DIY Ikea Lack Side Table Revamp

Hi everybody! I had meant to post this one yesterday, but sometimes there just are not enough hours in the day. You know what I mean? We are getting ready to go up to Washington D.C. for Hannah’s highschool graduation trip. It’s going to be girls only, and we are so excited! Today’s DIY is actually one that the hubby and I made a few weeks back. We had a pair of black Ikea Lack side tables in our bedroom, that were functional, but just didn’t go with the furniture that we had in the room anymore. I had been searching for some side tables at all the thrift stores in town, and on craigslist, and just couldn’t find anything in our price range. So, we decided to take what we had and recycle it into what I wanted. I had picked up a side of railing from an old porch at my local ReStore and knew that the balusters would make fantastic table legs. So with some new legs, a little trim, and some paint our old side tables were reborn into these chunky and fun tables that really help pull my bedroom together! This project took a weekend, but it was totally worth the work!

Here’s What You Need:

*Ikea Lack Side Table

*Porch Balusters or other “legs”

*Decorative wood trim

*Scrap wood, or a square dowel smaller than your trim (you will be nailing the trim to this piece)

*Pliers

*Drill

*Mitre Saw or Hand Saw

*T-Square or Ruler

*Pin Nailer or hammer and tiny trim nails

*Wood Glue

*Kills Primer

*Paint

*Wood Onlays (optional)

Instructions:

The first thing you want to do is clean your lack table and take the legs off. Measure the center of your balusters to the edge. Now mark in on the underside of the table top that width. For example, if the measurement from the center of my baluster to the end was 1.5″ I would measure in from the edge of my tabletop 1.5″ on either side of each corner and mark an x where I need to drill. With a drill bit a hair smaller than the size of the hardware on the lack screws in the legs, drill pilot holes into the underside of the tabletop where you marked each corner. Now, remove the screws that are in your lack legs with a pair of pliers, just twist them out. If you want to cut down the balusters at all, now is the time to do that. I cut mine down two inches with a mitre saw. Mark the centers of your balusters. Now drill pilot holes into the top of the balusters. Twist the screws half way into the top center of each baluster. Then screw each leg into the pilot holes you drilled in the tabletop. The sides of the balusters should be just about flush with the edge of the tabletop. Now you are ready to add your trim. Measure the width of your baluster at the top. Take half of that measurement and draw a guide line between each leg on the underside of the tabletop with a ruler or t-square. Now, measure the length between each leg on each side and cut your scrap pieces and your trim pieces to length. Your scrap pieces can be shorter than your trim piece. Run a bead of wood glue down your scrap piece and glue down on the backside of the marked line. Nail in place with your pin nailer. Now run a bead of glue down your trim piece and fit your trim piece between the legs and flush up against the scrap piece of wood you just nailed down. Glue down, and then nail the trim piece to the scrap piece with your pin nailer. Repeat with the other sides, and let your glue dry. I used a couple of coats of kills primer on my table, and then a couple of coats of semigloss white paint. I added some aqua accents on my trim, and I painted my wood onlays aqua . Once my paint was dry, I glued and nailed my onlays onto the top sides of my legs.

I have to say I LOVE my new side tables! They really help pull together my furniture and they are sweet. I love the chunkiness of them, and the accents of aqua! The best thing about this redo is that you can totally customize it to your taste and style by the trim type and colors you use. And they were really inexpensive to make. So, if you ever get tired of your old ikea lack table, don’t toss it! Give it a makeover! You’ll be glad you did! Have a wonderful day everyone!

Happy Crafting!