July: Reclaimed Window Coffee Table

Ok, it’s taken about 20,000 times longer than I expected it would, but the coffee table is totally and entirely complete! This past week I ordered the glass panels cut to fit within the eight sections of the window, painted the ceiling tile wallpaper with some leftover green paint from my bathroom walls, and put the final coats of varnish on everything. To raise the glass panels up to be flush with the wood, I cut some foam core board and placed it underneath the wallpaper. I could not be happier with how it turned out… in fact, this is one of those rare and wonderful projects that has turned out to FAR exceed what I had envisioned in my mind. I’m so in love with the colors and textures. And to think… it started as an old display window that was left behind.. with a sloppy coat of white paint and some cheap plexiglass windows. My how far we’ve come!

The Table is Built!

Well, I’ve been trying to get this post up for 2 days now, but have been away from the computer almost entirely (a nice change!). I am happy to announce that we finally got the table into one piece! We decided it was best to do this the right way, so the beau went to pick up his drill and put pilot holes in before trying to attach the screws. The legs and frame were attached to a thin piece of birch, since we measured wrong and could not attach directly to the old window. As it were, I think it turned out to be a happy accident, as it really added some extra strength and stability to the whole piece.

The pictures below show the underside as the glue is drying and the final table done with the wallpaper laid of top of the panels. Next week, I will be ordering some custom cuts of glass to fit over the wallpaper panels to weigh them down and protect them, as well as putting a final coat of sealer over the table paint.  For now… i’m going to enjoy the rest of my weekend trip down to the countryside of south-central Texas before heading back to the busy, bustling city. Tata for now!

Aging the Window & Adding the Wallpaper

Even though the building of the table did not work out last night, that did not stop me! I got down on my hands & knees and spent the rest of the evening scraping & sanding the window to get the final, aged look. The stained wood and bits of white paint ended up looking really great showing through in the worn areas! And finally – my other favorite part of this project – I cut out the ceiling tile wallpaper to fit in the window panels. Yes, I was squealing with joy when I placed them onto the window. So exciting to see it getting close to completion! I still need to get 8 glass pieces cut to fit inside the panels to weigh down the wallpaper and protect it.. that will have to wait until next week unfortunately as I will be out of town this weekend.

My handyman is in the process of going to pick up the drill we forgot at his place last night – so we can get the “pilot holes” (as i’ve learned they are called) drilled and put the screws in the right way this time. So, here’s hoping that by the time I get off work I will come home to a fully built, beautiful window-turned-coffee table!

The Leg & The Screw

Sooo… we’ve hit a BIT of a snag tonight while trying to finish the table up. Got the top painted this morning – a bright & cheery teal. So tonight after work we got started screwing the frame & legs together. Unfortunately – we were not aware that wood table legs are actually made of some superhuman substance… and quickly found this out when our wood screws broke in the wood. So a trip back to Lowe’s to return the screws and get some nails instead. Ok, this will surely work! Well, as you can see, even the nails do not agree with these superhuman table legs. So now we’ve got half a screw sticking out and a crooked nail embedded… it ain’t lookin pretty folks.

Sadly, by the time we were able to start hammering, it was getting a bit late – can’t disturb the upstairs neighbors TOO much. So, my handsome handyman will be trying to get these nails into the ungodly table legs tomorrow. We shall see how it goes.

Oh, we also discovered that we measured the whole frame to be too small and there is no room to attach it to the top without basically driving right through the glass panes (example of why I should never be put in charge of the measuring). Soooo we’re going to have to get a piece of plywood to attach the legs and frame to and THEN attach the window to that. Me-oh-my… building furniture is a lot harder than I thought. It’s certainly been a learning experience and a lot of laughs though!

 

 

 

Aging the Window

 

I was lucky enough to have a tall, dark & handsome elf working away on the old window today while I was at work.. he finished up the sanding and got the stain on. When I got home I couldn’t believe how great it looked! We purposefully left some of the original white paint on it to give an aged look – and the stain dirtied it up wonderfully. Tomorrow morning before work, I’ll be putting on a cheerful coat of teal paint on top of this. After work, we’ll be getting it all built together and then do the final sanding to show some of the aged wood thru the teal. Can’t wait!

 

We Can Do It!

This morning we made one final trip to Lowe’s to pick up some sandpaper… then strapped on some goggles and masks and were ready to go! I decided to throw in a side project and sand down an old desk I’ve been meaning to refinish for some time now… which took up a bit more time than I thought it would. So, the desk got mostly done – but we’ve still got some more sanding to do on the old window to get all the white paint off her. Going to leave a bit of the white paint in-tact.. as we’ll be sanding through the layers to create an aged look at the end.

I cut some pieces of the faux ceiling tile wallpaper to test how I want to arrange them in the panels… I’m leaning towards the version that has one floral piece centered in the middle of the panel. Tonight I’ll be staining the legs and pieces to build the frame underneath the window.. and tomorrow we will finish sanding and get the window stained. Tuesday we’ll be putting it altogether and doing final paint touch-ups, sanding, and sealing Wednesday!

Did I mention I am in love with this project? I love working with my hands – have done it a lot with sculpture and ceramics… but never really had the space or equipment to do much building or wood-working. (still don’t have the space – but my tiny patio does ok! As for the equipment – much thanks to Lowe’s who will cut your wood for free, and to friends for letting me borrow other stuff I need!) It’s so much fun to give something old a new life too. I could really get into this!

 

Preparing for Build Day

Two hours at Lowe’s and $100 later – and we’ve finally gathered all the materials we need for building the coffee table! Much thanks to the beau for helping out with wood selection, all the measurements and other such guy-stuff. ;) So now we’ve got wood legs, paint, wood stain, brushes, wood for the frame and some totally awesome paintable wallpaper that looks like tin ceiling tile! The plan is to cut panels of the wallpaper to lay over top of the glass panels on the window. A heck of a lot easier and cheaper than trying to use real tin ceiling tile.

Tomorrow morning we get started on the build… sanding, staining, painting, drilling and more. Totally stoked to get this project completed!

Even MORE good fortune!

Don’t you just love when things just sort of land in your lap at the right time? Thanks to some cleaning out at work – I was able to snag an old door earlier this week from our warehouse – which I posted a picture of in my last post. Sadly, it was a little too large for the coffee table project I want to do. On Friday, the group at work that is in charge of creating store window displays for all our retail locations was clearing out some things. I was lucky to find an old window they were getting rid of. It’s much closer to the size I need for a coffee table. Best of all – it saved me a trip to the salvage yard and the money to buy an old door or window for this project!

I also acquired some great tin ceiling tiles from a friend at work. These are going to be used for another project I’ve got up my sleeve for the bedroom. Thanks a bunch Becky!