Last February, while trying to source some affordable bar stools and stainless steel shelving, I found myself stalking an on-line restaurant liquidation auction. I was outbid on all the items I had put in an offer on- all items except one extra-ridiculously-large piece: an 11′-0″ long X 6′-0″ wide banquent table.
After we got the e-mail notification that we had won this gigantic table for not much money, Luke and I shared a celebratory high five. The next day we went down to the restaurant to pick it up. The other people who came to claim their items had large trailers and were clearly all running some sort of commerical operation. We most certainly were the only ones there with a pick-up truck and two small blonde boys. After the bases were unscrewed, the tabletop was disassembled into three pieces. We brought it home. It sat in the basment for five months waiting patiently for us.
Finally last month, the kitchen was far enough along that we could bring the table up and work on it.
The first step was to tame the beast a little bit. It was too wide for our dining area. Luke and my ever-helpful brother, Joel, cut the width down to 42 inches. The table is nothing fancy- just extra thick particle board- so it was pretty easy to run it through the table saw. The black outline shows what it looked like before they trimmed it down:
Then they reassembled the table top by putting the carriage bolts back in.
Then came another important step- this table was in a restaurant for years after all- Joel scraped off the hardened wads of gum. Gross. Best Brother Ever,
Then the iron bases were re-attached. It took four of us to flip the table right side up.
We think that eventually we will have a metal shop fabricate a top for it (maybe zinc?). For the moment, we have just covered it with some vinyl. We thought this would be an easy step but Luke’s staple gun broke. Next he used his nail gun with some brad nails. The nails just shot right through the vinyl. The heads were too small. In the end, Luke used long strips of scrap wood to sandwich the covering to the table top. This allowed the brad nails to hold it tight.
The topper works well for day-to-day use and I’ve used table cloths for company dinners.
Now, who wants to come to dinner?
Very nice table! Large tables are hard to find. I have an extra long table that I covered with a drop cloth (just the cheap kind from the hardware store) and plastic from the home dec department at Joann’s. It gives it a different look for not a lot of money. Ju
That’s a great idea. Don’t you just love painters drop cloths? A frugal decorator can go such a long way with them!