I felt like a real, live Elf working in Santa’s workshop for the past few nights. After Harper went to bed, Brandon & I headed out to the garage, listened to some Christmas tunes & went to work on a very special play table for Christmas morning. I think Harper is going to LOVE her new little mini-workspace!!
We bought this Ikea Latt table for $20 (it is available online!), stained it, dipped the legs & added a roll of paper underneath to make it extra functional. This was such an easy & cheap DIY, we are so happy with the result!! Here is a quick rundown of how we did it. The table comes unfinished, so we used Minwax Wood Stain in a dark finish (this particular one was Jacobean 2750), which actually has almost a metallic look to it once it is applied over the original light wood. The stain was applied before the pieces were assembled so it is easy to cover all surface area. We only did one coat of stain because we didn’t want it to be too dark.
Once the stain was dry, I applied Frog Tape to the bottom portion of the legs & used Behr semi-gloss paint to give the legs a dipped look. I got a little tape happy & applied it again another inch above that piece to add another block of paint, this time using Martha Stewart Gold Metallic Glaze. Just to warn you though, this did not dry like I thought it would, it took a few very thin coats in order to get it to dry smooth & streak free.
We let it dry in the garage for another night & then came the fun part, peeling off the tape!! 🙂 We also picked up a roll of drawing paper from Ikea, one small dowel & two dowel holders to screw into the underside of the table (length wise) so that Harper could easily flip paper up onto the table top for coloring.
I hope this inspires you to get creative with this table! It is such a great price & so versatile that you can customize it so easily to fit your style.
A plastic container from Target, this adorable star pillow (that is actually going to be part of her big girl bedding!) & these fun crayons
were the perfect accessories for this little table. I can’t wait for her to see it!! 🙂
were the perfect accessories for this little table. I can’t wait for her to see it!! 🙂 
You can find more of Harper’s Christmas List here! 🙂
Also, I just want to say THANK YOU for all of the sweet comments on our advent calendar activities! I love hearing your feedback, ideas & how you have been inspired!! I am always determined to find ways to bring a little fun & festiveness into the everyday. So cheers to all of you who do too!!
And I totally felt like Dr. Seuss with that last sentence.
XO
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Also, I just want to say THANK YOU for all of the sweet comments on our advent calendar activities! I love hearing your feedback, ideas & how you have been inspired!! I am always determined to find ways to bring a little fun & festiveness into the everyday. So cheers to all of you who do too!!
And I totally felt like Dr. Seuss with that last sentence.
XO
Did you sand before staining and wipe off the stain after you painted?
Did you sand before staining and then wipe off the stain after you painted?
My husband and I just purchased this for my daughter who's turning one next week (already? Holy shit!) How is this table holding up after being used by the older girls? Did you apply any clear coat or sealant over the stain?
Hey! I remember seeing this when you first posted it and guess what my girl is 2 now we purchased the table last night and I stained it this morning and assembled it after. I’m letting it dry a little more but then we’re going to add a satin coat over it once. I loved that I didn’t have to sand it and I used I think American Walnut and did a few coats of it which is cool because now it will match our custom dining table. Anyways thank you because you gave me the idea and i was able to search and find it for reference.