Pedestal Table Make-Over Reveal

Well, finally!! Yes, we have finally really for real finished our table make-over! It definitely took a long time, but it was worth the hard work, sweat, tears (yes, tears), and the long wait for such an exciting reveal!

This project was time consuming, and tricky at times, but really fun overall! So, we decided to share a detailed tutorial and tips/mistakes we figured out along the way in case any of you want to try to re-do your own table!

We found a great tutorial from {Addicted 2 Decorating} from a Pinterest pin and tweaked it along the way to make it work for what we wanted our table to look like.

So without further ado!

How to Make Your Own Round Table Top

First of all, you'll need a few supplies to get started. We purchased a majority of our supplies from Lowe's, but when we needed to get extra sand paper and a new sander we went to Home Depot which was closer.

1/ You'll need a piece of wood that is 2x12x16  OR two pieces of wood that are 2x12x8. Have someone at the store cut the board into 4 pieces that are 4 feet long. So, if you get the 16ft, cut it into 4 pieces, if you get the two 8ft pieces, cut both in half. Definitely make sure your pieces of wood don't look warped and look as straight as possible. You'll want a pretty good quality piece of wood if you want to eliminate a lot of sanding. We got a mid-grade piece of pine.
2/ You'll need lots of sand paper. In the picture we have 120 grit, but we ended up going back to Home Depot and getting 60grit and 100grit for the initial sanding, then 180 for fine sanding to finish it. I would also highly recommend getting an orbital sander if you do not have one and getting the sandpaper discs. We learned the hard way and started out without an orbital sander and had to buy one and extra sand paper to go with it!
3/ Get quality wood glue. We used Elmer's. Don't get the small bottle. We ended up adding more glue several times just to be safe.
4/ Get quality wood filler. We went with Elmer's again. We definitely didn't need that large container, but it was okay since we'll likely need it for other projects down the road.
5/ Pick up some shims to help to support the boards when you glue them together and clamp or strap your boards.
6/ Please use face masks!! And if you don't have protective goggles, pick up a pair of those as well.
7/ You'll need a jigsaw with a smooth cut blade. We didn't have one so we purchased one from Black & Decker at Lowe's. It came with a blade so we used that one and it didn't break and did a pretty decent cut.

You'll also need:
-two 1 x 2in. furring strips about 30 inches long
-#8 wood screws 1 3/4" long
-tack cloth to clean up sanding dust
-a router (if you choose to use this)
-primer
-stain or paint
-a finisher like polyurethane or lacquer

1/ First, lay your boards next to one  another making sure that the the boards fit the best you can. We had to move around the boards a few times to find the way with the least about of space between boards. Use a flat surface like a table or wooden "horses".

2/ Second, use a generous amount of wood glue to glue boards together one at a time. We ended up adding more glue if we saw gaps. Also, the glue will drip. Make sure you don't have anything valuable under or around where you are gluing. We put two pieces of wood underneath the boards as well as the old table to keep the boards stable and elevated.

3/ Third, you need to use 24" clamps or sturdy straps to hold the glued boards together. You may choose to use shims to help to support the boards and to prevent making marks on the boards. We used 2x2 boards to leverage our straps as well. We used straps from Frank's car racks since the clamps we had were not big enough. It worked fine, but I'd definitely recommend using clamps over straps.

4/ Make sure everything is tight, but you also want to make sure nothing is warping (i.e., tight but not so tight that the wood starts to bow). And then, you need to wait at least 24 hours for the glue to dry!

Then...once everything is dried...time for all the measuring!!

1/ Once everything is dry, you'll want to measure...and check your measuring. And, possibly, re-measuring. (you get the picture). We wanted to measure the table first. So we placed the old table top on top of our boards and measured around the edges to make sure each side was even. Then, we measured about 1 inch wider than the table for our first cut. You want to leave room for tons of sanding and uneven cuts.

Cut your furring strips and you can also taper the ends if you want.

Then, you want to measure where you're going to place your furring strips. We were going to attach our table top to a square board, so we used the one from the old table top to make sure we left enough room between our furring strips for that. It's important to think about how you're going to attach the table to the base before you measure everything!

Then, measure where you're going to place your screws to drill the furring strips. We used pencil to mark on the furring strips and made sure the placement was even on both.


2/ Next comes one of the most important steps. Pre-Drill.  Do not forget this step. Please. If you do, you could completely split your table before you've even tried to cut it. Then, it's back to the hardware store and starting from square one. Does not sound fun? Pre-Drill.

3/ Now, once you've pre-drilled, you can use wood glue to place your furring strips onto the table boards and screw your furring strips into place. This was my favorite part. Power tools!!!

4/ My least favorite step that seemed to repeat itself alot...Allow to Dry. It's so hard to wait!! Good thing I had a ton of painting to do...

I sanded down and primed the pedestal base. Then, I applied two coats of Martha Stewart's Nimbus Cloud from Home Depot.

Next, it's time to make the first cut!! We double checked our measuring and practiced on a junk piece of wood since we had never used a jigsaw before. Then, we cut around the outer traced circle for the first cut and we cut from the underside rather than on top so that the table would lay flat. It took two people to rotate the table since we used a table rather than "horses".

Then, it's time to sand!! (please notice that this is complete sarcasm...sanding was terrible).

For 3 days...yes 3 days we used this sander and the original sand paper we bought at Lowe's.

After all that time we started to get frustrated. We continued to use a level to check to see if our table was flat yet, and it wasn't. The ends of our table began to warp upwards and the joints where the boards were glued seemed to be impossible to sand down.

On the third day I broke down and tears thinking that we had failed and that we would need to start over. I heard from some people that we had purchased the wrong wood, that we glued them the wrong way, and that we needed a different sander. So, we decided the only thing we could do at this point was get a different sander.

Best. Choice. Ever! This little orbital sander saved our table and possibly our sanity!

Learn from our mistake and save 3 days of your time and get the orbital sander first! This thing worked wonders and in an afternoon our table was finally as level as it would get! And super smooth!

Once you feel your table is pretty level you may choose to use wood filler to clean up any dents, knots, and the joints between the boards. We used Elmer's brand and it worked great!

You do have to...yep,  you guessed it, WAIT again. The wood filler needs to dry for 2-4 hours before  you can sand it and 24 hours before you can prime, stain, or paint it. 

After about 3 hours we sanded everything down and then used Frank's brother's router to clean up the edges of the table.

After the grain was nice and smooth, we applied three coats of stain to the table top and three coats of polyurethane all over the table top and lacquer on the pedestal and chairs for protection. We used Minwax.

We made sure we waited 24 hours for the table and chairs to dry and 36 hours before actually using the table to make sure the protective coating was completely cured. Then, we used the square board to drill the table top to the pedestal.

And, voila! A few weeks later....we have a "new" table! (It only took us so long since we had nowhere to paint/stain/build in our apartment, so we had to visit Frank's mom's home to do most of the work).

Introducing our brand "new" kitchen table:

Summer 2013

So, what do you think?

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Ugly Green Bathroom: Part 2 Organization

Last time in my post, Ugly Green Bathroom: Part 1, we talked about my sister and her roommate's new apartment and their bathroom dilemma. If you missed Ugly Green Bathroom: Part 1 you can read about it {here}. Megan and her roommate have a very tiny bathroom with minimal storage and awkward green tiling reminiscent of the 70s era of oddly colored tile. 

Today we are going to discuss organization solutions. When you have a very small bathroom with no cabinet space and hardly any floor space, you'll need to get creative. 

Let me remind you what the bathroom looks like: 

It is very narrow with a shower to the left with sliding glass doors and the sink to the right. 

There is a mirror medicine cabinet to the right of the mirror for a tiny bit of storage. And absolutely no cabinets. Under the sink is bare.

There is a towel rack on the left side of the mirror. Megan and Abbey have two small drawer units under the sink to create a semblance of cabinet space.

Storage Issues:

1. Under the sink.

Under the sink is where most of us put our bathroom items. Hair care items, make-up, maybe medicine or other beauty products. Megan and Abbey have a blank empty space under their sink. 

• Take out everything and get rid of all unnecessary or old products. 
• Make piles/categories for items such as: hair products, hair appliances, hair accessories, lotions, make-up, etc. Then, decide what kind of storage solutions would work for each category. 
• Create clean-looking storage by finding bins, buckets, and small cabinets that are look good together and fit nicely together.

Here are some examples:

1. Find a filing cabinet  or a small cabinet with drawers and paint or stencil a design. Keep larger hair appliances in the bottom drawer and store make-up or toiletry items in another drawer. To make things look uniform make two and put them side-by-side under the sink. 

Megan and Abbey already have small cabinets, but a fresh coat of paint or a pretty stencil the color of the green in the tile or another color they choose to incorporate would spruce it up and make things flow better. 

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2. Use Baskets. You can add cheap "under the sink" shelving and put pretty baskets under and on top of the "shelves" to create height, but also to store items neatly. You can even use pretty labels!

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2. On top of the sink.

One of the things that makes bathrooms look super cluttered is when there are all sorts of objects on the counter top. This is challenging for Megan and Abbey since they only have a tiny medicine cabinet, but it's important to find creative storage solutions for those miscellaneous items, especially in a small bathroom. 

• Make good use of the medicine cabinet for actual medicine and very small items. Use magnetic strips to store tweezers and bobby pins on the back of the medicine cabinet door. 
• Make good use of the towel rack. Continue to use it for hand towels or create a new use by purchasing hanging baskets or buckets that can be hung from the rack to store loose items like toothpaste, toothbrushes, and smaller items like make-up brushes, q-tips or cotton balls. 
• Things that are left on the counter should keep stray items stored such as a bin for small items, or a tray for soap dispensers, hand towels and a candle. 

Here are some examples and ideas:

1. Organize the medicine cabinet to make the most of the storage space. You can purchase magnetic holders or a magnet strip for holder toothbrushes, hair accessories, and small items. You may also be able to use contact paper to put a pretty design behind the cabinet. This can come off when you move. 

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2. Purchase a tray or basket to store towels, candles, soap dispensers and other stray items to make it look clean and tidy and add style at the same time. 

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3. Purchase or make storage containers for the counter-top that corral loose items. Make use of the towel rack to hold small buckets for storage or keep towels hanging there neatly. 

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3. Over the toilet.

Since there is very little wall or floor space for the girls to store larger items another solution is to use the unused space above the toilet. You can find over-the-toilet cabinets or install shelving units. Then, store extra towels, toilet paper and other larger items in baskets or neat piles. 

Here are some examples of what can fit above the toilet:

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Once everything has a storage space it will help to keep the bathroom looking clean, put together, and much bigger! Then, Megan and Abbey can add personal touches like wall art above the towel rack to the left of the mirror and extra storage (if needed) on the back of the bathroom door and a shower caddy in the shower. 

I will be planning to head down to Pennsylvania to make-over Megan and Abbey's bathroom sometime before the end of the summer. So stay tuned for a follow-up post where I'll reveal their before/after photos and their color, design and storage choices!

What unique storage solutions have you used in your bathroom?! I'd love to hear them. 

Thanks for stopping by!

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