Vintage Tool Box Table - Creating Original Furniture by Attaching Legs

This summer while shopping a barn sale, I came across an awesome vintage wood tool chest. It was sturdy, nice and long and the finish had weathered to a beautiful patina. I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it. I wanted to give it some legs.

Influenced by my amazing friend Patty who works making tables and furnishings with reclaimed wood, I have been smitten by watching her put chunky legs on “things” and making furniture. I don’t have the carpentry skills of Patti…but this is so simple I knew even I could do it.

For this project, I worked with the tool chest and 4 carved wooden legs to create a tall side table. It is even cooler if you can find old legs that have their own personality, but since I had not come across any in my travels, I purchased 4 unfinished new legs from a friend. You can find similar ones here. I then stained them a dark walnut, painted them with home made white chalk paint and distressed them.

To assemble the table, my first step was turning the tool chest upside down and positioning the legs where I want them to attach. I measured each leg and inch from the sides and marked the spots.

 Then, I created a template with a centered hole and used that to mark where each leg would attach in each corner.

Now, I needed to attach a bolt to each leg was drilling a center Ideally, now in retrospect, it is awesome to find legs that already have a bolt inserted in them that attaches them to your table. In my case, the legs did not come with bolt already so I had to find the center in each leg, drill a hole and insert a hanger bolt. This is a bolt that has two ends...one which is inserted into the leg and then another which will screw into the table.

I drilled the hole with a 5/16 drill bit and then inserted the bolt.

Tip, so you don't strip the groves in the bolt, screw two nuts on it and center them, then you can use players to turn the bolt without damaging the bolt.

Next, I used a 5/16drill bit to drill 4 holes into the bottom of the chest. I then put wood glue on the top of each leg, and screw each leg into the chest by turning the legs until tight.

 To make sure this would be firmly attached. From the inside, I then used a washer and bolt to keep the legs in tight.

Finally, since the finish on the tool chest had such nice distressing on it, I only needed to rub on some of Miss Mustard Seed's hemp oil to bring the finish back to life.

 

Look at the difference this makes!! So simple and it just brings the wood back to life.

After it was all assembled and polished up right, I fell in love with it!! I originally planned to list this on my Etsy site, but I just couldn't part with it. But, I Think my new obsession is "putting legs on things" so I plan to have some interesting things up for sale soon!

The Boys' Bathroom update and an Empty Nest

My nest is empty. 21 years of kids in the house over like that. Sippy cups, field days, driving lessons….been there done that.

It is bittersweet. I have been so excited to see my boys off to college and to send them off to some of the best years of their lives. But I miss them! I have been essentially a stay-at-home mom, so finding my footing now, without my days defined by sporting events and lunches to pack, is strange… and a bit sad. 

But I am finding some real upsides to this empty nest thing. The boys’ rooms are always neat and the beds are made, I run the dish washer every other day, I do half the laundry loads a week and I am cleaning things in our home I haven’t thought about in years!!

It is now time for me to dig into home projects and grow a business… 

And I can find plenty of projects, let me tell you. With an old victorian farmhouse and a restless mind, there is always something to do. My youngest son's bathroom was the first thing to tackle…it is has been seriously in need of an update.  There was a very dated and cheap sink, grey square tile with black grout in the tub surround and a vintage black and white tile.

We decided to update the tile around the tub... and on the floor. Even though the floor sort of fit the house, my husband and son did not like it...at all! So, we choose a light weathered gray porcelain wood look tile.   

We really needed to keep this bathroom on a tight budget so I went with simple and clean. I was hoping to do a more interesting sink, but because of the plumbing, a simple sink with a large opening would ensure we did not have any extra plumbing costs. The pop of personality is going to come with a unique shower curtain and some slightly uncommon hardware. 

(shop the items with links below)

So, here is the bathroom after the wall tile was removed! We now need to replace those walls with cement board.

And here it is with the new gray tile...so much more pleasing on the eye don't you think!

-shopping links for bathroom products-

24.5 inch white vanity from Home Depot

Del Conca Woods Gray porcelain tile from Lowes

Octopus shower curtain

Vanity light

Waterfall faucet