Mid Century Sewing Table Turned Modern Desk

So have you entered my giveaway for the Dremel Saw Max? What?! What are you waiting for! You could totally win!


Anyway- Phew, long title but trust me it's will be worth the read. Remember last week when I was talking about how just because a piece of furniture was built for a specific purpose doesn't mean it has to live out the rest of it's life that way? Last week I turned an old beat up coffee table into a functional bench.

Well this week I'm at it again. This time with an old Mid Century Sewing table I picked up at a thrift store for 10 measily dollars. 

As I've said before I'm a sucker for Mid Century Design. I liked the style of the skinny legs, blond maple wood, and for $10 I couldn't pass it up. I don't need a sewing table I usually do my sewing on the kitchen table. And I suspect most people these days do the same or just don't have space in their home for one- hence the cheap price of this table.

So if I couldn't use it for a sewing table, what else could it be? A desk would be great! I could really use a little desk for our laptop. And Con-Man could use it when he gets older.

All it needed was a solid top. So I set to work unscrewing the fold out part. Then since all the sides were particle board, not maple like the drawer fronts, I sanded them down and painted them white. I used a Glidden 2 in one Paint and Primer- worked great!

Once that was finished I needed a wood top. This was going to be tricky~ I first went to the local hardware store and bought a piece of MDF and wood trim that I was going to cut down to size. 

BUT! The furniture gods were smiling on me this day. Because I happened to notice that the funky coffee table I had bought a few days before had a wood top. And it seemed to be the same width as my new desk.

It seemed almost to good to be true but after a little measuring, remeasuring, and measuring again it was true!

So I returned the MDF and got started stripping off the thick varnish and sanded it smooth.

 I took it to the local wood shop on base (A great kept secret for any military peeps out there I'll share later) and cut it do the depth I needed for the table.

Next some more sanding. I sanded the top of the sewing table to prep it for glueing. I used Gorilla Wood Glue and some finishing nails to adhere the new top to the table base.

Then I painted the new top the same white as the base. And I spray painted the metal handles and tips of the legs.

(Sorry for the bad dark garage shots.)

Then Finished! This old Mid Century Sewing Table has a new life as a cool Modern Desk!

And I now have a place for my laptop, sketching, thinking~ whatever I please! And the best part is that it only cost me $10. Score!

So what are your thoughts? Will you think twice about passing up an old sewing table at the thrift store? I don't think I'll be able to pass up anything I "don't need" again!