Dorsey Designs

DIY and Interiors by Sarah + David

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Driftwood Tiled Tabletop | Tutorial

Today I’m sharing our last project from our CA rental! In case you missed it at Infarrantly Creative, check out the tutorial below for adding wood tiling to a table top. This is our last project with CA driftwood (I still have the driftwood frames to finish and I’ll be selling a few)

Adding wood instantly adds texture and warmth to contrast the shine of the metal. I love it!!

I used driftwood left over from our herringbone driftwood table, but for something a lot less involved, try thin hobby board.

Supplies:

1/4 MDF
Wood strips
Wood glue
Brass edging
Brass screws
Table base
Jigsaw with metal and slow cut wood blades
Polyurethane

The other weekend I picked up this gold metal accent table from Target. 
Amazing as is, but what if we made a removable top so that it could either be metal OR wood!? That way if/when I change my mind, I can swap the top. Perfect! 
Our original plan was to leave the metal top intact, but since we couldn’t find brass trim wide enough to cover the wood and the metal top, we decided to remove the existing top and make them interchangeable. 
Here’s how we did it!
We traced the tabletop on a piece of MDF. **Note: If you would like your top to fit over the existing top without removing it, make sure that it is slightly bigger so that it will fit. 
Next, cut your wood into thin strips (varying lengths works well), or use precut, strips of hobby board (Home Depot has a good selection). 
Start at one end of your board, if your top is a circle, make sure that the wood goes slightly over the edge so you have a little wiggle room. 
Alternate the number used in each row to give a more staggered appearance. Apply wood glue on the bottom of all sides that touch, so that there is a strong bond. 
Let the wood glue dry overnight. Retrace your table top. If you tracing it from underneath, make sure to carefully check that the wood is lined up on the other side. 
Use a jigsaw blade designed for slow cutting for extra control to cut out the top. 
We liked the slightly uneven top, but feel free to sand down any imperfections too. 

Next, we moved onto the edging. We picked up 2 – 1″ x 36″ bendable brass strips from Ace Hardware. Since we needed about 47″, we cut two 23.5″ strips using a jigsaw blade designed to cut metal.

We measured and countersunk a few holes, so that the screws would sit flush once attached to the top.

Next we predrilled holes in the wood top to avoid the wood splitting when the screws were attached.

We used small brass screws to secure the trim, leaving an overhang so that it wouldn’t slide once on the base.

We guided the trim along the edge and secured the remaining screws, using three per side, six total for both pieces of trim.

Since the 1″ trim wouldn’t cover both the original top and the new top, we decided to remove the top by cutting the welds with the dremel.

Finally, we sealed the top with a few coats of polyurethane.

and that’s it!

I LOVE the variety of wood grain!

I’m crazy about our new custom side table! It’s a great mix of rustic and glam. I also LOVE the price. I picked up the side table for $17.99, it was mis marked on the display, so my Target honored the price. The brass edging was $15 for two pieces and the rest of the materials, I had on hand! One of the advantages to having multiple projects going on at the same time 🙂

Click here and here to learn more about our refinished mid-century modern chairs and our DIY abstract black and white art.

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Comments

  4. LOVE this idea! My Target also had this table mis-marked for $17.99 so I grabbed the last two they had… the manager was pretty annoyed about the mis-mark but fair is fair 😉 Can't wait to play around with a similar idea for the one I put in my daughter's reading corner

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