From a wooden spool to a bohemian style outdoor table
While I was working on a previous project to restore a couple of teak chairs, my friend mentioned she was looking for a small table to use with the chairs. The table above was the what I came up with. She even has the option of putting an umbrella into the middle hole! Genius!
This was a super easy flip from an old wooden spool found on OfferUp. I was scrolling to find anything that would meet the requirements that Tammy had for her table: small enough to fit between the chairs but big enough to hold a couple drinks and/or plates, able to stay on an uncovered outdoor space without daily maintenance, and blend with her teak chairs.
When I'm sourcing products, I keep the end result in mind but try to also keep my mind open for different ways to get there. Obviously when I started looking, a wooden spool from a manufacturer wasn't what I had in mind. But when I saw that picture on OfferUp, it instantly became clear that this is what was needed. It looked like a table, it would blend well with the teak chairs, and did you see the hole in the middle? Perfect for an umbrella! And the best part? Only $10! I instantly messaged the seller and went down to pick it up that week.
The spool had a lot of nails/nail holes and was pretty rough all the way around. The first thing to do was to remove the broken nail heads and fill in the rest of the nail holes with wood putty.
Once that dried, I sanded the table top, the edge of the table, and the foot of the spool. Then it was stained and had to dry for 24 hours before the next application.
Now we could have stopped at just the staining and Tammy would have had a nice outside table. But I like pretty. And even way back when I initially sourced the table, I had a thought to apply a stencil to the top that was simple but still....pretty.
I have stenciled a couple of other projects, and it is a real easy way to change the look of something plain to something fabulous. This full size mandela stencil would fit perfectly on the top of the table without any kind of adjustments. (Find it here)
The stencil actually comes in a half mandela, so I taped it to one side of the table while making sure the other side was protected with plastic. Using white spray paint, the stenciled side was painted. Then I reversed the entire process on the other side, waiting until the white paint was dry on the one side.
Then two coats of All in One Polyurethane were added to the entire table: top, sides, spindle, foot. This will stay outside on a deck so needs to be protected from the weather.
The final result is quite beautiful and goes quite well with her chairs. She is ready to hang out on her deck, light a fire in the firepit, and relax.
Please leave any feedback or comments below (scroll down below the list of posts to leave your comments!) Thanks for stopping by!
~~kathleen