Transform an Outdated Table Into a Farmhouse Pedestal Coffee Table!

Life on Lake Street
by Life on Lake Street
9 Materials
$75
3 Hours
Easy

The second I saw this table at a thrift store, I just knew it was the farmhouse coffee table I'd been searching for! The size, shape, and scale was perfect for my living room. The only thing off was the height and wood color.... which I knew would be an easy fix! And... it was only $30!


So, we loaded this puppy up and took her home with us!

First we just tried it out in our living room. Obviously it was too high, but we wanted to get a feel for what would comfortably work in our space. The normal height for your average coffee table is 16-18 inches from the ground.


You also want the top of the table to be at least an inch or so lower than the height of your couch, which makes sense.

We just kind of played around with what felt comfortable to us, really. You know, by sitting on the couch and trying to envision what height would be comfortable for our feet to rest on.


We finally decided on a height around 17.5 inches and our table measured as is stands around 24 inches tall. So we had around 7 excess inches to remove.


The struggle with this table was trying to figure out where to remove the extra height. We wanted to do it in a subtle way where you would never had known this table wasn’t always meant to be a coffee table, meaning you didn’t first glance at it and think, “That looks weird!” 


So once we knew how tall it needed to be, Jeremy went and retrieved his supplies. He first unscrewed the tabletop from the base. Then he removed the legs. We chose the part of the base that had the most “bulk” to take the extra height off.

Next, it was time to chalk paint the base. I normally like to use Annie Sloan chalk paint but didn't have any on hand. So this was just some stuff I had picked up at JoAnn's in the color Adirondack White.

Looks kind of scary going on at first! Keep going! I did about 4 coats.

Now it's time to stain! I used a new product called Fusion Stain and Finishing Oil in Cappuccino! And I'm in love with the results.


To use, just apply like normal stain. I dipped a small foam brush in the stain, then applied a thin coat over top. I let it sit for 10 minutes per instructions on the can, then wiped the excess off with an old rag.

And here's the finished product! I love how it turned out. Since the only thing we had to buy was the table and stain (which I've used for multiple other projects as well), we've got a brand new to us coffee table for ~ $60!

I love how well the stain gets absorbed into the wood. And the exposed wood grain gives it that rustic, weathered look that I was after.

So what are you waiting for? Go try it!! If I can do it, anyone can!

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Life on Lake Street
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  3 questions
  • Martha Martha on Jul 31, 2019

    How did you reattach the table top to the now cut down pedestal?

  • Louise Louise on Jul 31, 2019

    Hi Lauren😊 Where did you get your BEA😍TIFUL silver grey sectional? Its just the colour & material I'm looking for😀

  • Sharon Sharon on Aug 01, 2020

    How did you cut the pedestal down to size?

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  • Satchel Satchel on Aug 22, 2019

    We created a similar table...only we just cut down our own table...not quite as exciting but super easy as Lauren described. Hardest part was making sure the cut was level.

  • Bek Bek on Jul 31, 2020

    You know how sometimes you save something here, and then looking back, you wonder why? This is the second time I've seen this one, and I like it even better this time around!

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