In a previous life, this piece was a sewing machine table, complete with wrought iron legs and a pedal! Now it is just a vintage wooden table with no sewing machine to speak of. To bring this table into the future but still fit with my rustic décor, I decided to make a super cool yardstick table top.
The most complicated part of this whole project was collecting the yardsticks. I grabbed them at thrift stores, estate sales, garage sales, anywhere I could find them where they looked appropriately weathered.
I laid my yardsticks and rulers out on the tabletop in the order I wanted them and glued them down. Some are longer or shorter than others, some are thicker or thinner, some are tall or have hinges in the center. It is, at this moment, a very uneven table top.
To make the top more level, I used an industrial epoxy. The trick to using the epoxy is to place painters tape at the bottom of the table to catch the drips before they harden into ugly epoxy icicles. Since the top of this table is so uneven it took several coats of the epoxy to smooth it out. This resulted in a super thick coat of epoxy and many days of drying, but it is worthwhile to have a professional looking table top.
The finished epoxy gives a really exceptionally shiny look and some areas are still much higher than others, so I busted out my sander and went to town. Don’t sand too hard and don’t use too gritty of sandpaper. A very fine sandpaper is sufficient!
Some areas are definitely still more lumpy than others, but I am overall really happy with the result!
Linda at Mixed Kreations
Tuesday 15th of November 2016
Wow, your yard stick table looks great! It's a great way to recycle old yard sticks and show them off, and there's not another table like it. Nice Job!
Beth
Tuesday 15th of November 2016
This piece is so incredibly adorable! I love it!