in mind.

Using my very amateur woodworking skills, and drawing on alot of time spent watching Travis work on wood projects, I made this table one Saturday. I used pieces of scrap wood and trim we had in the shop and a trusty hammer and nails (I wished our air compressor was working so I could use a finish nailer for the trim pieces, but oh well).

A tip from my Mom: when you want to make furniture look old, sand the sharp edges, like on the edges of the top of this table. I was surprised how much it really did make this table look older with edges that look like they'd seen alot of wear and tear versus the tack-sharp edges of brand new wood. I never would have thought to do that and I liked the added effect it gave.

Next step was to prime it using Zinsser's shellac-based primer (a great sticks-to-everything primer), and caulk between the trim pieces.

And lastly, the most agonizing part (because I couldn't stop tweaking and adding more finishes): paint/stain/oil/sand it.

There really was no method to my madness, I just wanted it to be dark enough to fit in with the rest of the dark furniture in the room, but not be too matchy. I used about six different bottles of craft paint to make a peachy/beige background, then applied a dark walnut stain over that, then some more gold/beige/glazing medium, and then finally, two coats of dark Danish oil.

I am now content (at least for now) with this puppy. I didn't think I could make it by myself, but I did, somehow (with help from Travis to mount it on the wall level). I like how it anchors the pictures on the wall, doesn't get in the way of traffic flow, looks somewhat antiquated, and gives the entry-less front door area more of an entry-like feel.