Before & After: My own brickmaker table

I have many unfinished projects just laying around my house. Either I’m waiting for extra to finish it or it just simply got forgot they are sprinkled throughout every level of my house.

 



Last night I was able to finish one that’s been around for a couple of months!

 



Brickmaker tables have been popular for the last couple of months.  In the beginning versions of them were only available to the trade, but slowly things trickled down the masses and you can pick up your version at Restoration Hardware for almost $1,400.

 



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Imagine my surprise when a couple of months ago I ran into this at a thrift store:

 



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Now the tabletop left more to be desired, but look at that base! For $8.99 I promptly added it to my loot.

 



Brickmaker tables were originally a pallet used to cut, cool and transport bricks in Belgian brickworks.

 



Well I didn’t have wood from 100 years ago that use to cut, cool and transport bricks, but I did have a  whole lots of pallets left-over from my planter box project.

 



Here is what we did:



1. Removed existing tabletop.


2. Use base frame as a stencil for a piece of plywood.


3. Cut plywood to size


4. Cut pieces of pallet wood and and glue onto plywood in a subway tile type pattern.

 



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5. Let the glue dry overnight or in our case a couple of months. :)

 



6. Sand the entire piece with 60 grit sandpaper.



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Now our pallets looked weathered already, but I wanted to antique it a bit more. We thought of liming or white-washing, but in the end we came up with our own solution.

 



We gathering the supplies for white washing:



- flat white paint


-paint brush


- water



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But then we added a little bit of this:

 



- Water based wood stain



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7. To get our mixture we used:



-  1/4 pt aka half of the small can


- dollop of white paint (size of a quarter)


-1 cup of water

 



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8. Then we (Ok, yes I know it’s Jon’s hand, but just humor when I say “we” did it) brushed on the mixture to our wood.



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Here you can take a peek at the color difference:



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9. We let dry overnight and then we were all done:



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10. Now you just need to screw it back into place.



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We finally moved it into it’s new home and we love the look.

 



Jon was my stylist for the shoot and he first gave me a bit of girly look with my design magazine and a weathered box to hide all of the remotes.



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Then since this table will live in the man den he did a manly version of the table:



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Thanks hubby! Great job!

 



I think it came out great and cost less than $10 dollars. We only had to pay for the table ($8.99) the rest was left-over's from our shop.

 



Are you now tempted to weather some of the wood pieces in your home?

54 comments:

  1. LOVE IT! What a fantastic project. Honestly, it makes me want to spend all weekend at thrift stores. OH, I love that the man-den version of the table has a beer bottle sitting artfully on top of some type of spool and the remotes are even styled. Have to give your husband credit...that tablescape isn't half bad! Nice work, all!

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  2. wow- i LOVE this project! i am going to be on the lookout for a table like that. it would be perfect in my family room!

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  3. don't you just LOVE the thrift store??? this table is great, and i love the treatment you added to the top. it looks like it's been there for decades. :)

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  4. Fantastic! I've been dreaming about a similar coffee table for some time now and knew the only way to have one would be making my own. Thanks for the inspiration!!

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  5. That looks great! I'm glad I'm not the only one who has ongoing projects scattered throughout the house.

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  6. great job! Love the final looks!

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  7. You are so lucky to have a handy husband!!! I'm definitely the handy one in our marriage. But I can't complain, my husband is the chef.

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  8. Great job! I love this! This kind of table would be perfect in my den!

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  9. haha I love the manly styling! And the tile pattern looks great!

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  10. C.R.AZY that you knocked that out for less than 10 clams! It looks great!

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  11. oh my this is stunning! talk about a find!

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  12. What a fantastic find for that price! The after is amazing!

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  13. Wow! What a great job and find!! You should congratulate your husband on a great job styling :)

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  14. THAT IS AMAZING. great work! seriously...love it! :)

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  15. Fabulous! I can't believe you scored it for $8.99! I will forever be impressed with your makeover's and diy projects.

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  16. Great project! I do get what you mean about things lingering along...I should really finish up our Master Bathroom so I can show it off to you all-hah, us bloggers, too overcommitted and overstimulated! Love the finished project AND the #9 beer, that's one of our faves :) *Amy

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  17. Camilla, I just read your last three post and all I have to say is you need to rename your blog, The Classy-Clever-Creative Lady!!! Amazing!! Happy Thursday,Kathysue

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  18. Love this! I would love to make something like this for our downstairs den someday! The paint was a needed touch!

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  19. Excellent job! I actually like yours better. The wood on the top ce magnifique!
    Well done.

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  20. This is truly fantastic! I must admit I am quite jealous of your find and your excellent workmanship :) My hubby and I were just discussing how to get some cool old wood b/c we've been so inspired by "Knock Off Wood's" design for a farmhouse table (thanks for the link to her site, btw).

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  21. super! the man version tablescape is missing one thing... a roll of duct tape. pam

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  22. WOW! That's a fantastic knock off! It looks really good~well done!

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  23. Oh wow! That was quite a find! I love what you did with it!

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  24. Seriously, I need to come thrifting with you! You find the most amazing stuff!!

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  25. GREAT project! and I love your wire basket of magazines.

    I want to white-wash an armoire....how do you know when you have the right ratio of paint to water? The wood is that raw southwest style, will it just soak in the water and leave paint only showing? (this is probably the dumbest question ever!)

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  26. Your hubby is the best! Always helping you with all your little projects! what a trooper! it turned out great as always!

    www.bazaarofserendipity.blogspot.com

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  27. What a great end result!!! I love it!! And I second everyone's applause of your hubby and how he always helps with your projects

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  28. LOVE the way this looks! You are so great at seeing the potential in random thrift-store (or curb) finds.

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  29. So happy you all liked it!

    You guys are giving Jon a huge head! :) He is thrilled of course.

    He even made a point to tell me that he picked out that beer, because it orange in the label and he knew it would go with the color scheme he was going for.

    *Cassie for the ratio of white-washing you really just have to play around with it. We had a spare piece of wood that we tried different variations of and the formula that worked for us was with having a large amount of water, medium amount of stain and then just the smallest amount of white paint. I can't give you exact measurements, because I'm not sure of the size of your piece.

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  30. camila, you've done it again. a brilliant diy project — and jon's styling was just the icing on the cake.

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  31. Oh my. The fact that he styled it the way he did is too cute for words. Great job!

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  32. Wow, isn't it amazing how one person's trash can become another's major treasure!! Your table looks great. -c

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  33. Love this! I've been MIA for a few weeks, okay maybe months (will post apologies and justifications on my blog, eventually). But, oh how I've missed YOUR blog. I love the cuteness of Jon styling his table. Tell him job well done.

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  34. I adore it! You two make an incredible duo!

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  35. It looks so good! You certainly have the eye for finding the diamond in the rough. And nice job hubby on the tabletop! It looks totally original to the base.

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  36. What a find! Great job updating it!

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  37. you are awesome and this is an awesome project!!

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  38. Amazing! Great project. My husband wants the restoration hardware table but with that price tag it is a bit of a stretch...he will flip over this and we can start hunting for our own table base. Love It!

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  39. That is awesome! What a clever way to get a Restoration Hardware table.

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  40. You are unbelievable!!! Such a great project... Turned out fabulous! xoRH

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  41. what great project, i love the result, its beautiful but simple, i want a table just like this

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  42. So inspired! Glad to have found you. We even blogged about you!
    http://deuxmaison.blogspot.com/2010/06/today-i-am-carpenter-wanna-be-carpenter.html

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  43. Really neat! I love a good upcycle story. :)

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  44. wow..it looks great! Linked today to it: http://thedabblingcrafter.blogspot.com/2010/07/idea-thief-cheap-sexy-brickmaker-table.html

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  45. Wow - love it! What a great find and to think of changing it to a brickmaker table was genius.

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