When Justin and I decided to rent a 1 bedroom apartment, I knew it was going to take some creativity to fit a dining table, desk/work space, and regular living room furniture within 600 square feet of space. My solution? Build a drop-leaf dining table than can also be a kitchen island and storage!
I did some research and then jumped into Google SketchUp to come of with this hybrid… which also has a beer bottle opener on the end as a special gift to my hubby. All in all, this project cost me about $75 because we had the paint and stain from our coffee table and desk project earlier in the year.
Justin was the main craftsman on the previous projects, but I was bound and determined to tackle this project and be able to say, “I designed and built this *almost* on my own!” Justin handled the saw work as I wasn’t quite tall enough to get the leverage and line of sight necessary, but I did all the shopping and built the base by myself! Special shout out to the helpful guys at Home Depot who spotted a girl with a list and helped her find everything on it!
I got out our tools, some music, and of course coffee, and began my project. The base came together, then the slats, the top, and the drop leaf supports. Things were looking up and starting to resemble a table. J and his dad helped with the staining, after a few days of cutting, assembling, staining, painting, and polyurethaning, the table/island was complete!
We decided to put it on wheels, too, so we could easily move this around our apartment depending on whether we needed it as prep or dining space. The drop leaves really come in handy, too, as we usually only leave one side up unless guests join us for dinner. The shelving below has also been one of the greatest bonuses as we don’t have a ton of cabinet space in our kitchen. I picked up some wicker baskets from Hobby Lobby and store everything from sweet potatoes to onions, apples, and oranges on the bottom shelf.
The pictures below aren’t staged and definitely capture the madness of building furniture and actually using it, dogs and all! The table is definitely not perfect, but it’s ours and I love it. I guess it keeps with our message of not needing a gourmet kitchen or perfect house to create beautiful things in your home.
What projects are you working on?
Creative use of space – dual purpose furniture is great!