For a long time I had lusted after this pretty round table from Ikea, but the price tag just seemed so steep for a table made of fibreboard. I had seen a few similarly styled hardwood tables on ebay, but they were also out of my price range, so I decided to do what I do best and DIY.

It took a few weeks of searching before I found an ebay listing for a suitable table nearby at a good price. I got really lucky and scored this amazing table for only £31, it was a quick trip down the road to pick up and it has a cool history behind it as it's from an old pub.


As you can see it needed some serious tlc, but it was an incredibly sturdy and fully working extending table so I was really excited to get started!


Firstly I cleaned and then sanded down the top with a small electric sander, we've had this sander for years (if you're British, saying it's from Woolworths will mean something to you!) and I love it. These hand sanders are really inexpensive and great for so many projects, I've even used this one on car bodywork in the past with wet and dry paper (you can make your own sanding pads by gluing hook n loop tape to the back of cut sandpaper).

For the legs I used sandpaper in a variety of coarseness's to get a smooth finish and get into all the small nooks. You don't need to sand too far back, just as long as you remove the shine and build up you'll be left with a good key for the new paint to adhere. I also made sure to clean and dry the table thoroughly after sanding to remove any dust particles and get the surface ready for painting.


To fit in with the rest of our house (white and cream furniture) I wanted to paint the table cream, I had a dig around in my paint stash and found this "Buttermilk" colour from B&Q which I thought would be perfect. I did toy with the idea of painting the legs a different colour but I just couldn't decide what, I figure I can do that in the future if I fancy a change though.

It took around 4 coats to properly cover the entire table, I made sure each coat was thoroughly dry before adding more paint which is really important for a hard wearing finish. I kept the table dismantled and painted each part separately to avoid missing any hidden areas and then reassembled the legs and middle leaf once all the paint was dry.

I'm a perfectionist so once reassembled I was able to sand any areas of paint that I wasn't happy with and repaint them. We had to add new screws to the extending leaf mechanism when putting it back together as we noticed a split in the wood but this was the only fault in the table really.


I'm absolutely over the moon with our new table, it's the perfect size for us now as we can use it closed on a day to day bases but know that we have much needed table space for when we have guests over for dinner. It also leaves enough room to bring the highchair around one side and have Enid sit with us which is much nicer than her being in the corner! I'm pleased I managed to find the exact style of table I wanted and at such a bargain price and I know this will last us for years as it's such a great hard wearing wood.

This table would have taken no time at all to revamp if I had just wanted to re-varnish it, so it just goes to show how easy it is to DIY your own furniture. Thanks for reading, I hope this has inspired you to try upcycling instead of paying over the odds for cheaply made furniture.