I am so excited to share this with you! This was my very favorite Christmas project this year. It was also my first time painting and repurposing furniture. Yay for trying new things! I knew I wanted a LEGO table for Abbey, but we are limited on space. This ended up being the perfect size!
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Abbey has hit the LEGO stage full force. She is in love with the LEGO Friends
sets, especially the jungle sets. She had a few sets before Christmas, but she didn't really have a place to work on them that wasn't the dining room table. I wanted her to be able to have everything in one place! I had seen this project before over at Fussy Monkey Business, and it has been on my project list ever since. I knew this was the perfect year for it! As a family we coordinated LEGO sets and Abbey ended up coming home with at least 6 different sets to work on! So much fun!
This project was much simpler than I expected it to be. And it turned out exactly the way I saw it in my head. Don't you love it when that happens?
Here is what you need:
- 2 level coffee table
- 2 8 oz paint samples in your color of choice
- LEGO Baseplate
(10x10 or 15x15, depending on your table)
- trim
- painting supplies (I used a mini roller and foam brushes)
- Liquid Nails
- basket
The trickiest part of this project is finding the table. Check Craigslist, hit thrift stores, and when all else fails do what I did...ask Facebook! I posted a picture of a similar table and asked if anyone had one they didn't want any more. As luck would have it, my friend Samantha had picked one up with this very same project in mind for her boys, but knew she wasn't going to have time to get it done. She is a saint and gave it to me for free! Love that girl.
All things considered it was in pretty good shape! The top piece came right off, which made the whole process much easier. Give your table a good sanding. Nothing too crazy, just enough so that nothing is shiny anymore. Your paint needs something to stick to! You can see the difference in this picture. I didn't sand where I would be putting the LEGO plate. See how it is still shiny?
Now you get to paint! Two coats was just right for this project. I probably could have squeaked it out with one paint sample if I really wanted to, but I'm glad I have 2. I am keeping the extra for any touch ups that may be needed down the road!
Now, this next step might be a bit intimidating. I am lucky enough to have a brother who is into woodworking to help me. You could also have your trim cut right at the hardware store. Measure how large your baseplate is going to be, and create a frame for it out of trim. Quarter round is what was recommended, but I went with this trim that had a little lip cut into it. It lays flatter that quarter round would have, and there is room for the baseplate to tuck underneath it.
You may be wondering why there are more than 4 pieces here. I'll get to that in a second. Once you have your frame, glue down your baseplate, and then glue down your frame pieces. I found it easier to glue them one piece at a time so I could adjust as needed.
See the lip? This trim was a little bit more expensive than quarter round, but I think it was worth it. It matches the style of the table beautifully!
Now you need to make a space for your basket. I happened to have a basket that was a perfect size, hooray! The original plan was to cut a whole in the top to drop the basket into, but that made for some difficult cutting. My brother and I made the executive decision to just cut the top out from the front and slide the basket in. The only problem we ran into was that we got these little splits in the veneer. No worries, we just covered it up with more trim! That also let us really make sure the opening would hold the basket well.
For some reason when we went to put it back together, one side of the top was being finicky. A little sanding, and a little (protected) pounding and we were all set. I say again...hooray for little brothers with skills!
And that's it! All done! The basket fit perfectly, everything was painted and glued, and it was ready to be put by the tree!
I love it! And more importantly...she loves it! Happy faces on Christmas morning are the best!
Are your kids into LEGO? Do you have a defined space for them?
Have you ever refinished furniture? I see more of this in my future!
Love your story today!
Heather
sets, especially the jungle sets. She had a few sets before Christmas, but she didn't really have a place to work on them that wasn't the dining room table. I wanted her to be able to have everything in one place! I had seen this project before over at Fussy Monkey Business, and it has been on my project list ever since. I knew this was the perfect year for it! As a family we coordinated LEGO sets and Abbey ended up coming home with at least 6 different sets to work on! So much fun!This project was much simpler than I expected it to be. And it turned out exactly the way I saw it in my head. Don't you love it when that happens?
Here is what you need:
- 2 level coffee table
- 2 8 oz paint samples in your color of choice
- LEGO Baseplate
(10x10 or 15x15, depending on your table)- trim
- painting supplies (I used a mini roller and foam brushes)
- Liquid Nails
- basket
The trickiest part of this project is finding the table. Check Craigslist, hit thrift stores, and when all else fails do what I did...ask Facebook! I posted a picture of a similar table and asked if anyone had one they didn't want any more. As luck would have it, my friend Samantha had picked one up with this very same project in mind for her boys, but knew she wasn't going to have time to get it done. She is a saint and gave it to me for free! Love that girl.
All things considered it was in pretty good shape! The top piece came right off, which made the whole process much easier. Give your table a good sanding. Nothing too crazy, just enough so that nothing is shiny anymore. Your paint needs something to stick to! You can see the difference in this picture. I didn't sand where I would be putting the LEGO plate. See how it is still shiny?
Now you get to paint! Two coats was just right for this project. I probably could have squeaked it out with one paint sample if I really wanted to, but I'm glad I have 2. I am keeping the extra for any touch ups that may be needed down the road!
Now, this next step might be a bit intimidating. I am lucky enough to have a brother who is into woodworking to help me. You could also have your trim cut right at the hardware store. Measure how large your baseplate is going to be, and create a frame for it out of trim. Quarter round is what was recommended, but I went with this trim that had a little lip cut into it. It lays flatter that quarter round would have, and there is room for the baseplate to tuck underneath it.
You may be wondering why there are more than 4 pieces here. I'll get to that in a second. Once you have your frame, glue down your baseplate, and then glue down your frame pieces. I found it easier to glue them one piece at a time so I could adjust as needed.
See the lip? This trim was a little bit more expensive than quarter round, but I think it was worth it. It matches the style of the table beautifully!
Now you need to make a space for your basket. I happened to have a basket that was a perfect size, hooray! The original plan was to cut a whole in the top to drop the basket into, but that made for some difficult cutting. My brother and I made the executive decision to just cut the top out from the front and slide the basket in. The only problem we ran into was that we got these little splits in the veneer. No worries, we just covered it up with more trim! That also let us really make sure the opening would hold the basket well.
For some reason when we went to put it back together, one side of the top was being finicky. A little sanding, and a little (protected) pounding and we were all set. I say again...hooray for little brothers with skills!
And that's it! All done! The basket fit perfectly, everything was painted and glued, and it was ready to be put by the tree!
I love it! And more importantly...she loves it! Happy faces on Christmas morning are the best!
Are your kids into LEGO? Do you have a defined space for them?
Have you ever refinished furniture? I see more of this in my future!
Love your story today!
Heather
I love this idea! My boys use the old train table. I'd rather have a small piece of furniture, but as long as they are building, I will deal with it :)
ReplyDeleteThis is so cute! My son is into the huge Legos right now but we have a toy bin with the lego top for smaller legos.
ReplyDeleteI love it! :) I pinned it (and then accidentally hit Enter halfway through typing my description, so I must go fix that!). Those ugly old tables are really easy to find in thrift stores. I showed it to my husband and he thought it was a good idea, too.
ReplyDeleteThis is awesome! It looks like something you would buy right out of the store! I need your creative thoughts for organizing! lol
ReplyDeleteThis is adorable! I'm glad Abbey liked it! Nice job.
ReplyDeleteLOVE these colors! So bright & fun!
ReplyDeleteI love it. THis is so adorable!!
ReplyDeleteWow, this is your first furniture makeover? It turned out awesome. What a clever idea that all of us parents could use!! Thanks for linking up to the creative circle. Hope to see some more this week!
ReplyDeleteI love everything about this,right down to the gorgeous color! My boys aren't quite at lego age yet, but I know it's not far off, so I am definitely going to save this idea! Thanks for sharing with us at The Creative Circle!
ReplyDelete