* Gussied up Craft Table

I have one of those plastic 6 ft tables with folding legs that I use for the grand kids crafting table. It works great with rolling chairs pushed up to it for the kids. The chairs are old office chairs; they swivel and don’t take up too much room. They can be raised or lowered if needed. A couple of the chairs have arms and they are perfect for the smaller ones who could fall off if the chair turns too quickly. I can easily put 6 at this table. Yup works great, but……it was so ugly!

** Update: This plastic covered table worked well for 2 years until it succumbed to the kids intense crafting techniques ;) I recovered it using vinyl sold by the yard from the fabric store. First though, I changed out the fabric underneath. Here is a pic of the new look. 

I wanted to make it a little more ‘eye’ friendly but still be washable and I wanted it to look nice in the space that is also my home office.  I searched my fabric cache and found a yellow and white check/plaid with a green thread running through it, something I had purchased years ago to cover some chairs and then changed my mind. I spread it out on the table for a quick audition and decided it would be perfect.  Most fabrics are 44/45 inches wide with some being as narrow as 36 inches. My table is 30 inches wide. 

I cut the length I needed and took some off the width leaving enough to fold under the table edges.  Little fingers would find the edge if it were too short and work it loose.

Then I rummaged around in my studio and found a roll of plastic, it is 36 inches wide, and 4 mil thickness, thick enough to take a lot of abuse from my little ones craft projects.

** I can no longer find this clear plastic. I use vinyl sold at fabric stores now.

I used clear wide packaging tape to secure the fabric on the table running it the length and width on the under side.  It helps to have an extra pair of hands for this step. Keep the fabric flat and tight.  I added a couple of staples from my office stapler into the fabric corners (not into the table) to help make it secure.  If the fabric isn’t tight and well attached the plastic won’t stay on well either.

I folded my corners like wrapping a gift. Then I did it all again with the plastic (not using staples this time).

It looks good, and works very well with my office, wipes clean, and if I change my decor I can change the fabric to suit.

* This post first appeared at Family Home & Life.

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