Dumpster Dive to PB!

I pulled in the parking lot after work one day and was walking up to the apartment I spotted this beauty, err.. mess hanging out right next to the dumpster. I stopped and thought about it, then continued on. As soon as I got into the house I thought, Wait! What am I thinking.. and quickly ran out to the dumpster (..as if someone else was going to take it..) and picked up my new table.

Isn't she a beauty? Hmm.. let's rephrase. Doesn't she have so much potential?

So I promptly set her in our entryway. And there she sat. Until the Mr. got annoyed enough that he moved her to the front porch. And there she sat. Until I got embarrassed enough that the bright red, falling apart table I stole from the dumpster was on our front porch for all our neighbors to see, including the one who once threw this away, so I brought her inside.

Then I covered her in paint thinner and scraped off some paint, three times. But she still had tons of residue. Then I gave her a good sanding, too many times time count. At the time, I was pretty certain those round legs were going to be the death of me. But don't fret, I survived.

After the paint thinner:


After the sanding:


The wood wasn't in good shape, so I knew I'd have to paint her. But I've always been a fan of dark, natural wood so having to paint her intimidated me.

At first I thought I'd make a bar cart out of her. Then I wanted to make her into a table top sign, like Donna's at Funky Junk Interiors. Then she was going to be a side table in the living room. However, I wasn't crazy about any of those ideas in the apartment.

Then one weekend the Mr. and I were walking around downtown and stopped in Pottery Barn. Like always, they have so. many. trays. And I always want every. single. one.

A girl can dream can't she?




Darn price tags.

I digress, in PB that day was when I realized exactly what my little red table could become. A tray! So home I went ready to roll.

Of course, I forgot to take some pictures in the process (I'm still learning!).

I picked up 2 pieces of metal from Lowe's. They were originally the standard silver color, but some Krylon Metallic ORB (oil rubbed bronze) spray paint fixed that.

I tore off the top of the table, and to my surprise underneath actually had a logo from the company that made the table. The wood was a lot better on that side too. So with a little more sanding and some Dark Oak stain, they were good to go. The wood was still definitely worn, but that gave it a perfect Vintage look.

I nailed the metal pieces around the tray. Don't be fooled. It sounds easy. But nailing the metal to the tray was somehow the hardest part of the project. Something about have to position, force the bend and nail at the same time didn't work so well. But so worth it, either way!

And that was it! I still want to give the tray handles and think sisal rope would be perfect, and happened to have some left over from the Sisal Basket I made. I just need to make a trip to the store to pick up a new drill. My current drill decided it no longer wanted to drill.

What do you think? In total, the metal was about $4 a pop. So I spent a whopping $8 on this project, as I had all the other supplies. Take that PB!



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