pallet wood

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Coffee Table Tweak

Posted by James on February 14, 2013
Posted in: New Home, Projects. Tagged: , , . 26 Comments

I present “Exhibit A”,

I’ve had this great “modern-ish” coffee table for well over a decade.

It has definitely seen better days.

Modern Wood Top Coffee Table

I love the square metal base. But that top.

I don’t know if any of y’all have a Doberman in your life.  If you do, you will understand why the top looks this way. She has been using it to get a better view out of the front window…..and we pro’lly don’t trim her nails as often as we should.

Scratched Wood Top on the Modern Coffee Table

Maybe there is some decent looking wood under all that brown stain?

I started with some VERY heavy grit sandpaper and scrubbed till my joints hurt.

After an hour of sanding off polyurethane and dark mahogany stain I was left with this….

Sanded Coffee Table

Better, yes…..but still not exactly thrilled with it. Those Doberman talons dug deep.

And it looks so……flat. I wish it was a little bit more ….”rustic”.

Wait a minute. Remember that pallet wood we started collecting for the wood accent wall in the master bedroom a year ago?

Well, we never threw it away.

Shocker, I know.

I present “Exhibit B”

Scrap Wood Hoarded on the Side of the House

Y’all are never gunna believe this……but those short grey boards are EXACTLY the size of the wood coffee table top.

EXACTLY

AND…it’s almost the same color as the sanded wood. Can’t even tell where the boards stop and the table top begins…can you?

Old Pallet Wood on top of Coffee Table

A and B together make a pretty decent “rustic/modern” coffee table.

All I had to do was nail everything together. (after a good cleaning, of course)

James Nailing the Boards Down

Pretty happy with this…..Love the way the nail holes line up down the sides and straight down the center. Like it was meant to be.

Finished Pallet Woodon Coffee Table

I had to trim a few pieces to make everything fit, and I didn’t like seeing those “freshly cut” edges.

I mixed some acrylic craft paints, black and brown, with water,

Acrylic Craft Paint Watered Down

and brushed it on everything that looked new.

Aging the Freshly Cut Wood with Acrylic Craft Paint

Here’s what she looks like now in the Living Room.

Pallet Coffee Table in Living Room

Row of Nail Holes along the Edge of the Pallet Table

Raw Edge of the Pallet Coffee Table

Pallet Wood Coffee Table in Living Room

We think it’s Way, More, Much Better.

and…..it didn’t cost a thing.

UPDATE:

I found this pretty similar table at Restoration Hardware recently.

Restoration Hardware Brickmakers Table

It is in the $1000 range

Great Big Barn Wood Star ……Continued

Posted by James on November 25, 2012
Posted in: Christmas, New Home. Tagged: , , , . 13 Comments

Now to wire this puppy with lights.

I know! It just gets better and better.

I marked my hole locations with thumb tacks. I started with one on every tip, and one on every corner joint. Then I measured the distance between them to get an estimate of how many holes to drill. By putting holes about every 5 – 5 1/2 inches, every board will have 4 to 5 lights.

42 lights total, by my count.

I used a 3/4 inch wood paddle bit to make all my holes. My C-7 light sockets are just about this size.

Cordless drills are great for screwing lightweight stuff together, but a good power drill (the kind that plugs in) has all the power that I needed for boring through all that super-tough pallet wood. We have a cheap one, I think it was about 30$.

It took a while, and a lot of arm strength, but eventually I was able to make all 42 holes. Good thing we had that work table with locking casters to work on. A nice clean work surface makes all the difference with a big scale project like this.

We had a couple of white C7 light cords already.

The white will blend in more with the white dry brushed wood. If you can’t find white, they are available at Partylights.com.

Before I could slip my sockets into the holes I just drilled, I had to snip the hook off the socket. Just used a pair of wire snips.

Then I could flip my star over and slip all the light sockets into the holes I just drilled. Pretty simple.

Stapling the cords down can be a little tricky as well. Make sure that the cord is inside the guide on the stapler. I didn’t want to short out my cord before I even got the light bulbs in.

OOOh yeah, this is a T-50 stapler. It’s slightly bigger than an office stapler. Buy a “Big Boy” stapler if you plan on doing projects like this. I used 3/8 inch staples.

I only had 42 holes and 60 outlets on my light cord.

Did you know that you can cut light cords? Well you can. If they are the big C-7 or C-9 cords…dont do it to B sizes lights.

The ends of my lights were cut off, and I twisted wire nuts over the exposed ends. This looks cleaner than just tucking all the extra light cord behind my star.

I didn’t work this hard to have it look unprofessional.

To keep the wire nuts from ever slipping off, I made them even more secure by wrapping electrical tape over the whole mess.

I was almost ready to add bulbs. First I had to scratch the whole thing up just a bit with some heavy grit sandpaper. Really make it look worn and found, not so much “new construction”.

Here’s the bulbs I used.

Bulbrite red transparent 10 wat G12, the same bulbs they use on carnival rides. And who doesn’t like a carnival atmosphere? They also come in blue, amber, green, clear and bubble gum pink. You can buy them from 1000Bulbs.com, at about 60 cents each. That sounds pretty cheap, but when you add up all the sockets…it can get a little pricy. Regular ceramic Christmas light bulbs are only about 25 cents each, and will work just fine. But I just love the “look” of the carnival lights and think they are worth every penny.

We used to use them for stringing across the old patio, so we already had a box of them.

Finished Star!!! (If I could play music here, it would be Etta James – At Last)

Now we have to share this baby with the neighborhood.

Aren’t they so lucky?