Old to New: Handcrafted Coffee Table

One of my passions is anything old and vintage and transforming it into something new, all while preserving its character. My neighbour dropped me off some old windows from a shed they were taking down. I just love that my community knows that I am a depot for all old treasures! These windows are quite large measuring 35”x35”, I instantly thought hey, that would make a neat table top. Originally I had thought about creating a wooden base for it, but then had a creative idea to use another window to create the table base. And that’s where this project began! I’ll show you the final before I breakdown the process for you!

The first thing I did was start with the base, this required me to remove the glass from the window. Luckily I had a window that already had a broken frame so it was a perfect use (and not a waste of a perfectly intact window). I tediously removed all the glass, until I was left with an empty window frame. From there I cut the window in half, creating two halves used for legs. I had to than remove the centre frame of the window. This created the space below the table top. I think this provided a great design look for the window.

Next I washed the wood (you can only imagine how dirty these were), than stripped the paint. I just used a basic blade to do this. There were multiple layers of old paint on the windows, so I did my best but left a fair amount of the paint. I think this helped preserve its original look. I than sanded as much as I could to have a smooth surface. I used a belt sander, palm sander and the old fashioned sanding by hand. This is what it looked like post cleaning and sanding.

Then came the assembly part. I initially thought this would be hard, as the window is very heavy. But I simply used wood glue and some 2 ½ inch screws and attached the legs at all four corners.
I had originally wanted to stain the table, but with all the stubborn layers of paint, I decided to paint the whole thing. I decided to use a grey chalk paint for the finish. I think the grey is modern, yet historical. I painted the entire table in the grey, it took 2 coats (3 in some places where the previous paint was really stubborn). This is what it looked like after the paint job.

Now chalk paint is known for its flat finish, but the table just looked too flat for my likings. I decided to add some distressing to the finish to make it look more rustic and true to character. I simply used a bright white acrylic paint and a dry brush to achieve this effect. I am so glad I chose to do this! This really took the table to the next level, making it look perfectly aged!

Overall I probably put in about 15 hours of labor and love into this table. Yes there very well could have been some shortcuts to save sometime. But to have a finished product that you can say you handcrafted is so worth it! I am so pleased with how this project turned out, even though my original vision was a bit different, I love how the process leads you to make changes for the better.

Adriana