Scavenger Chic

Carpenter’s Tool Box Coffee Table

• By Joan
• December 28, 2015
• 13 Comments

Welcome back.  I hope you all are surviving the holidays and are truly able to enjoy spending those precious moments with family and friends. My 2 oldest sons and their wives spent the night Christmas Eve, so we were able to have a wonderful evening playing games and chasing their dogs around the house.  In the morning we were treated to wonderful berry turnovers made by one of my daughters-in-law and ooey gooey monkey bread.

After a couple of weeks of diy presents I’m super excited to show you this fun coffee table made from an old carpenter’s toolbox.

My sister bought this great tool box at a flea market over the summer. The inside was stinky and dirty, kind of musty smelling from sitting in someones garage for far too long.

After a little negotiating, I talked my sister into lending me her tool box for a makeover. I loved the little drawers and I really was dying to get my hands on it.  I did have to promise to give it back when I was finished. It looked like such a fun project, and with very little prodding she actually agreed.

My first thought was to make it into a wall mounted little desk that would fold down to open, but the box didn’t open flat and I thought I would destroy the toolbox if I just started cutting. Instead of giving it back, I went onto plan B…a coffee table. The top, where the handle is now, would become the side of the coffee table.

The finish on the outside was easily sanded down to reveal the beautiful wood that was hidden under years of scratches, paint drips and abuse.

If I turned the tool box on it’s side, the drawers would no longer be usable. The drawers would have to go, along with the other pieces of randomly placed wood pieces that were on top.

Since the drawers were removed, it seemed as good a time as any to give the inside a good scrubbing.

After cleaning, I painted the inside with this beautiful blue chalk paint.

I’m not real crazy about the white piano hinge and that was eventually painted black.

The chalk paint was sealed with an antiquing wax.

For the legs, I was going to use premade legs available from the big box stores, but  since I had a few spindles leftover that  had been rescued from the theatre props room way back in June, I decided to use them instead.

Cutting off the spindles right at their natural breaking point gave me the perfect height legs for this project (about 7 inches).

The outside of the toolbox was stained, then given a few coats of tung oil.  The oddly colored white piano hinge was given a coat of semigloss black paint.

Legs were painted with black chalk paint and clear waxed then attached with screws from the inside of the box.  A couple of bronze half round pulls from Hobby Lobby were screwed into the sides.

The handle that was used to tote the toolbox around was removed, but it still needed a knob so the toolbox could be opened…this one was also from Hobby Lobby.

If you’re going to buy knobs and handles from Hobby Lobby, make sure you use their coupon or wait for a sale. Both the knob and the handles were on sale for $2 each.

Last step was to attach the drawers to the inside of the toolbox with finishing nails.  The drawers are elevated off the bottom for added storage. They no longer function as drawers, but will now be fixed storage compartments.

I hope you’re inspired for the next time you happen to see one of these tool boxes at a yard sale.

Need more coffee table inspiration?  This was my first coffee table, the top is made from my favorite, pallet wood.

A bench coffee table made entirely from pallet wood and other scraps.

This coffee table was made from a chicken coop.

And my last coffee table, originally shared over at My Repurposed Life is made from half of an old vintage door.

Can you tell that I love coffee tables? Have a great week and I’ll see you back here on Thursday for another fun diy.

Shared at: Metamorphosis Monday, Inspire me Tuesday, Trash 2 Treasure Tuesday,

Be Inspired Tuesday, Home Decor and More, Wow us Wednesdays,

Talk of the Town, DIY like a Boss, The DIY Collective,

Handmade Hangout Party, Friday Furniture Fix, DIY Like a Boss,

Funky Junk Party Junk, DIY Sunday Showcase, That DIY Party,

Silver Pennies Sundays, Amaze me Monday, Link Party Palooza,

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