When the girls were younger (pre-iPad younger) we had toys everywhere.

There wasn’t a surface that didn’t have something of theirs on it, and the house was in a constant state of ‘post-tornado’.

My Dad was looking to get us a Christmas gift one year and I begged him to buy us a coffee table with storage in it so I could quickly hide away some of the mess should someone stop by.

He did, and this baby saw a LOT of use:

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You can see its a tad scuffed, nicked, crafted and watermarked. Worse still, I put it in the garage to give it a makeover about 8 months ago, so it became even more scuffed, nicked, painted and dirty while in storage.

Time to get off my duff and get to work right?

I unhinged the two lids and clamped them in my Rockwell Jawhorse. This thing has a large wingspan and I was able to clamp both pieces at once to sand them down – which cut my work time down considerably. Love this baby!

Coffee table with storage, storage coffee table, toy box, blanket box, coffee table, rustic coffee table, farmhouse coffee table with storage, Rockwell Jawhorse

Because I was going with a similar stain for the top, I didn’t bother to strip and re-stain the interior, but I did fill the button holes on the ends (I prefer a smooth surface to those things, whatever they’re called). I stained the wood filler as well to hide them as best I could, and then applied three coats of my go-to Triple Thick Polyurethane – sanding between coats.

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Water marks should be next to impossible now!

I was planning on leaving the body of this coffee table with storage in the black – but the months in the garage had accumulated dents, nicks and paint spray, so it needed a makeover as well.

Coffee table with storage, storage coffee table, toy box, blanket box, coffee table, rustic coffee table, farmhouse coffee table with storage

Sanded down slightly, one coat of primer and two coats of BM’s Advance paint and voila!

I added castors to the bottom of my coffee table with storage to give it a bit more height and to make it more manoeuvrable.

Coffee table with storage, storage coffee table, toy box, blanket box, coffee table, rustic coffee table, farmhouse coffee table with storage

If you have attention to detail, you’ll notice that the hinges don’t match. (Yes Dad, I see it now) I picked up three sets of hinges from Home Depot the other day, all from the same rack, and no two sets were alike. UGH! I’ve since fixed this, but I took the photos prior to my noticing. Yup, even while I was attaching them I didn’t notice that one side didn’t match the other. How is that even possible? What a L-O-S-E-R!

I wasn’t sure if I was going to re-sell this piece, or keep it – I mean, it’s from my Dad, but the girls don’t really play with many toys anymore…

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Aha! It does fit my blankets and pillows though, so coffee table with storage turns toy box to blanket box to…

Coffee table with storage, storage coffee table, toy box, blanket box, coffee table, rustic coffee table, farmhouse coffee table with storage

cat pedestal.

Worth keeping?

I think so.

Coffee table with storage, storage coffee table, toy box, blanket box, coffee table, rustic coffee table, farmhouse coffee table with storage

One more before and after for the record books!

That’s 97 makeovers now! Click “DIY” then “Before & After” in the header bar to see 96 others.

Have a great one!

 

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