FREE TABLE TRANSFORMED TO GAME TABLE~ IC#12

Welcome back to Pondered Primed Perfected for another dose of Inspiration Cafe!  It's been a crazy, busy time around here but I can't wait to show you my little DIY project.

Scott brought this free table home when he went to pick up something off Craigslist and they said "You want any of this other stuff?"

You can guess what he said.  :)

It was pretty messed up so I sanded it down and then stained the square leg portions with clear poly to bring out the detailing in the boxtail joints.  :)  I thought they were dovetailed at first but looked it up to make sure...they're called boxtailed if they are squared like this.  Good to know, right? 

I stained the tabletop portion with a dark brown stain and left it otherwise unfinished.  I knew I wanted to do something fun with it, but at that time I had no idea what....

We've been working on what we call the NOOK upstairs.  It's a little gaming and movie viewing area we added to our upstairs space.  We needed some type of lightweight table for setting a cribbage board or a game of checkers on...maybe some game controllers and a juice box from time to time.  So...

Just the perfect size for board games, right?
So using our cardboard checkerboard as a sizing guide, I marked out a grid with pencil and straight edge.  I measured the tabletop and marked the center point and measured out from there so it would all be centered nicely. 

 
Once the lines were all marked I went over them again with a white paint pen.  I wasn't going for perfect so I didn't get too concerned if the lines were a bit wobbly or the amount of paint coming out wasn't exactly consistent. 
Once I had the grid done I started filling in every other square...you know...like a checkerboard!  ;)

I didn't try to fill them in completely but kind of scribbled them in from one corner to the other. Then I went around the outer edge again to make it stand out as the border.

That's it!  Simple really.

Then I got all artsy-smart and wanted to take some cool photos in the yard since the NOOK area is too dark for good photography.
A couple of stumps as chairs.  Cool, huh!?  I thought so!

Add the checkers and you're ready for some friendly competition.
BUT I decided I just had to climb on one of those cute little stumps to get a better angle.  I got a better angle alright...when it dumped me on my Patootie in the grass!!!!!

Here's the angle from down there!!!

(You'll notice the slightly broken "boxtailed" table joint...yeah...I did that when I used the table to break my fall.  :)  It hurt.  A LOT.  That'll teach me to get artsy-fartsy with my photos!  I couldn't figure out if I should laugh or cry, so I did both.  I think the table's okay.  The camera survived too.  My leg may be scarred a bit...that little stump took out a nice section of my shin.  I uttered a few choice cuss words.  I can't quite remember.  I quickly snapped this last photo to check that the camera was okay, then crawled to the bench for first aid.  Thank you Scotty!)

Little bit of wood glue and this table will be ready for some gaming action!  I hope it hosts many fun games and happy moments.  That might make up for the pain!!

I love how it looks with our glass chess set!

Time to brush up on my chess playing skills!!!

Continue Reading ...

Making Progress ~ sneak peak at THE NOOK

We don't have any "finished" projects to share yet.

We were too busy watching my nephew do this:

WooHoo!!!  Way To Go Luke!!!

This is our upstairs "nook".

AKA ~ THE NOOK

We designed this area as a little gaming/movie watching area.  I wanted this built in wall shelf to display Scott's growing collection of cribbage boards.  Scott just got the little cross shelves cut down to size and he was so excited that he had to put all the cribbage boards up there to see how they would look even though the shelves aren't done being painted.  The shelves will eventually get a coat of white paint like the rest of the built in.

I love this space...

Scott put the leftover wainscot wallpaper along the backs of these built ins for some added texture and cottage-y character.  The flooring is recycled hardwood we got from a family member's remodel.  I detest wall to wall carpeting.  (Sorry if you are a carpet lover, I really don't mean to insult.)  I would prefer hardwood with an area rug any day.  It's so much easier to clean and maintain.  I have children and I care for more children for a living.  Children change your perspective on carpeting!  Someday I hope to have the entire house finished with some type of hardwoods and just have area rugs where needed.

Until then...

The Craigslist sleeper sofa was the perfect size for The Nook.  When Alex has a sleepover they can pop in a movie or game and pull out the sleeper bed.  He's already tested it out!  I got a photo of him and his buddy passed out here but he made me swear not to blog it.  I cannot go back on my word.  (I must hide my camera better next time so he doesn't know what pictures I have on it!  lol!)

Just a bit of white paint to finish off the shelving and a few more details and this area will be done.   I'm hoping to make a comfy slipcover for the little sofa...maybe in a charcoal gray???

See in the corner of the above photo...the half-wall surrounds the stairs going down to the first floor.

It's hard to believe that this area used to be part of a two story entryway...it was open all the way up to the second floor ceiling.  It was a lot of wasted space ~ but not anymore!  There was an ugly brass chandelier that hung down over the front door.  I wish I had a photo to show you but we did this addition before I started blogging and I FAILED TO TAKE BEFORE PHOTOS.  I'm so disappointed about that!  Let this be a lesson to me (and you)...even if you don't blog about your projects...take a durn photo so you can compare the BEFORE and AFTERS!!!

Scott was extremely excited to get this little 27 inch flat screen tv on his birthday.  It's our first flat screen TV!  LED, 1080P, back-lit, HDTV, HDMI, PC connectivity and much more!  Don't ask me what most of that means.  I have no idea...but I was smart enough to listen when he talked about them so I could hopefully get a good one for him.  He quickly added an electrical outlet right into the ledge of the built in shelf so that the tv cord would not hang down along the wall.  He also added additional outlets in the walls for laptops, Blue-ray players and gaming systems if needed.  I knew he would do that.   He's so darn handy!  And Alex was nice enough to point out that the XBOX 360 is also a Blue-ray player so we should just get one of those. Wink, wink.












This cribbage board is my favorite.  I found it at an estate sale.  I believe that 29 is the highest hand you can achieve in Cribbage.  I wouldn't know because I've never been lucky enough to get a hand that high.  I can occasionally kick Scott's hiney though.  He likes the challenge.  I do a pretty good job of harassing him if I beat him at a game.  I'm not the best at strategy games so I have to take my shots where I can get them!  Right?

What projects have you been making progress on?  I would love to hear about them.

HAVE A BEAUTIFUL WEEK MY FRIENDS!

SHERRY

Continue Reading ...