My dear friend Kristine texted me a few months ago..."Ready for another woodshop project! I need a coffee table!" I looked up some pictures of tables and found one that was simply beautiful. She agreed with my opinion, and soon she, I, and Taffy were at Lowes, picking up wood. Marianne was able to practice her routine on the parallel bars while we loaded the cart with 2x6's and 1x3's.
This is a view of the table top, made of 2x6's. It is 38" square. It's assembled with pocket holes and screws.
Taffy jumped ahead and finished her table before the rest of us. She picked a beautiful blue color. The turned parts of her legs share the same origin of my own legs. She found a coffee table at a thrift store that was octagonal and had eight legs. We cut that table up, and used the turned parts as the middle portions of our own legs.
Here we are putting together Kristine's table. If only we had realized at this point that the leg closest to both of them was attached upside down. Don't worry, we figured that out...Later. Kristine's legs came from Osborne woods. She ordered them online, and they came very quickly and were stunning. See how beautifully they stained? She put one coat of the stain on them and then finished with two coats of a satin polyurethane. So pretty!!
The finished product! In the official, as Taffy puts it, "finished project picture place." She was understandably proud of the finished piece and I know for certain that everyone from church to yoga practice saw pictures of it!
The next week we put my table together. By this time, we were
very good at assembly, and it only took us about an hour. So we spent our saved time sitting on it and chatting. So fun, the stories that come about in the woodshop!
Ah, a little out of order, here is the center part of the coffee table leg that Taffy and I used to build up our own legs. This piece is only about 8" in length.
Taffy and I both added 4x4" pieces to either end of the turned piece. She liked hers there, but I wanted a little more width and detail, so I then wrapped my 4x4 pieces with molding. My dad helped me get going on that part. Making these legs was the hardest part of my table, or rather the most time intensive. I picked out marigold chalk paint for my table to add some color to my living room. This picture is taken after only the first coat. I wound up doing three coats, just to get the middle to be the same color as the ends.
I decided, at the eleventh hour, to stencil my bottom shelf. I used stencil material in my Silhouette, cut out the desired pattern, and then rolled the brown paint on with a foam roller brush. After I took this picture I sanded it down quite a bit...although I don't know that you can tell, even in the finished product.
I tried finishing my piece with soft wax. It was very easy to work with, but felt sticky for quite a while. I tried then putting on bronze wax, but the bronze color was too translucent and I don't think you can even tell. So then I got some really old antiquing gel out of my paint box and brushed it in the crevices. The leg on the left has antiquing gel, the one on the right has wax but no gel.
Once the table was assembled, I waxed the whole piece and then applied more antiquing gel. Then I finished it all with two coats of a satin clear coat. And then I took a picture of it in the "finished product place."
Then the boys helped me carry it inside where it was instantly put to good use.
And even vandalized by my husband's shoes.
I'm sure there will be more projects to come. I love each and every one! Long live the Woodshop!
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