As our lives have changed over the past few years our furniture needs have also evolved. While it would be nice to go out and purchase new pieces as needed, the wallet doesn't always make that feasible. My solution? Reuse what we have to the extent we can and modify it to fit our needs. The latest example of this? Taking our "budget table" and hacking it in half to make it a square breakfast room table. Here is a link to the original post about the budget table we purchased: Budget Dining Table
Our previous breakfast room table was perfect for the two of us before having a kid (and okay while he was light and on a clip on chair), but the "in style" tall bar-height would work no more. We went ahead and sold off that table and went to work on modifying our repaired dining room table to fit the space. The process also resulted in a great matching toddler table.
Let's get right to it. The first step was to saw the old table right in half. Well, not technically in half as I just squared it off. The remaining piece will be used later.
Turning it over, there wasn't a whole lot of modification necessary. I removed the long runners, trimmed them to length to accommodate the end pieces and reassembled. This whole process was very similar to the first post about this table, however less involved since I didn't have to disassemble the entire table to rip the runners. With my little helper...
After gluing the table and getting it put back together I sanded the new cut edge and applied some stain that was close enough. I don't know a lot about finishes, but whatever the company used that made the table was very odd. It was super thin, almost like a light coat of paint and scratched very easily. In an effort to help fight the unavoidable toddler messes I went ahead and added a polyurethane layer to the table with a satin sheen.
The chairs are straight from local thrift stores. They ranged from 6 to 10 dollars and were covered with a few quick coats of seafoam colored paint. We'll get all four of them at some point...
To put the cut portion of the table to use, I decided to make a little toddler table for my boy. This is one of the cheapest projects I've ever done as I only had to purchase a couple 1x4's and some white spray paint. I trimmed the top to have a small overhang past the existing support beneath the table. From there, I cut 45 degree legs to give that picnic table look. After mounting each side I added another support down the middle. Each joint was glued and tacked together with a small finish nail gun.
After a quick sand of the leg edges the unit went out back to the paint both for its white coat. Why white? Because toddlers are really clean and it will stay white forever. Great.
The now painted unit came back inside, got the edges stained and then the same satin polyurethane coat that the other table received.
Originally we were going to use the toddler table as a game room station, however it quickly made its way near the kitchen in an effort to provide an activity zone while his Mommy is busy in the Kitchen. We'll see how that plan plays out...
The End.
