The BEAST! ~ repurposed sewing machine table

Will I ever learn to stop under estimating the complexity of things?  I have all these wonderful ideas running around in my head.  Unfortunately, I do not have all the skills to go with them!  I had three sewing machine tables that I picked up here and there.  My mom was wanting a new side table to go between her two new chairs.  Of course, I chime in that I can re-purpose one of these tables for her, NOOOOO problem.  Hmph!!  Famous last words. 

This is the one she chose.

That's not a rat wearing a shirt.  That's my Yorkie dog, Duncan.  He has issues like is momma.  :-)

This table had a little more detail than the others and nice curvy legs.  First up was to cut 4" off the legs to get the proper height for a side table.  NOOOOOO problem!  Hmph!  I get out my tape measure and Skill Saw and proceed to hack the living Hell out of these legs.  You know not even two of them were the same length.  Who would have thunk??  I was so disgusted.  Hulk came home from his fishing trip and found me sitting on the back deck with head in hands.  "What's wrong, Babe?"...  My reply, "I've $%#$#%%%^$$$....  stupid @#&^%$^%!  I'm so @#&^%^%$."  Then he proceeds to tell me how I should have done it and that I used the wrong type saw, blah, blah, blah.  Thanks Bob Villa!  Where were you 30 minutes ago??  So, I just swallowed my pride and asked him to fix them.  He did. 

On to step two.  Build a shelf where the sewing machine used to live for storing magazines, books, etc.  NOOOOO problem!  Hmph!  I make myself a paper template of the inside.  So far so good.  I transfer that to my plywood and move outside to cut it out.  Besides my complete terror of the saw, that went pretty well.  I screw the 4" pieces that I cut off the legs to each side of the table as braces for the shelf.  I measure, use my little level, attach them.  At this point, I'm thinking, "easy peasy...  I got this."  Time to put the shelf in.  Didn't dawn on me that I would now not be able to get the thing in there because now there are 4 blocks of wood preventing me from angling it in there now.  Once again, head in hands that eventually slide up to grab the hair and starting pulling!  I take the shelf back out and cut it into two pieces.  Take THAT!  Finally get the demolished shelf secured in the table.  Problem now?  FUGLY with a capital F.  It looked like a complete train wreck.  How am I going to fix THIS???  Wheels start spinning....  gotta cover up the ugly.  So, I bust out some fabric and Modge Podge.  I won't go into how frustrating this step was because this post is getting way too long. 

This is what I ended up with.  Perfect?  Far from it!  Functional?  Yes.  A for effort, right?  Just OVER THE MOON happy to be done with it! 

I mixed up some chalk paint with a pale yellow oops can I picked up at Lowes.  Wasn't sure what to do with the pull.  It was so pretty and I wasn't sure I wanted to paint it.  So, I soaked it in apple cider vinegar for a few hours and scrubbed it with an old tooth brush and it came back to it's shiny original finish. 

The little tray that used to hold spools of thread is now a little shelf to hold TV remotes.  I just snipped off the "spikey thingies" and modge podged scrap book paper in the bottom.  In retrospect, I probably should have painted the tray to match the table but I was WAY over it by this point. 

Picked up a couple of old coasters at the thrift store, painted them and added the same scrap book paper with the Modge Podge.  I glued felt to the bottoms as not to scratch the paint. 

And there you have it.  All done and I still have a thread of sanity left and all of my fingers.  Lessons learned:  Either stick to painting items that require no construction skills or go to Tech and take wood working classes or ask my carpenter husband to work with me until I pick up the skills I need.  Naturally, the first option would be much easier but that would be too boring for me.  I've always needed a challenge and this definitely did me for a while!!!!