DIY - Letterpress Tray Coffee Table
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Letterpress Tray Coffee Table
This coffee table was an unplanned project, as things born from sudden inspiration sometimes are. When I was hunting through garage sales and thrift shops for furniture for my home (a first home so I needed everything), my mother and I happened upon a letterpress tray at a garage sale that had been used as storage for spools of thread. The previous owner had attached blocks to the underside and attached a hook to use it as a wall hanging. The seller threw in the tray with the purchase of the thread, so it was a steal!
The first step was to clean up the tray, which was weathered and dirty with pealing varnish. Spraying the wood down with the hose gave a great preview of how beautiful the wood could look!
"Helpful" cat for scale.
After the tray was cleaned and dried, I lightly sanded it by hand (all those compartments took forever!). Then the tray was ready to be stained!
Varathane Wood Stain - Golden Pecan
The most challenging part of the project was building the custom table to fit the letterpress tray as a sliding drawer. Lucky for me, my father is great at carpentry and was willing to help me on this project. I went down to my local fine lumbar store and was quite taken with a 10 foot length of poplar wood. After careful measurements, lots of clamps and wood glue, some routing and patience - we had the table box!
ALL OF THE CLAMPS!!
The table box got two coats of the same stain as the tray, and came out a nice light blonde color due to the different wood than the tray.
A set of hairpin legs is surprisingly expensive, but I had my heart set on the look of them for this project. Unexpectedly, a good cheap set of hairpin legs was available by buying a flat-packed piece of 'dorm' furniture from Target online - which came with a hideous press-board top that I discarded and the turquoise legs were easily spray painted.
Lastly, a local glass shop custom made the top to specification for me. That was the single most expensive part of the table.
All that was left was filling the tray with interesting items! I found a very old scrabble game at a garage sale, and placed its wooden letters in the table. Another sale was selling the old decorative keys (a favorite collection item of mine) which needed cleaning and sealant. Printing press letters can be bought in bulk (mixed sizes/fonts/letters) from multiple different sellers on eBay. As I come across more interesting items, I add them to the table!
Scrabble Letters, Letterpress Blocks, Old Keys - and more!
During my open house, this was the item for which I got the most compliments and questions. It is a piece that is unique and I will always treasure as a project I made with my father.