Child's Coloring Table Upcycled From Old Side Table

I had an old side table that went through college with me, and my wife and I decided we didn't need it any longer. I tried donating it to a local charity, but they didn't want it because it had scratches on the top. So, I brought it back home and stored it in the garage. I saw it everyday as I came and went, and as I got to looking at it, I started thinking that I could re-purpose it for our young daughter.

I decided that I could fairly easily convert this to a coloring table, complete with an 18" roll of paper, a chalkboard top, and art supply storage. So, I drew up my vision in CAD, and got to work.

Tools I used -

• Miter Saw
• Table Saw
• Coping Saw
• Hole Saw / Drill Press
• Various Clamps
• Chisels
• Kreg Jig
• Paint Roller / Brush
• Various Scrap Lumber

I started by drawing the current table in CAD, then modified the CAD model to get to the final design. The model was fairly low-detail in the fact that I didn't take anything apart when measuring, and I found that I ran into some surprises as I got further into the tear-down.

I wanted my daughter to be able to pull a chair up to the table and sit while she plays, so I wanted to remove the bottom shelf. In doing so I found that the corners of the lower shelf were mitered to 45deg and the legs were notched to mate. A pocket-hole screw in each leg held the shelf in place.

In removing the lower shelf, I knew I'd need to add some kind of support to help the legs keep their rigidity. So I decided to add two lateral supports that connected two legs. This way there were two open sides where chairs could go.

I made the supports up on-the-fly, and ended up with those shown. I had 3/4" nominal pine boards, and the notches in the legs were 1/2", so I had to notch the new supports out accordingly. Once cut to the correct size, I glued and clamped everything tight.

Once the glue was dried and the clamps removed, the new leg supports were finished.

My plan was to use a 3/4" dowel to support the paper roll, so I needed to come up with a way to hold the dowel/paper roll. I designed the dowel supports shown in the attached print, made using a nominal 1" board.

To make the supports, I first cut the boards to size, then sketched out the shape. A 1" hole saw made quick work to put the hole in each board, then I used a coping saw to cut the straight lines. Once I had the rough outline cut away, I cleaned things up with chisels and sanded things smooth.

If I were to do this table again, I wouldn't bother with trying to put the angle in the supports. At the end of the project, I realized that it would have been much easier to just put a 1" hole in a couple of boards - live and learn!

Once the paper roll supports were finished, I used a Kreg jig to install the supports to two legs via pocket holes. The pocket holes were mirrored so that they were facing the interior of the table - this is more for aesthetics than anything, but thought I'd point it out. Once mounted, I glued in wood plugs to hide the screw heads. Once dried, I sanded the plugs down smooth.

As I was working on this project, I realized that it would be beneficial to have a way to hold the paper down while drawing. So, I came up with the simple strips shown in the photos. Using some old decorative strips I had laying around, I countersunk and glued ceramic magnets in both the strips and the table top. A Forstner bit and the depth gauge on my drill press made the perfect depth, flat-bottomed holes. Once drilled, it was easy to glue the magnets in place (I waited until after paint to glue in place).

To support the paper roll in the holders, I decided I'd use a 3/4" diameter dowel with countersunk threaded tee nuts and pre-made sofa legs that I picked up at the local hardware store. The thought was to thread the sofa legs into the ends of the dowel, which would hold the paper roll laterally in place, but be easily removable so that I could change the paper roll with ease.

Once everything was finished up, I did a quick test fit prior to paint. Everything turned out just how I imagined, so it was time for paint!

I used several different types of paint for this project -

I wanted the top of the table to be a chalkboard finish so that my daughter could use the top as a chalkboard, so I used Krylon Chalkboard paint on the top surface.

Next, I new I wanted a nice hard-drying white finish everywhere else, so I opted for a cabinet paint. I used Insl-X Cabinet Coat, as recommended by the local paint shop, and was very impressed with it. I found that it took several coats to fully cover (probably should have used a primer first), but once it covered, I was very happy with the smooth finish.

Finally, the drawer pulls that were on the original table needed re-painted. I took these to work and had the guys sandblast them for me so I was able to start with a nice base (if you don't have access to a sand blaster, steel wool and Emory pads would work as well). I hung the pulls in a cardboard box using some small wire and sprayed them with Rust-Oleum Hammered finish spray paint. I've used this spray paint before and am a fan of how it dries with a nice hammered look to it.

Once painted and everything was dried up, it was finished! I was pretty happy with how it turned out, especially given this was my first up-cycle project. I'm excited to see my daughter start using it as she gets older!