For years, I’ve had this cute little console that likely spent its previous life as a side table in a hospital or lab. It’s got an enamel top, and previously had a baked-on pastel paint-job that had seen better days. My friend Dekalb ground off the paint to bare the steel underneath, which I sealed with spray polyurethane. On the lower legs, you can see that some of the poly has worn off, leaving the steel to rust a bit. I’m currently of the mind that this little bit of rust adds character, but if it starts to bother me, I can sand away the rust and reseal.
Alas, while this console is very cute, it’s not all that handy. With only one shelf, there was lots of wasted space beneath the table top and floor. Although this table was in my kitchen, I had to keep my CD collection in the living room because there was nowhere to put it here. And there was the ongoing problem of magazines and mail cluttering my kitchen table.
And then it occurred to me: I could add shelves.
The legs are hollow steel, so all it took was my regular cordless drill and a few sharp drill bits to make small holes on the inside of the legs. Into these holes, I twisted screwes that were threaded with basic steel nuts. These would serve as shelf supports.
Then I sawed pieces plywood to the proper size and painted them white to match the enamel top. I slid them on top of the shelf supports and all of a sudden I had room for my CDs!
With the top of the table now cleared off, I had a place to put those little pieces of paper that clutter my kitchen table.
