Sew Couture...: At Last, My Project Table has Come Along

Sunday, January 18, 2015

At Last, My Project Table has Come Along

I used to be one for making resolutions with each coming of a new year. However, I've found it more productive to identifying goals I'd like to meet, and then establish a timeline and plan on which to achieve them. Sometimes the plan works as designed, sometimes not. The good thing is I'm not holding myself to some ambiguous target and feeling less-than if it's not met.

Included in the goals I've set each year are various household projects, many of which carry over from one year to the next - and that's okay! Transforming my Sewing Room into a space which sparks inspiration and creativity has consistently been on that list, and I've steadily been making changes to the room and furniture to make this space one in which I love being. In 2012, I started this process by painting and customizing my self-drafted drop-leaf sewing tabletop.

sewing tabletop and base, before

I painted the tabletop a soft-white, decoupaged French-themed images and phrases on top, attached black-painted molding along its edges and sealed everything with multiple layers of polyurethane to protect the finish.

I also painted the base black and the decorative trim on front silver.

For years, I've used my fabric cutting table as a project table and it has been pretty stationary in my Sewing Room, despite being on wheels. Additionally, the space beneath it was not being effectively (or attractively) used.

This has forced me to take the fabric-cutting task to other household tables, often resulting in lower back pain because they weren't high enough. So, this past summer, I decided I would make a true project table and spent time searching through Pinterest for inspirational photos to figure out how I'd like it set up. I purchased book cases from Walmart.com, particle board and additional hardware supplies from Lowe's, and set about designing and constructing my table.

Given the space my new table would occupy, I had to modify the book cases layout from the inspiration photos. I attached power strips to each book case base, anchored the table top with L-brackets, included a drop-leaf on the table corner so I'd be able to get close to the overhead shelves, and decorated the top in the same theme as the sewing tabletop.

I saw several Pinterest images showing yardsticks being attached to other project tables and especially loved this one. I could tell duplicating this image would require routing and leveling the tabletop, and this would be more wood-work than I wanted to do.

So, instead I decoupaged imaging of my yardstick to the tabletop edge so I'm able to quickly and easily measure items without leaving the table area. And, because the yardstick is flush with the tabletop, it does not interfere with any projects in progress.

I liked this treatment so much that I added imaging of my tape measure to the edge of my sewing tabletop. Again, I sealed the tabletops with polyurethane.

The only tasks still remaining are painting the PVC leg black for the drop-leaf extension, and continue making my storage "baskets" for the various nick-knack items that will be stored underneath. (I'll share more on that basket idea later.)