Weekend scavenger makeover!

October 29th, 2007 | Category: house, scavenged, four legs

See our cute new tray table? I love it! But it hasn’t always been so nice…

First I found this nasty little stool:

Then I saw this worn out Swedish tray:

And I thought, hmmm…the stool has nice legs, and that carpet probably comes right off…so…we bought both, despite Evan’s resistance. I got to work right away pulling out the staples holding the carpet (latch hook, actually!):

Happily, what was under the stinky carpet turned out to be ugly-but-smooth melamine on top of seriously water-damaged plywood:

A quick coat of flat black paint to hide the edges of the plywood, some gentle care with Murphy’s Oil Soap and SC Johnson Paste Wax (the two things you absolutely need if you have a lot of wood floors and wood furniture!) for the tray, et voilà! Stool + tray = a perfect little table, for next to no cost.

Bruno agrees (Evan does, too)!

18 Comments so far

  1. sandra October 30th, 2007 3:25 am

    it is so beautiful, worth all the work you’ve put in it. wow! with that rug and dog - almost too beautiful ;)

  2. k.i.s.d. October 30th, 2007 5:51 am

    You have an artistic eye for sure. I’ve never come up with this table beginning with a tray and a stool. Nice work.

  3. Adam October 30th, 2007 9:08 am

    Fabulous! I need to be more inventive like you!

  4. Adam October 30th, 2007 9:09 am

    By the way, that was a seriously ugly little stool!

  5. Barb McMahon October 30th, 2007 9:58 am

    Great save!

  6. Jaimie October 30th, 2007 10:15 am

    I was just thinking in that first photo that your rug looked like your dog!

    Nice work on the table. I have quite a different aesthetic than you in my own home, but I really appreciate what you do and find it beautiful and interesting.

  7. katie October 30th, 2007 10:50 am

    Great finds and bit of DIY!!!

  8. nicole October 30th, 2007 11:35 am

    genius!

    and i love how bruno blends into the rug. now you see him, now you don’t.

  9. lena October 30th, 2007 11:43 am

    that is brilliant, and i need that wood paste wax!

  10. Anna at D16 October 30th, 2007 12:01 pm

    Lena, you can get the wax at Lowes! I don’t know of any other place to get it (other than mail order). It’s great stuff.

  11. camilla Engman October 30th, 2007 12:17 pm

    This is great! So simple and yet not many people would think about doing it.
    Your dog is so cute. Morran has a friend almost like him.

  12. lesley October 30th, 2007 1:40 pm

    FABulous.
    I used to rug-hook when I was a kid. Heh.

  13. dayataglanceblogspot.com October 30th, 2007 8:42 pm

    you are a genius!

  14. lavinia October 31st, 2007 6:21 am

    Great! I like it, it goes really well with the rest of your furniture. I also admire your vintage unit (in the dining room) very much. I wish we had something similar!

  15. Anna at D16 October 31st, 2007 7:26 am

    Thank you for all the nice comments about my humble little table, everyone! :)

    Lavinia, the Eames unit in dining room isn’t vintage, actually…we bought it new. Herman Miller is still producing them (57 years since they were first introduced):
    http://dwr.com/productdetail.cfm?id=6727

  16. sulu-design November 3rd, 2007 2:05 am

    Pure genius!

  17. Nina November 12th, 2007 9:28 am

    Wow, this is so inventive! What an amazing DIY-idea!

  18. Taru February 20th, 2008 4:44 pm

    did you attach the tray to the stool or is it sitting on top? beautiful!

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