I was looking for a way to jazz-up or rather tone down the orange wood in two mismatched side-tables we've been storing in the attic. I wanted to do more than just paint the side-tables to match--something that would add a bit of character. Heading back to school has put me into an academic mindset. Hence my idea to cover the top of the side-tables with some vintage yardsticks I purchased at an estate sale.
Since I ran out of yardsticks doing one side table, I ended up having to purchase an additional bundle of yardsticks from Ebay to do the second side table. They sell all kinds of crazy stuff on Ebay!
The sidetables are painted in leftover Annie Sloan Chalk paint (French Linen). Chalk paint is fast choice for furniture makeovers because it adheres well with no sanding or priming. Before painting, I removed the hardware, filled in the holes with wood filler, and pre-drilled the holes for the new drawer hardware. The drawer pulls are left-over from a filing cabinet we got rid of that was falling apart.
You could attach the yardsticks to the top with wood-glue and clamp it down to dry, but we didn't want to wait that long so we just used a nail gun and small finishing nails. The nail holes are small and hardly noticeable since the yardsticks are vintage and have some color variation to them anyways.
We used about 12 yardsticks per table. We started by cutting the yardsticks different sizes with a table saw and then nailing them down--beginning on one side. After staggering your cuts with different distances for the first piece in the row, simply measure the remaining space to cut a matching piece of yardstick to finish the row. We tried to use a variety of yardsticks and colors to add interest. Or you can go all one color. The second table is made up of only tan-colored yardsticks.
Let me know what you think. How do these tables measure up?
The Anne with an E