Author: Sunshine

Science Fantasy author. DIY-er turned day job.
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DIY TV Tray and Couch Side Table

Happy New Year!

Since my girls have moved on from their little table and are trying to eat on the couch now, I needed something to spare my couch from as much cereal as possible. Since I had an extra board and these pipe table legs available, I was able to make a cool little table for the side of the couch that turns to become a TV tray when we need it.

Supplies:

(As an advertising affiliate and Amazon Associate, I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases. But it doesn’t cost you anything extra and helps me keep up my site!)

  • 3 pipe table legs (mine were 28″, but 24″ would work better)
  • One 1×10 board, around 48 inches long
  • Screws (usually come with the pipe legs)
  • Stain
  • Furniture pads (optional)

Tools:

  • Miter saw
  • Drill or screwdriver
  • Sander (or sandpaper)
  • Brush for stain

Close-up of black pipe table legs on a couch, with a colorful plaid blanket in the background.
BEFORE: spare table legs.

Step 1: Measure. I measured the arm of my couch and decided on 21 inches for the length of the tray top (and base bottom). The board I had was 10 inches wide, which is about perfect for a plate, but you could do 12-14 inches for a little extra width. Just be aware that it will stick out farther into the room – I wanted the space for walking around. For height, my legs were 28 inches, which makes the tray a nice height above the couch arm and also leaves plenty of room for adult legs when it’s sitting in front of you on the couch. (I would probably go down to 24-inch legs like the ones I linked above if I do this again, as 28 inches makes it a bit high for kids.)

A person measuring the arm of a brown leather couch with a yellow tape measure, with a wooden table and holiday decorations in the background.
Measuring for length.

Step 2: Cut wood. I took my board to our miter saw and cut two pieces at 21 inches long. That was it.

Step 3: Sand and stain. Taking my two boards inside, I gave the cut ends a quick sanding to round off the edges and any sharp corners. Most of this leftover board was already stained, but I did have to stain the cut ends and touch up the edges.

I didn’t bother staining the bottom side of what would be the bottom board, but I did stain both the top and bottom sides of the board that would be the top tray piece.

Close-up view of a stained wooden board featuring visible wood grain and two holes, placed on a work surface.
Boards cut and stained. (This is the underside)

Step 4: Position and attach the legs. First, I did the bottom board, with the unstained bottom on the floor. With this bottom board down, I positioned two of the legs so that the edges of the round bases were 3 inches in from the back end of the board. I also positioned each leg 1/2 inch in from each side.

Close-up of a measuring tape being used to measure the distance between two pipe table legs attached to a wooden board.
Positioning leg bases.

It’s important with these legs to be sure they are tightly screwed together (the pole into each end’s base), and be sure they stand at equal heights. If one is a little taller than the other, you can loosen the screwed on base from the pole a little bit to adjust for level. I also checked for level vertically around each pole to be sure they were straight.

Once happy with the position, I screwed the base of each leg onto the board. BE SURE your screws are shorter than the width of your board so they don’t poke through.

A close-up view of wooden boards and black pipe table legs intended for a DIY couch side table, with a power drill and screws on a carpeted floor.
Screwing legs onto the bottom board.

Once the bottom was attached, I set the top board on the floor with the underside facing up. Then I flipped the legs and the attached bottom so that the legs’ other ends/bases now sat on this board. I positioned them the same way — 3 inches in from the back and 1/2 inch in from each side. I again checked for level and then screwed the bases into the board.

Once those two legs were on, I flipped the whole thing so it was right-side-up. It had a little movement from side to side, so for added stability I added a third leg right at the back in the middle of the board. (Plus, I just liked how this looked.) After measuring to make sure the base was centered, I screwed it in place on the bottom board. Then I checked to make sure the top of the tray was level. All good, I reached up from underneath and screwed the top base into the top board.

Close-up of three black pipe legs attached to a wooden tabletop, showcasing the industrial design elements.
Adjusting and adding the third leg.

Step 5 (optional): Finishes. If you’re worried about scratching your floor, you can add furniture pads to the underside of the bottom board. I didn’t bother since it’ll often be on our rug anyway.

Also, as you might’ve noticed, I ran out of black screws. 😆 If you have this problem too, a black sharpie solves this easily.

A DIY side table with pipe legs next to a couch, holding a decorative mug on top.
Before blackening screws with sharpie.

That was it! I like how this turned out a lot. It’s rustic and kind of modern, and it fits with the look of our other decor and my other little DIY table without being an exact match.

A wooden side table made with pipe legs, positioned next to a chair, against a light wall. The table features a smooth top and a base, with a cozy blanket draped over the chair beside it.
AFTER: Side table and TV tray
A rustic DIY side table made from a wooden board and metal pipe legs, placed next to a brown couch, holding a colorful cup.
A cozy scene featuring a custom-made side table with a mug that says 'Create Your Own Sunshine,' placed on it. The table is next to a couch, with a colorful blanket draped over the lap. In the background, a Christmas tree adorned with lights is visible beside a fireplace decorated for the holidays.

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Homemade Magnet Bookmarks

Last month was my birthday, and all I asked for was books. Now, I have a lot of new books! And while I love the scuffed up and torn bookmarks my kids have made me, I wanted to try something.

Supplies:

(As an advertising affiliate and Amazon Associate, I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases. But it doesn’t cost you anything extra and helps me keep up my site!)

Tools:

A collection of colorful ribbons in various patterns and textures, alongside a glue gun and small square magnets arranged on a table.
BEFORE: Scrap ribbons and magnets.

Step 1: Cut ribbons. I had a lot of ribbon to play with, and I’ll tell you right now that the simpler ribbon worked best for this. I really liked the look of the thicker, super-decorative ribbon that had stiffer edges, but the wire in the edges stopped the ribbon from bending easily like I wanted for these bookmarks.

I made these bookmarks a few different ways, but I cut each ribbon about 4-5 inches long. This gives you room to fold the cut ends over to protect and hide the ends, and it leaves enough room so the loop sticks out nicely from the book to look cute.

Step 2: Glue ends folded over. To protect the ends and hide the cuts, I first folded over each end slightly and used a little trail of hot glue to pin the end down. I did this for every ribbon’s ends, then moved on.

Step 3: Glue magnets onto the ribbons. With each ribbon’s “ugly” folded side facing up, I positioned a magnet at each end, covering the folded, glued part. I put the glue on the ribbon rather than the backside of the magnet, then pushed the magnet gently onto the ribbon until it stuck in place.

Close-up of a handmade ribbon bookmark with a black magnet attached at one end, held by a hand. The ribbon features a decorative edge, and there's visible hot glue securing the magnet to the ribbon.
Gluing magnets to ribbon.

Before gluing them down, BE SURE that the sides of the magnets that will face each other attract rather than repel.

For my widest ribbon, I put 2 magnets at each end just because I thought that would work better, and it helped this one be more stable at the end too.

A person holds a small magnet over a piece of black ribbon on a beige surface, showing the process of creating a magnetic bookmark.
Positioning magnets on wider ribbon.

Step 4: Add decorative finishes over the magnets. If you’re happy with how your magnets cover the ribbon at this point, you honestly could end here and the magnet bookmark would work fine. For my narrow ribbons, the magnet/ribbon combinations left a little space around the sides of the magnet that I didn’t want to see. I didn’t want to make these too bulky because then the books wouldn’t close very well, so I needed thin options for covering the magnet ends.

Option A: For one of my narrow-ribbon bookmarks, I simply added magnets onto the front too. This way of doing it was probably my favorite (certainly the easiest). I like that the magnets can connect either from the front or back this way too.

Two black rectangular magnets with glue, and a long black ribbon with silver trim laid on a marble surface.
Assembling option A.
A person holding a homemade ribbon bookmark with two black magnet pieces on either end, featuring a decorative ribbon in the center.

Option B: For my narrow green ribbon, I wanted to do something a little fun because these were for my girls. Since my eldest’s favorite book (which is completely coincidentally written by her mother) is green and purple, I took about 2.5 inches of purple ribbon and first glued the cut ends folded over.

Then I put a few dabs of glue on one side of the magnet, lined up the ribbon to cover this side, wrapped the ribbon around the magnet, and put dabs of glue on the other side so that the magnet was covered by the ribbon.

A close-up of a purple ribbon attached to a magnet, with a glue gun in the background.
Assembling option B.

These kind of look like little book covers themselves on the ends of the ribbon, and that would be a REALLY CUTE way to decorate these, if you draw on these ends to make them look like little books. You could even use a paint marker and put initials with little borders, or something. Lots of options!

I was a little worried that the ribbon around the magnets would keep them from working, but my magnets were strong enough to still have a good hold, even with the ribbon and several pages between them when I tested this on a real book.

Hand holding a decorative bookmark made of purple and green ribbons, resembling a small book.

Option C: For my widest ribbon, I could have left it alone because the magnets were definitely covered by the ribbon. But, I wanted to add a little decorative touch to this one . You could use other ribbon along the ends or lace or something special to you…but I liked this Kleenex box’s art and used that. 😆

Cutting off some of the box’s cardboard, I glued it onto the ends of the ribbon on the outer, decorative side rather than the side where the magnets would connect. This doesn’t block the magnets from connecting at all.

A colorful bookmark made from patterned ribbons, featuring vibrant tropical designs on the ends, placed on a textured surface.
Assembling option C.

DONE!

That was it for each one I did. You could do these a lot of different ways, but this was the basic method I followed, and I like how these turned out. I even did the shake test for each one, and they held in place inside my books really well! My paper bookmarks certainly don’t stay put, and now I have a great way to hold my place when reading any of my new birthday gifts…although I did take pictures with my own books. 😆

A hand holding a book titled 'Alterni' with a dark cover featuring an illustrated hand and colorful smoke effects.
AFTER: Option A magnet bookmark.
A person holding a book open with two handmade ribbon bookmarks sticking out, one purple and one green, placed in the pages.
AFTER: Option B magnet bookmark.
A close-up view of a multi-colored magnetic bookmark positioned inside an open book, with a plant and artwork in the background.
AFTER: Option C magnet bookmark.
Shake test – stays in place!

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Packing Paper Braided Basket

Can you braid? Do you have a bunch of packing paper, a hot glue gun, and a box of any kind? That’s all it took to make this really pretty decorative basket.

I’ve saved a LOT of packing paper from our delivery boxes ever since I used some to make a braided wreath (see that here), but I only ended up using about half my pile for this basket. I also had this long, narrow box made of foam and wood that I’d tried again and again to find a use for, and this was finally its time to shine! You could use literally any box that’s the shape and size you want – even a cardboard delivery box that had the packing paper with it in the first place. I did use a bunch of glue sticks, so that’s probably the most important thing to actually purchase. But I got a whole pack of them for about $8, so this is a very inexpensive project!

A pile of crumpled packing paper next to a rectangular wooden box on a countertop.
BEFORE: Packing paper and a funky box.

Supplies:

(As an advertising affiliate and Amazon Associate, I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases. But it doesn’t cost you anything extra and helps me keep up my site!)

  • Lots of packing paper
  • A box (cardboard or wood or whatever, in any shape you want for a basket)
  • Rubber band
  • Glue gun sticks

Tools:

Step 1: Prep the box. Because you’ll see little bits of the box through the braided paper, it’s a good idea to start by making your box a solid base color. You could paint, use markers, or glue/tape on paper over the box. You just want to make sure you can’t see any logos or wording on the box base to start.

I had some leftover brown spray paint, so that’s what I used to give my weird box a uniform base color.

A long, narrow box made of foam and wood, with a faintly visible base color, situated on a cluttered work table surrounded by various crafting supplies.
Prepping the box.

Step 2: Divide paper into even strips. I wasn’t sure exactly how much packing paper I’d need, but I started with my longest strips and spread them flat-ish, then cut them into 3 strips of equal-ish width. They don’t have to be perfect. You also can use smaller, shorter lengths of paper if you don’t have the giant strips that are wrapped around bigger packages in some deliveries.

I did this for a whole bunch of the papers, and I made sure to keep each set of 3 together. How many you’ll need just depends on the size of your box.

Three strips of crumpled packing paper laid out on a table, ready for crafting.
Paper cut into even strips.

Step 3: Bunch the paper into rope-like strands. Using my hands, I took one strip at a time and crinkled it to be more rope-like. I also made sure to twist the paper so it stayed like this fairly tightly.

It was also during this step that I turned my glue gun on to warm up.

Three twisted strands made of packing paper arranged on a marble surface, ready for use in a DIY project.
Making rope-like strands.

Step 4: Braid the paper. Once all my strips were bunched and twisted like paper ropes, I took my first set of 3 and used a rubber band to hold one end together. From there, I braided the 3 strips together, making sure to keep the braid tight but not so tight that anything ripped. If you do get little rips, it’s no big deal, and you can even glue them back together.

A close-up of a hand holding twisted strips of crinkled brown packing paper, showcasing a braided design.
Braiding the strands of paper.

At the far end of the braid, I took my glue gun and glued the 3 strands of the braid together to keep the whole braid secure. I held the parts tight until the glue dried, then moved to the first end, took off the rubber band, and glued that end too.

A close-up view of a hand holding a braided strip of packing paper, with crumpled packing paper laying on a wooden floor in the background.
Glued end…doesn’t have to be pretty.

Step 5: Glue braids to the box. Once you have all your sets of 3 braided together, you can test them out for spacing on the box. I liked my thickest one along the bottom of my box’s longest side, so I started there. I found it was easier to glue along the box where I wanted the braid to go rather than trying to glue along the lumpy braid itself. I only glued on small sections at a time to make sure the glue didn’t dry before getting the braid on, too.

It was definitely easier to start with my biggest braids to cover as much as I could first. Then I went back around and added smaller sections of braids to cover the rest of the box. Sometimes I cut one of my braids to fit where I needed to cover, so be sure to glue these cut ends if you need to do the same.

Staggering the ends of the braids definitely looked best, by the way. Tucking the end of a new braid slightly under an already-attached braid helped to hide the new ends, and it all blended together nicely that way.

A close-up image of a braided packing paper decoration placed on a long box, with a blurred kitchen background.
Glueing on braids and staggering placement.

For corners, I found that if I tested the position of a braid and bent it around the corner, I was then able to easily glue the box in the correct place and hold the braid around that corner while the glue dried to hold it in place.

For along the top of the box, I had a nice wide edge to work with so that I could just glue the top edge and press a braid straight down on top of it. If you’re using a regular cardboard box, this will still work because the topmost braid on your box’s side will be thick enough to glue on that as well as the thin edge of the cardboard box, and then you can press a braid on top of that to create a top side for your basket. This will hide the cardboard box’s top edge underneath that top braid. (See the picture below for a visual if this sounds confusing.)

I also had little dividers running across my long, narrow box, so I added little sections of braid across those. This made pretty cool sections within the basket. If you want to do something similar, it’d be easy to tape different boxes of the same size together, side by side, at the very beginning. You can wrap the braids around the exterior sides like it’s one bigger box to start with, but then on the interior where the boxes’ sides meet, you can cover these little sections like I did mine. (Just an option!)

A decorative basket made from packing paper braided around a long, narrow wooden box, resting on a kitchen countertop.
Top braids and divider sections.

You might notice from the pictures that I didn’t bother with the inside of the basket. This was because it was so narrow anyway, plus I planned to fill it with decorations. If you’re going to see the insides of your basket, you might want to add braids here too. Just keep in mind that that’ll take up space and make the interior smaller.

A hand holding a long, braided strip made of packing paper, with a kitchen area in the background.
Finishing up!

Attaching the braids was rather time-consuming but pretty easy. I had 2 child-sized distractions, but I got the whole basket done in about 2 hours. 😆 Once it was done, all I had left was to find a place for my new basket and fill it with decorations!

A decorative braided basket made from packing paper, adorned with artificial leaves and a candle, displayed on a windowsill.
AFTER: Pretty decorative basket.
A decorative braided basket made from packing paper, filled with green leaves and a white candle, placed on a windowsill.

This turned out pretty cool, and I love how I’ll be able to fill it with decorations for every season. The long, narrow box I picked works great in a windowsill or as a long table centerpiece, but there are a LOT of options for how to use these baskets, just depending on what size and shape you want yours to be. A small square basket would look cute on a side table – fill it with decorations to even use it for remote controls. A really big basket could even sit in the corner of a room to use for storing blankets. Or, you could make a basket to use as a “pot” for a fake plant. I also considered weaving ribbons or strands of beads into the braids, so you could do that as a way to decorate the basket itself – I just wanted mine neutral so I could change the decorations for each season.

This project gives you so many options, and again this was pretty cheap and easy, so give it a try!

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Hidden Drainage Reservoir for Deep Pots with no Holes

A few of my plants outside in my deck planters still had some life in them as the weather turned cold, so I scrambled to find a pot and a way not to kill them inside. (If you know me and my history with live plants, you know this is a challenge!) Two weeks in, and these plans are still alive, so I think I can safely say this works!

Supplies:

(As an advertising affiliate and Amazon Associate, I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases. But it doesn’t cost you anything extra and helps me keep up my site!)

  • Pot for plants
  • Christmas light spool
  • Dirt
  • Plants

Tools:

  • Scissors
  • Drill and bit (or just a knife or even the scissors will work)

Step 1: Gather supplies…all 2 of them. I had a deep pot that I liked a lot, but I didn’t want to put drainage holes in the bottom of it because I was afraid I’d break the whole thing. I also didn’t want a tray under the pot to catch water because I didn’t have one that matched and the stand that this pot would sit on is really pretty. Also, I didn’t need the pot to be as deep as it was, so I needed to come up with a way to make a hidden drainage reservoir in the bottom that would take up some space. If YOU pick a pot that has holes in the bottom, you’ll have to cover them to make this hidden reservoir because the water will still flow out the bottom unless the holes are covered well.

A close-up of a decorative clay pot with leaf patterns, being held by a person in a kitchen setting.
Chosen pot.

After looking through all the junk I keep for “some project someday,” I found this plastic Christmas light spool that gave me the perfect idea! We tend to have a few of these things lying around after Christmas when a strand of lights goes dead…or we just don’t feel like wrapping the lights back around them and end up throwing the lights in boxes. Anyway, since this one was free, I claimed it for my project. I was the perfect height to take up some room at the bottom of the pot, plus that space between would give excess water a place to go.

Close-up of a hand holding a black plastic Christmas light spool against a kitchen background.
Christmas light spool.

Step 2: Cut to size. The top of my pot was wider then the bottom, and I set the spool inside to see that I needed to cut off an inch or so in order for it to fit down in the bottom of the pot. By using just ordinary scissors, I cut the plastic bottom side of the spool slightly smaller than the top side of the spool to sit in the pot correctly.

Close-up of a black plastic Christmas light spool with holes, held in a person's hand, against a background of a kitchen table.
Cut to size.

After testing the size a few times, I got it to the size it needed to be. Did I cut it perfectly even all the way around? No. Didn’t matter, so don’t worry about that.

Step 3: Make drainage holes. In the top side of the spool, I used a drill to create a bunch of holes that would help water drain down into the “reservoir.” It doesn’t matter if you accidentally poke through into the bottom side too, but you only have to do the top side that will touch the dirt.

A person holds a black plastic Christmas light spool, showcasing its various holes and circular shape, possibly for use as a drainage reservoir in a plant pot.
Holes added.

Step 4: Fill pot with dirt and plants. Setting the spool inside the bottom of the pot, I made sure the side with the holes was facing up.

Inside of a pot showing a black plastic spool with drainage holes placed at the bottom.
Reservoir in and ready!

With that ready, I dumped in some dirt. Some of this dirt slipped down between the sides of the pot and the cut sides of the spool, but it wasn’t so much that it filled the big “reservoir” space, and a little along the sides helped to hold the rest on top.

With the dirt in, I took my plants out of their other planter and put them in my new pot. After a little watering, they were happy and ready to be indoor plants.

This worked ridiculously well, really, and I know there’s plenty of room for water to drain out of the dirt.

A pot with several healthy green plants sits on a decorative stand near a window, showcasing the indoor gardening setup.
AFTER: Deep pot with hidden water reservoir.

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Making a Table into a Smaller Table

Earlier this month, I took apart our old outdoor table that was no longer working. I turned part of it into a new shoe rack, but that still left me with a lot of wooden parts to work with…and we still needed some kind of table outside by our bonfire and chairs. S’mores season is upon us, after all!

Since the legs were still good, I decided to take a section of the old tabletop and cut it down to make a smaller table. It’d be small enough to use on our deck with the chairs I’d salvaged, and I’d also be able to easily carry it down to the bonfire area when we wanted it there.

A weathered outdoor table sits next to a fence and a house, made of wooden slats with a gravel surface underneath.
BEFORE: Old, too-big table.

If you have a table with the kind of legs that attach with a bolt and a metal corner piece, you can do this too. (A lot of tables have legs like this.) It’s a great way to make an existing table into a different size, and you can switch out the tabletop entirely while you’re at it.

A collection of wooden table legs with a metal connector, resting on an orange plastic container.
Useable legs.

Supplies:

(As an advertising affiliate and Amazon Associate, I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases. But it doesn’t cost you anything extra and helps me keep up my site!)

  • 4 table legs with bolt connectors at the top
  • 4 pieces of wood, cut to desired length
  • nails, wood glue, or L-brackets and screws
  • paint/stain

Tools:

  • screwdriver or drill
  • miter saw
  • small square

Step 1: Choose a tabletop. First, I needed to know how far apart to space the legs, so that meant needing to figure out my tabletop. I decided to make my tabletop slightly rectangular, so I cut down a section of the old tabletop to that shape.

If you’re making a tabletop from scratch, there are all kinds of ways you could do this. You could use a solid piece of wood, make a slatted tabletop like the one I used, or make a circular top. You could maybe even use glass if you had an appropriate adhesive. Get creative!

Step 2: Lay out the legs. With the bottom of the tabletop facing up, I stood my legs in different positions around the edges until I liked how they were spaced. I decided to make the legs stand in a square, giving the longer ends of the rectangular tabletop a little space like an overhang. So, I spaced the legs in a square, each 15 inches apart.

Close-up view of a wooden table being assembled, featuring wooden slats and metal connectors at the corners.
Positioning legs.

Step 3: Cut wood for the base connectors. I realized that 2x4s would be way too bulky and stick out too far around my legs, so I used a treated piece of 1×6 (treated because my table goes outside) as well as some scrap 1x3s from the original table. I cut the 1×6 down into 2 pieces of 1×3, and then I cut all these 1×3 pieces to the length of 15 inches. For your table, just be sure to choose wood that doesn’t stick out around your legs once it’s in place with the metal connectors. It looks much nicer when everything lines up flush.

Taking my 15-inch pieces, I carefully set them between each of the legs to form my square base on the tabletop. You want to be sure every corner makes a perfectly square 90-degrees, or else the legs won’t line up nicely and it’ll look all wonky.

Close-up of a wooden table structure with metal corner brackets attached to a piece of wood, showcasing the details of the assembly process for a DIY outdoor table.
Lining up the first piece of the base.

Step 4: Secure the legs to the wood base pieces. Working with one corner at a time, I put the metal connector on the leg bolt, then loosely put on the nut to hold the metal connector in place so it didn’t fall off. I didn’t want to tighten the nut too much because then it was hard to line up the wood piece – I needed the wiggle room.

Close-up of metal corner bracket attached to wooden surface, showing wood grain and workspace background.
Positioning the metal connectors.

Holding the connectors in place, I screwed them onto the wood pieces. I was careful to hold each piece so it didn’t lose its correct position/angle, but they screwed on pretty easily by holding the wood pieces firmly down.

Once I had two wood pieces attached to each leg to make a corner, then I tightened the nuts all the way, making sure everything stayed square. This made each leg sit exactly right against the tabletop so they didn’t wiggle.

I went around to each of my 4 legs and used the metal connectors to fasten the wood pieces together and form the square base, and I tightened each leg in place as I went.

View of the underside of a wooden table with metal corner brackets attached, showing slatted wood surface and square configuration for support.
Base and legs ready.

Step 5: Secure the tabletop to the base and legs. At this point, I took my brad nailer and nailed up through the tabletop into the square base as well as into the tops of the legs.

You could also use wood glue.

BUT, if you care about leaving the tabletop looking nice, use little L-brackets positioned along the underside of the tabletop and against the insides of the square base – that would save your tabletop from any nail or screw holes in the top surface. I, however, didn’t take the time and figured this table can look a little rough since it’s just going outside anyway.

Step 6: Paint/stain. If your legs and table are in rough shape like mine, or if you’re working with different materials and want the whole table to look uniform, now is the time to give your table a quick sanding and either paint or stain it. You could do this in lots of different color combinations/patterns, so again, be creative! I wanted my table to go with the chairs I’d redone earlier, so I used black and the same light blue color, but I switched up which paint went where just for fun…not at all because I forgot what I was doing.

Close-up view of a wooden tabletop painted in light blue and black, showing the texture and joint detail.
Painting my different sections different colors.

Once dry, it’s done!

A small, rectangular outdoor table with a turquoise slatted top and black legs, placed on a concrete surface.
Paint drying.

I’m quite pleased with how sturdy the table is – the legs sit perfectly flat and don’t wobble. And this certainly is more functional and easier to move around than the old, big table had been.

A small outdoor table with a blue slatted top and black legs, placed on a wooden deck. A blue planter filled with plants sits on top of the table, with a colorful spinner positioned nearby.
AFTER: Nice little table.

Now for bonfire nights!

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