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how to: make a DIY art table

this is it folks. our last guest post for a while, and oh is it a good one. here is the lovely jackie of avocado & papaya to show you how she made an amazing art table for her two boys. but it’s not only a great table for kids, it’s also super stylish. check it out:


Thank you Lauren and Courtney for inviting me to be a guest on your blog today. I’m excited to share with you the DIY art table that my husband and I made for our basement turned play/guest/craft room. We renovated this space just over a year ago when I was pregnant with my second son, Simon. Not that it takes being pregnant to put me in nesting mode, but news of having a second boy definitely ramped up my efforts. As my due date neared, I became increasingly obsessed with trying to arrange the perfect set-up for my two little lads, while keeping to a modest budget and trying to stick to our “grown-up” aesthetic. While our plan was for the boys to share a room (which 13 months later has still yet to happen), we knew that some extra square footage would certainly come in handy. Hence, our dark, danky, dusty basement became home to some new cozy (i.e. 6 foot ceilings) quarters.


One of my favorite things about our new and improved basement “suite” is the art table that we built for the craft area. As the basement is on the long and narrow side, we opted for a rectangular table that would directly mount to the wall to save space. We decided to use a laminate counter-top to spice things up a bit. I scoured the web for something that I liked, but kept stumbling upon pretty wacky options: popcorn kernels, jelly beans, teddy bears, baseball bats, cowboy hats. You get the idea. I was just about to give up when I found this awesome faux bois pattern from Wilson Art called Grain, which you can find here. We ordered this from a laminate shop near our house, but you can also order it on-line. This particular product is a custom order (in fact, they had never seen or heard of it before we brought them the printout from Wilson Art’s website), so we waited about 6 weeks for this product to arrive.

Meanwhile, my husband prepared the wood slab for the table. In our case we wanted a 2 x 8 ft table that would mount in the corner of our playroom. He purchased a 4 x 8 ft piece of 3/4 inch plywood from our local hardware store. Note that you will only see the edge of the wood, not the top, so make sure you like the look of the edge when selecting the wood for your table. He then cut three pieces: a 2 x 8 ft piece, a 4 in x 8 ft piece, and a 4 in x 20 in piece. He screwed the long strip of plywood under the front end of the desk, then screwed the short piece of the plywood under the short end of the desk as it returns to the wall. Since we didn’t want a sharp edge that our children would bump into, he sanded the outside corner to make a gentle curve. At this point we held the plywood up to the corner of the room to make sure it had good contact with the walls. Where there were lumps or gaps between the desk and the wall, he traced them onto the plywood slab with a pencil and cut them with a jigsaw.

Once the laminate arrives, you have two options. You can cut and glue it to the wood yourself, or have the shop where you purchased the laminate do it for you. If you ordered it on-line, you can find a local cabinet or laminate shop and they can do it for you fairly cheap. In the interest of time and ease, we went for option number two. The laminate is extremely brittle, so one false move and the whole thing can crack. If you decide to do it yourself, you will need high-quality construction glue and a router to do the cutting. If you have the shop do it, just be sure to cut and sand your wood slab prior to bringing it to the shop. Once the counter-top is glued on, you won’t be able to further manipulate the wood.


I bought two cheap storage cabinets at Ikea (similar to these) to go under the wood slab and store my collection of art supplies and fabric remnants. We placed the cabinets at either end of the desk and made sure they were level with each other. We then screwed a plywood cleat along the back wall, placed between the cabinets at the same elevation. To put it all together, we glued the new desk down to the cabinet and the cleat with a high-quality construction adhesive. Ta da! Your very own custom art table, chock full of diy love and years of cuteness for you and the littles to enjoy.


i can totally see myself hanging out with little simon here and crafting up a storm on this perfect table! so awesome! thanks jackie!!!

Posted: July 28th, 2009 under guest posts, how-to.

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Comments

Comment from pve design
Time July 28, 2009 at 9:30 am

I "wood" love to have this DIY table…looks fun!
pve

Comment from likelydesign
Time July 28, 2009 at 11:56 am

I LOVE this!!! Thanks for sharing!!!

Lindsay @ Likely Design

Comment from Jackie Kersh
Time July 28, 2009 at 1:26 pm

thank you for letting me be part of your fab blog world for a day!

Comment from Lisa
Time July 29, 2009 at 12:41 pm

Your playroom and art table made a fabulous addition to your magazine worthy home!

Comment from K @ Blog Goggles
Time July 30, 2009 at 6:18 am

This is amazing! What a great table for your boys.

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