Kids’ Table Redo…(and some shutters, too!)

Bit by bit, I’m finishing up projects for the loft area. This table used to look like this…

…except is was red, and colored on and tearing apart. While I have seen lots of beautiful kids’ tables for sale, that’s not in the budget right now. I starting thinking about recovering and/or deco-paging it. What I ended up doing was pretty simple.

I took the table apart and tore all of the vinyl and batting off. The board underneath was pretty rough so I filled in some of the cracks and things with joint compound. I thought I could just put paper down on top of that, but it was still not a smooth surface, so I was glad that I found some thin batting when I was organizing my fabric the other day. A layer of that smoothes everything out. I bought clear vinyl (I found remnants for cheap at Hobby Lobby and also at Walmart)—the thicker the better for this project, since it is for kids. Since I knew I would be covering it with clear vinyl, I just used tape to wrap the board in wrapping paper and adhere the scrapbook pages. The words are just from alphabet stickers. Since I am going for a Dick & Jane feel to the room, I highlighted the paper that looked most like that, and found other complementary papers as a background.

We laid the vinyl flat and turned the table up-side down on top of the vinyl. Then you just have to pull the vinyl around snuggly and staple with a staple gun. This would be even easier and faster with a large piece of fabric, but the paper was cheaper. I need to spray paint the chairs, and I will likely do the same thing with the cushions on those.

I’m not ready to “reveal” the loft yet, because there are still some projects and organizing to be done (which I’m hoping will move faster now that school is back in session), but I can’t resist giving you a peak at the shutters that are now framing my window. They make me happy!

I’m joining in Twice Remembered’s Make Your Monday party, and Kimba's DIY Thursday.

Go check out other things you can make yourself there!