DIY Crate Coffee Table

A Pinterest Inspiration!

I saw this coffee table scrolling through Pinterest one day and absolutely loved it! I have to be careful when I find something on Pinterest that says "DIY...sometimes it's more like "Jennifer can't do this herself!" and I really didn't do this by myself to be honest ;) Here is the original picture I found.

I did some more research on Google to see if I could find more of an "How To" on this "DIY" coffee table. I came across another Blogger who had step-by-step directions. So I followed her directions and changed a few things. Here is her blog so you can check it out yourself Honestly Dyea.

I found the crates at Michael's, they are around $14 a piece so I just used the 40% coupon on them and they came out to around $7 and some odd change. Technically, you could just lay out the crates and wood glue them together but...I wanted to make mine a little more sturdy so I followed her directions to make a base out of 2x4x8 for the table that looks like this...

(Photo From: Honestly Dyea)

I suggest printing this picture out and finding the first man you see, (in my case it was my dad) and say...make this for me please! Chances are...any man can make this without directions. Just have your crates already laid out so they can measure the dimensions. 

I actually stained the crates and the base separate before I put it all together, but it is really personal preference! I went to Lowe's and got some stain that already had the protective clear coat in it. I am sure it has fancy Lowe's name, but I can't remember. It worked...no big complaints except it was kinda hard to work with because it was so dang sticky. So, my advice is to just stain however makes your heart happy.

(Photo From: Honestly Dyea)

Secure the crates on the base and whaaaa la! It should look like a table. There is a whole in the center you can add a shelf. My dad cut a piece of plywood to fit down in the square and added some brackets so the wood would sit securely. He also made the feet out of left over 2x4's so the feet would be square! Here is what mine looks like in our apartment.

-Jen

The hand me, hand me, hand me down...

The hand me, hand me, hand me down table

The best thing about getting married and combining spaces is probably the combining of the "stuff", right? Well, lucky for me I have been living at home for the past young years of my life so my "stuff" consists of...a bed and some clothes. Wait, lucky him huh?

My fiancé (Tanner) has been apartment living since he started college, where as I went to a local college and stayed at home. So I am now part-owner of some very interesting things....including his kitchen table.

I have always had this "vision" of what I wanted my house to look like, what I wanted my apartment to look like...and since we have moved into our new apartment (me, unofficially) I have been decorating it in my head constantly. So, of course the kitchen table HAD to be one of the first things gone. I hated it, it was handed down to him from someone who got it from someone else who got it from...who knows.

I will just say, once you refinish one thing, you started looking for things to paint everywhere you go. Even in your own house!!

I called Tanner and asked him with this extremely excited voice..
"YOU HAVEN'T GOTTEN RID OF YOUR TABLE YET HAVE YOU?"
"No, no...I still have it....why?"
"....I am going to paint it!"

And so it began.

The chairs needed some work...and a trip to Lowe's, which Tanner did not complain about ONE bit! So happy he was able to fix them for me!

I should have taken a before picture of the table, but I completely forgot! Sometimes...you just get so involved in getting started you forget things! Tanner took this for me before he took it apart! (Thanks babe!) 

YUCK! Right?

I found some super cute fabric at Hobby Lobby that conveniently matched the plates we registered for at Belk! I also, oddly became a fan of red. SO I got some of Miss Mustard Seed's Tricycle Red and painted the chairs, reupholstered the seats and finished with these beauties! 

The table I was originally going to do all red as well, but my mind starts heading in super speed when I am in the middle of my projects. I decided to paint the bottom half of the table in Miss Mustard Seed's Linen and antiqued it, then I was going to paint the top of table red to tie the chairs in with the table. Once I got the bottom half painted. I fell in love with the wood top and couldn't even bare to think about painting it red! 

It looks like the table is standing on 3 legs. I stared at it for awhile too! Weird! :) 

-Excuse the mess

So, I left the wood top. I am planning on getting some red placemats or some sort of decoration to tie in the red on top of the table. 

I finished with this!

Not too bad for a hand me, hand me, hand me down.

I do have to add, having a supportive guy completely makes these projects way more fun! Thank you Tanner for allowing me to take over and make the new apartment truly my new home! <3

-Jen

Little Boy Blue...

Little Boy Blue...

I decided to make my first blog post about my first piece of furniture that got a face-lift! I found this cute little side table on the side of the road. Yes, can you belive someone would throw away something so beautiful! Trust me, it wasn't so beautiful when I picked it up. My wonderful fiancé helped me... let me take that back...my wonderful fiancé cleaned up all the dirt, yuck, spiders and webs, leaves and other unknown objects out of it. It didn't look TOO bad all cleaned up!

I got ahold of some Miss Mustard Seed's Kitchen Scale and had my way! I found some knobs at the local savvy Hobby Lobby that fit perfectly with the brass details this baby had on it.

The finished table is adorable. It will be a beautiful side table in my bedroom! It really goes to show, that one person's trash....really can be treasure!

-Jennifer