Reclaimed Wood Topped End Table

I'm in the process of completely redoing our master bedroom and because of this overhaul, which includes a reclaimed wood headboard (stay tuned ;) and a refinished desk that will serve as my bed side table (tutorial also coming up :) I didn't have room for both the older end tables I had and they no longer seemed to "go" with my new more masculine, rustic, western idea so I went thrifting for an alternative for my husbands side of the bed.

Working with a limited budget I couldn't really find what I wanted so I decided to try to make this $6 wood end table into something that would work.  It's solid wood which is what I wanted, pressed board stuff in my opinion just isn't worth the hassle.

The end table is pretty plain, nothing too special about it, but it has potential. The one draw back was a crack in the top.  I thought I could just fill the crack and paint over it.  But once I got it home I realized the entire crack was actually broken off and nailed back on from the underside.  Bummed I figure I would just chalk my mistake up to a $6 loss, but then I looked closer and realized that the top piece was only attached with a few screws so I took out the screws and got rid of it and am so glad!!!!  The reclaimed wood I used instead worked so much better and made this "plain jane" piece into something way more interesting and unique.  I love it when those mistakes actually work out :)

With the top piece off I spray painted everything black.  I like to paint the inside and outside of drawers as well, I think it makes everything look more professional and finished even when you open the drawers instead of just having pretty fronts and a splatter painted mess inside.

Now for the red, this is just some acrylic craft paint that I had on hand and a cheap brush.

Just slap on the red to the drawer fronts and the base, giving it a quick coat. Don't worry about covering all of the black because you want some of the black to show through. 

While everything is drying, you can move on to the top.

My friend is remodeling her house and she graciously gave me a couple of old weathered boards.  They had great chippy white paint and lots of character so I measure and cut five pieces of the board with my trusty little jig saw, leaving just a little bit extra on each end to hang off the edge.  Because the boards widths didn't measure out perfectly across the top I used three pieces in the middle that where the original board width and then the two outside pieces I cut in half to fit. To help hold the boards in place I used a line of wood glue along the top of the end table then placed the boards on top and weighted them down to help the glue seal.  After about an hour I used my drill to drill small pilot holes all the way around the edge where the boards and the edge of the table top meet, and then went back and secured the boards to the top with small black screws.  

To finish it off, I sanded the edges to even up any spots where my cutting wasn't super straight and then gave everything a quick coat of black craft paint.  I had originally thought I would stain the top, or leave the chippy white paint as is, both great options, but for this with the red and black I decided the black would tie everything in, but still give a rustic look and match the great inexpensive knobs I found at Hobby Lobby.  

Not too shabby for six bucks and a little paint, huh???

I can't wait to show you the rest of the room re-do... so stay tuned!!!!

In the meantime, go save some tossed aside piece of furniture and make it new again!!  It is a pretty great feeling :)

Enjoy,