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Turn a Dumpster Coffee Table Into a Child's Personalized Play Table!
by
Madilyn
(IC: homeowner)
9 Materials
$20.00
1 Week
Medium
Believe it or not, I saw this coffee table on my way to purchase a play table for my 2 yr. old grandson. I turned right back around and picked up my dumpster find when I saw the price tag ($179) for the small, poor quality store model.
I always start by cleaning and degreasing any dumpster find with TSP. This allows the paint to adhere properly (and kills any trash cooties!). Make sure to wear gloves and rinse well and let dry before painting.
Your table can be as complicated or as simple as you like (or have the energy for! I played around with several designs before settling on this one. I Googled pictures of those road play rugs for ideas on road shapes and what buildings I wanted.
The next step is to paint inside the traced roads. I added a river, two lakes and some green areas for parks, a house, a farm, a school and a zoo. I also painted some areas black so I could put personalized stores there. I like Waverly chalk paint best because it doesnāt require any sanding or priming. I love it when a product lets me be lazy!
Now for the fun! Once my ābackdropā was painted I searched the Dollar Stores for fun stickers. I knew my grandson loved trains, animals, fish, the zoo, farms, the park, the circus, ice cream and pizza (what kid doesnāt?) the beach etc. I wanted to add all of this into really personalize it and make is special. It was easy to find car, truck, tree, planes, fish and play equipment stickers but I had to search out the Internet for clip art for the rest. That meant I had to cut around EACH and EVERY clip art. Boy, I hope my grandson knows how much I love him because it took me an entire season of binge watching season 2 of āGirlsā before I was done. It was worth it though!
Of course, I probably should have paid more attention to the clipart and less to the TV because I didnāt realize until I cut the entire zoo full of animals and trees that the scale was off. Rather than re-print and recut I decided to just go with it, hoping my 2 year old wonāt notice. (I am lazy, remember?) The best way to avoid any scale issues is to do a practice run. Just lay out what you have and move it around until you are happy (or whatever you are binge watching is over). Then decoupage each and every clipart down and stick every sticker. FYI-This is going to take a while. Hint-Donāt put your ceiling fan on high during this process or your clipart will fly everywhere. Did that! Not fun!
To personalize, I printed store and road signs. I just glued the personalized sign over the clipart. In this case, the sign went on top of the left-hand window.
Here is another example of personalizing. I also have a "Mommy Park," a "Daddy Beach," "Grandpa's Farm," "GiGi Lake," (that's me!) and an airplane flying with a banner that reads, "Happy Birthday, Lukas" behind it.
Here is the retail section of town! Add as much detail as you like or just do the basics, like roads, grass, and trees. Either way, your child will love it because you made especially for them! You can see I went a little crazy with detail.
All favorite farm animals present and accounted for!
I decided to outline the roads with a black sharpie to make them stand out more.
I put in a bunch of detail because I was addicted to "Girls" and had to watch the entire 6 seasons. I figured I might as well keep busy while watching. I also had a few cocktails!
The last step consists of properly sealing all of your hard work. You can either use several coats of Mod Podge (let dry between coats) or Min Wax Polyacrylic. Don't use polyurethane because it could cause a yellow tint to form. I did 5 coats of Mod Podge but I may put a polyacrylic on if it looks like the table is getting worn. I can tell you I had a lot of fun with this project and I love the look on my grandson's face when he discovers another hidden detail that I put in just for him!
Enjoyed the project?
Suggested materials:
- Table (trash)
- TSP, sponge (Hardware store)
- Waverly chalk paint (had on hand can purchase at Walmart/craft stores)
- Sponge brushes, various size (craft, hardware store or Walmart)
- Mod Podge (craft store/Walmart)
- Various stickers (Dollar store, craft store, Walmart)
- Clipart (computer)
- Sharpie (Walmart)
- Train tracks to trace roads (grandson's toy box)
Published June 13th, 2017 4:17 AM
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3 of 4 comments
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Becky Partain on Jun 15, 2017
YOU'RE AWESOME!!! This is fantastic!! I'm so happy that you shared this.
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Madilyn on Jun 17, 2017
Thanks, I am glad you like the table. My neighbor just asked me to turn her old coffee table into a "princess/fairy tale/castle" look for her granddaughter. She says she can't find any play rugs (which my table was based on) for girls that are in her price range. I guess everything has a road and cars on it! I am excited to start this girly project and fill it with unicorns, fairy tale creatures, and butterflies!
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