DIY Industrial Table (Vanity Bench Makeover)
It’s Themed Furniture Makeover Day. Each month a group of blogging friends challenge each other to make over a piece of furniture with a theme. This month’s theme is industrial.
This theme had me stumped until I spotted a project from Unique Junktique; she transformed a piano bench into a a patriotic table. After seeing this project, I remembered a vanity bench stuffed into a corner of my basement and decided that it would be a perfect candidate for an industrial makeover.
After I removed the seat, Mr. SP did some woodworking surgery to stabilize this piece. It was a bit wobbly and previous surgery had been completed with a hot glue gun.
Since this challenge’s theme is industrial, I wanted to turn the bench into a table by making a new top from weathered pallet wood.
I got lucky because the day after I decided to make a pallet top for the vanity bench, my neighbor put a pile of pallets on the curb for the trash. Score!
We used a Kreg Jig to attach the boards to the side of the table and the middle boards were screwed into the table’s braces on the underside.
After filling in the holes and sanding the vanity bench base, I painted it with Maison Blache paint in Mushroom. This was my first time using this brand of paint and I really like it. I did some light distressing and then sealed the paint with Americana Decor Cream Wax. The pallet wood was weathered and I like that look, so I left it as is.
You know that most of my accessories have a story, so let me tell you about these.
The scoop came from my grandfather’s corn house. The two side rooms of the corn house were filled with dried corn used to feed the cows and chickens during the winter. Grandddaddy had a grinder hooked to a large wooden box between the two rooms filled with corn. As each cob of corn was fed into the hand-cranked grinder, the kernels would fall into the box. He used this scoop to scoop out what he needed when it was feeding time. The glass orb was my other grandmother’s and the candle holder is brand spanking new from IKEA.
This vanity bench transformed into an industrial table is the perfect size for a cocktail table.
I can’t wait to show this to the friend who gave me the bench. It was fun to transform something that had sat hidden in a corner for over a year to something that is now unique and useful.
If you like this project, please pin it to your favorite Pinterest board so that others can discover it. If you are a Pinterest fan like me, you can find me here.
You can find all of my projects from Themed Furniture Makeover day here.
These are my 2015 projects:
Chairs – Rocking Chair Makeover
Distressed – Table Makeover with Typography
Pottery Barn Knockoff – Media Console Makeover
Small Tables – End Table Makeover
Rustic – Cobbler’s Bench Makeover
Some of the links in this post are affiliate which means that if you make a purchase, I make a small commission.
Now for the fun part! Check out my friend’s projects for this month’s industrial theme.
Sharing With:
Dwellings-The Heart of Your Home, Refresh Restyle, Between Naps on the Porch, Concord Cottage,Stone Gable, Sand and Sisal, Yesterday on Tuesday, A Stroll Thru Life, Savvy Southern Style, Bless’er House, Common Ground, Houseologie, Imparting Grace, Patina Paradise
Way to rework that cast-off piece, Paula! So functional and fun.
Thank you, Larissa! I’m so glad to turn this into something cute. It was so ugly!
Paula
Great makeover! My grandparent’s had a corn shed and corn box! That brings back memories! 🙂 ~Rhonda
It’s kind of sad that there aren’t many corn sheds around these days. My grandfather’s corn shed had the chicken house attached and I loved to visit it as well, especially if Granny let us get the eggs.
Paula
Wow!! You transformed that bench into something incredible! I am so impressed. My favorite accessory if the scoop too. I love hearing the stories behind your things!
Thank you, Megan. If my grandfather were alive, he’d probably think that it was hilarious that I decorated with that scoop.
Paula
Beautiful! LOVE the pallet wood top, what a great idea!
Nancy
Paula, that table looks amazing! I am a big fan of Maison Blanche paint, it’s my favorite for furniture, and the pallet wood top finish is so cool! Love hearing the stories too. 🙂
Thanks, Kimm. I love Maison Blanche paint and already know that I’ll be buying more. I’m opening a shop on August 1st and that’s the brand that the owner carries. It’s expensive but such good quality, well worth the money, imo.
Paula
Great makeover and I really like the rusty nail holes. Jeanette
Thanks, Jeanette! We were lucky that the nail holes ended up being in the perfect spot on both sides of the table.
Paula
I love this, Paula! How lucky that your neighbor left you such a nice gift on the curb ha ha. Will you keep this or sell? It won’t last long if you decide to sell it! XO
I am not sure about this one. It would make a great side table for our porch, so I might have to keep it. I might change my mind if I get lucky and sell a lot from my shop and need a piece to fill it.
Paula
Who would have thought to turn a bench into a cocktail table!? It looks great, and I love the story about the corn scoop. It’s always nice to have things that have a story to go with them.
Thank you, Angie! I love using my old things when I take blog pictures. You are the master at it. I think we’d both have fun going through each other’s homes talking about our things and the stories behind them.
Paula
The pallet wood was a great choice for the top, I love all of the character that it has, and how rustic it is compared to the bottom. And how special to have some pieces from your grandparents to accessorize it with!
Thank you, Lucy! I love using things from my grandparents on both sides of the family and I’m lucky that neither side threw anything away so I have lots of their things to use.
Paula
Wow. Looks totally different. I haven’t worked with pallets yet. I need to get busy!
Pallets are fun to use but the boards from this one were badly warped making them a bit tricky to use.
Paula
Paula what an awesome idea! I totally love how it turned out. And what luck finding the pallet wood you needed!
The pallet wood was a lucky find, Jen. The downside was that it was badly warped and we had a devil of a time getting it attached to the vanity frame. I should have taken pictures of my hubby standing on the vanity frame while he screwed the boards into place. I had my fingers crossed the entire time that the frame wouldn’t break!
Paula
Fun idea, to transform a bench with pallets! Loved the sweet story about your accessories too:)
Thank you, Wendi! I hope you’ve had a great time visiting your daughter this week. 🙂
Paula
You always have such great stories accompanying your projects and I just love that! Lucky find of a pallet that went so perfectly with your new table. The table is so much more versatile (and cute) now!
Thank you, Amy. I didn’t know if this would work and was so happy when it did!
Paula
Beautiful!!!
Hey Paula, your industrial table came out wonderful, looks great in white! And thanks so much for the shout out, glad I was able to inspire you…. hugs
Thanks for the inspiration!
Paula
Oh my gosh! This is soooo good! Great job gal!
Thanks for sharing at Something to Talk About!
Karen
Thank you, Karen!
Paula
Paula I just love what you have done with this little bench! When Amanda was little this was the bench she used when she was learning to play the piano. You have such an awesome talent! Maybe you need to think about opening a store with all your goodies!
What a wonderful little table! Thanks so much for linking up at our Reclaimed Wood party!
What a difference! You did an amazing job… love the rustic top! Thanks so much for sharing at our party! Featuring you on Thursday 🙂
I think the original wood was pretty. Not loving the paint.