Plywood Side Table Makeover
Some life lessons need reminders. Today’s plywood side table makeover is one of those reminders. (Yes, I can find a life lesson in almost anything.)
I found what was clearly a DIY plywood side table at my favorite thrift store. It was $10.
Do you think I overpaid?
I never regret buying wood tables for $10 (maybe more depending on the table) because I know the lumber it took to make it, not to mention the time, costs more than ten bucks these days.
Plus, side tables are one thing we are short on around here.
I knew I was going to knock off the orange-y finish of the table, but the makeover plan was loosey-goosey after that.
I had it in my head that this would be a great project to reuse some slate tiles we have leftover from an old roof to refresh the top of this table.
This idea would require me to learn how to cut large pieces of slate with tools I have on hand, not tools designed for cutting slate. I watched one YouTube video where a professional slate roofer with years of experience and a highly edited video demonstrated how to do this.
No doubt I would be able to nail it on the first try.
Alas, I guess we’ll never know about my beginner’s luck because the slate tiles didn’t spark joy when I laid them out on the table. They sparked more of an “eww, no” response.
My next idea to makeover the top of the table was to cover it with the colorful tin tiles we recently dug out of the ground on our property. If this is your first time reading this blog, that last sentence probably generated a whole bunch of questions.
The TLDR (too long, didn’t read) on that backstory is that we live on a very old property in a rural area. Before there were rules on how garbage should be disposed of to not wreck the only planet we have to live on, it would seem that some people who lived here chose to bury their garbage in the backyard. Cool, cool.
Now, every time we dig a trench, we pull up tin tiles, glass bottles, old shovel heads. The usual.
We either reuse the items we dig up or we send them off with our garbage collector to be buried out of sight on a man-made mountain of trash with everyone else’s debris. The irony.
Anyway, I laid out the colorful tiles on the tabletop and they were fun. Bright, colorful. It gave off mod style vibes from the 1960s.
Do you know what style vibes my house currently gives off? Not those.
I realized I was putting a lot of pressure on a $10 plywood table to perhaps be something that it was not.
In the end, I stained the entire table a honey color. Then I created a paint wash with black paint and did a color block or paint dipped treatment on the legs and the sides of the tabletop.
Handy Husband said it looked like I dipped it in chocolate. Haha!
I then sealed the crud out of it with clear polyurethane to try and discourage a very persistent carpenter bee from turning this table into his all-you-can-eat buffet.
The newly revamped side table is now going to live its best life on our front porch. We needed another side table to sit between the rocking chairs so that we have a spot to set down drinks while we do our front porch rocking.
Take your pick for the moral of this story. Less is often more. Don’t force creativity for the sake of creativity. Listen to your inner “eww.” Remember your own style. Do what makes you happy.
And never ever forget. If you’ve given a table one makeover, you can give it another. In fact, you can give it as many as you want whenever you change your mind.
How creative are you feeling these days? Have you dug anything interesting out of the ground lately? Tell me everything. Now is not the time to hold back. You can always comment on this blog post, email me here, or reach out via Instagram or Facebook. I respond to all of your comments.
Happy DIYing.
P.S. The real star of this blog post is not the new table. It’s the geraniums. They are currently living large, literally, on our front porch. The red one is two years old. The pink one is one.
P.P.S. We recently bought a corded orbital sander. We’ve had a battery-powered one for years. I cannot tell you how happy I am that we switched and not because it works better. Although, I think it might be a little more powerful. I’m happy we switched because it’s so much lighter than the battery-powered one. Those batteries weigh a lot! The lighter sander combined with its smaller grip is easier on my hands to maneuver.
Thank you for doing a little proverbial front porch sitting with me today. I appreciate you. If you aren’t quite ready to leave, here’s another blog post you might enjoy.
Patriotic Front Porch For Our Colonial Farmhouse
Black Shelves on Our Back Porch
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One Comment
Nancy B
Dipped in chocolate is a good thing! It really did turn out well. And yes, I’d have paid $10 for it, too. I have a similar garage sale table I’ve used just as it is for YEARS, intending to Modpodge maps onto it at one point, then paint, then stain, then a combination paint/stain. I have a phd in overthinking.