January 11, 2012

Window to the World

Okay, okay, super cheesy title, I know!  I'm off work today and feeling a little extra energized.  Just to be clear (in case the husband is reading this...I am getting things done around the house and working on a few furniture projects).  I'm finishing up a cute farmhouse table and chairs right now, but I'll share more on that as soon as it's actually finished.

Earlier today I got to spend quality time with some great neighbors!  Have I mentioned on here before that I have great neighbors?  Well, I do!  We live on a cul-de-sac and there are two other families on our cul-de-sac that we have had the privilege of becoming great friends with.  We do a dinner share each week (yes, we made up the name!).  On Mondays, one family cooks and we all go to their house, on Tuesdays, I cook dinner and everyone comes here to eat, we all have church on Wednesdays, then on Thursdays, the other neighbor family cooks and we all go there.  Seriously, it's the most amazing thing ever...3 great meals, and you only cook one of them!  Don't get me wrong, I love to cook, but this just works out so perfectly.  It also gives us time to hang out and talk with each other about what God is doing in each of our lives and just time to be goofy together.  And, rest assured, there is no shortage of goofiness when we all get together. 

I could probably go on and on about food and great neighbors, so I'll move on to the main reason you are probably reading...furniture!

Today, I'm sharing with you a project transformation from and old window.  Generally old windows are fairly easy to find at garage sales, flea markets, and antique stores.  Garage sales are my favorites of course, because I can usually get them for under $5.  There are so many ideas of things out there to do with old windows, but for this one, I turned it into a table.  These were some legs from a table that was past the point of return and they were perfect for this.

 To get started, I worked on the window.  I cleaned it up with an all-purpose cleaner and cleaned the glass with windex and a scraper (in some areas).  I also sanded it all down with a 220 grit sandpaper and used the air compressor to blow off any remaining loose debris.  I used a clear wax on the entire window frame to seal it all. (Those are tiny little starfish displayed in there.)
The legs were already painted white, so I distressed them and cleaned them up a bit, and also gave them a coat of clear wax.  I wished I would have taken pictures along the way of actually putting this together, but I didn't...so sorry!  Attaching the legs to one side of the window wasn't so bad because the frame was wider there.  On the other side, the wood frame was narrow and had some metal through it.  My first thought was that I could use two L-brackets on each leg to connect the leg to the table.  Once I did that though, I determined it wasn't sturdy enough.  So, I did what any girl who was out of options would do...go to my handy husband, bat my eyelashes, and request some help.  Being the engineer-minded man he is, he knew a good solution right away.

I removed the brackets and took the legs back off.  The plan was to use nails without the nail head to attach them.  Half of the nail would be in the top of the leg and half of the nail would be in the window frame where the leg met up to it.  After determining which nails to use, we selected a drill bit that would be very close to the same diameter of the nail.  We drilled holes in the tops of the legs and then hammered the nails halfway in.  The handy husband then removed (cut off) the nail head.  After we had done this on all 4 legs, we set the window frame back onto it and pressed down gently so that the nails that were sticking up would leave an indention in the window frame where the holes needed to be.  We then took the window back off and drilled those holes where the indentions were.  When it was time to put the window back on, we also used wood glue between window and leg.  We pressed it into place.  I also put the L-brackets back on for added stability.   

 It turned out much more stable than I could have hoped for.  It was extremely sturdy and solid.  Alrighty, so I know that was a lot of information for simply putting some legs on, but I wanted to let you know how we did it.  I'm sure there are other options out there, but this worked for us.  Let me know if you need more explanation on the process because that seemed a bit rambly.
 Anyhoo...for the table top, I simply had a piece of glass cut at my local glass shop (after asking for a discount, of course!)  It's perfect for displaying things between the original window pane and the glass top.  This would be perfect to display old photos or memorabilia.  This piece is currently for sale at Smith's Antiques.

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5 comments:

Robyn said...

First of all, I want to live in your cul-de-sac and second love you blog and all the great ideas you have! Amazing!

Sharon @ Elizabeth & Co. said...

I love your table! It's fun, functional and a great example of recycling! Thanks for linking up!

Shabby chic Sandy said...

I love it--what a great idea and well done!

The Rooster and The Hen said...

You're brilliant! We're featuring this project tomorrow am as part of the RRR featured post. congrats!

Unknown said...

This is a great idea! Just curious if you ever sold it and what you were asking?