How to Build a Removable Planked Table Top Cover

Are you loving all the great guests we have for Turning Tables DIY Week as much as we are?! We love finding amazing new bloggers to share with you, and today’s new guest is no exception — Rachel came up with a brilliant removable table top cover so she could both craft at her dining table AND still have a nice-looking tabletop for dinner. Check it out below, and don’t forget, you can see all the #TurningTablesDIY posts here (and be sure to subscribe by email or RSS and follow along over on Facebook so you won’t miss a single one of the amazing posts we have coming up!)

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How to Build a Removable Planked Table Top Cover
by Rachel Teodoro of Holy Craft

Hi friends! My name is Rachel and you can find me over at Holy Craft, soon to be Rachel Teodoro.com as I’m in the process of rebranding. I’m a Midwest transplant living in the greater Seattle area where I have grown to hate the rain and learned to love coffee. On my site, I share some DIYing (like this driftwood succulent planter), some craftier projects (like these cotton stems made from pistachio shells), and some Fixer Upper ideas and stories — did you know you don’t get to keep the furniture after the show?

 

I’m a firm believer in using what you have and I’m always doing my best to work on projects that allow our family of five to live well on less. Which is why I’m excited to be sharing this DIY planked table top cover with you today. 

I love to craft and create and found that I would often be working on my kitchen table so that I could binge on Netflix while I worked. Over time, our kitchen table took a beating. I looked to replace it but it was hard to find something I liked on our limited budget.  I also knew that my habits wouldn’t change and that I would continue to be drawn to the kitchen to work on my projects, so my husband and I came up with a solution that works out great for our family. We created a removable planked table top. The new table top fits over our existing table and gives the impression of a new table, but underneath, you will find a dinged up work space perfect for crafting and creating.

We purchased a discount table at a big box store and I think that was our first mistake. The biggest lesson for someone trying to live well on less is to find the highest quality items that you can at the lowest price. We didn’t do this. We purchased the cheapest table and expected it to hold up through multiple uses a day. It didn’t. It was a mess. Between spilled nail polish stains, hot glue gun marks and paint our table was functioning more as a craft table and wasn’t super appealing as a family dining table any longer.  

 

I started my hunt for a replacement table but like I said, not only was I not finding any in my budget, I knew that my habits wouldn’t change. I would continue to want to craft and create on the kitchen table so I needed a solution. My husband and I put our heads together and we came up with the idea to create a removeable table top for our existing table. It cost us around $150 to make, but that was far cheaper than buying a new table for our kitchen and after a year, I can tell you that it’s been the perfect solution for our family.

 

Every table is going to be a different size. I can’t create a detailed supplies list for you because of that, but I can give you an idea of the materials that we used so that you can have an idea of what you will need if you want to make something similar. 

 

Your new top is essentially going to be a cover for your existing table so you will need a rim that will hold it in place. Our rim is made of 1×2’s that are an inch and a half wide. Adding this rim will also increase the length and width of your table. You will also want to create a 1/8″ gap so that the table comes off easily. If that gap is any bigger it will slide around, if it’s smaller, you will have a hard time removing it.  

We used seven 1×6 boards for the width and on the two ends we used 1×8’s. We chose to buy the nicer pine boards called select wood because those boards are typically straighter and easier to work with.

 

We laid the boards out on our table top and created a little mock up of what it would look like.

 

 

We didn’t want any holes in our table, so we used our Kreg Jig to create holes that allowed us to screw the table together from the underside giving us a much more professional look.  Holes were drilled on the ends of each board and a few along the edges so that the boards could be cinched together and it allowed us to eliminate those gaps that wood naturally gives you. We didn’t want kids spilling drinks or poking holes in their homework paper because the table underneath them was uneven.

 

 

The holes on the ends of the boards were used to attach the long planks to the end caps. Once the boards were all drilled, we brought everything inside and started working on the existing table top. It provided the perfect sized work surface! Remember, you will need to work on everything upside down. 

Starting with the edge plank and the end cap, clamp the boards down to the table. Glue the first plank ends with wood glue and then screw it into place.

 

 Each plank that you put in, you will put glue on three edges. The two ends and on the long edge that will be meeting the plank that is already in place.

 

 

Screw in the holes that were drilled in the edges of the plank so that you can attach one plank to the next sucking it in like I mentioned above.

 

 

Once all of your planks are in place, you will add the rim. All you need to do is screw your 1×2’s around the edge of the table top.

 

 

 
Flip your table top over {remember, you’ve been working on it upside down} and sand it to your liking.  I also let the kids go wild with some hammers and chains on the top to distress it a bit. I used two coats of Minwax Polyshades {in Bombay Mahogany} and the table was complete. I was so excited to bring the table top inside. I just love how it turned out.

When it’s time to craft or create, I can simply take the table top off and we have a work surface we don’t mind dinging up a bit.

  The kids can keep using their silly putty 

and I can keep on painting without fear of ruining my new table.
It’s been the perfect solution for our family! I don’t think you can even tell that the top is removeable. It’s like our own perfect {messy} secret. If you notice, I was able to upgrade our kitchen chairs from a discount store. This time, I learned my lesson. The chairs are high quality but because of slight blemishes {easily fixed with wood color marker}, they were donated to this discount store where I bought them for a fraction of the price.

 
If you are like me, and need to find a solution for a table that is structurally sound but not aesthetically pleasing, consider making a new planked table top cover for it like we did. 

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Isn’t Rachel brilliant?! Be sure to go visit her site for lots of great tips and ideas — and this interesting “after the show” interview from a Fixer Upper family, for all my fellow Joanna Gaines fans

Check out all of the #TurningTablesDIY posts here and be sure to subscribe by email or RSS and follow along over on Facebook so you won’t miss a single one of the amazing posts we have coming up, like this oh-so-easy side table or nightstand:

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