I am obsessed with everything in the Leanne Ford collection at Crate & Barrel. I’m definitely a Leanne superfan (light, bright and airy is my motto), but the prices are a bit out of my range (I don’t have $350 to drop on a side table, I’m not sure who does). I’ve seen a lot of DIY plaster tables on Pinterest, so I decided to see if I could replicate one of my favorite pieces from the collection (The Willy White Side Table). I’m happy to report that it can be done!
Here is the inspo pic.
And here is my creation! Not bad, eh? And the best part is that it cost me under $30! That’s less than 1/10th of the price of the original.
Want to know how I managed this feat? Well read on…
Materials:
- Joint Compound
- Drywall Tape
- Plastic Taping Knife / Drywall knife
- Polycrylic
- Paint Roller
- Construction Adhesive
- Sandpaper
- 8 inch wide Quik Tube Building Form
- 20 inch round piece of wood for the tabletop (or an existing tabletop that you can cover)
To start, I found a free Ikea Lindved side table on Facebook Marketplace. I used the top for my new table and kept the bottom for another future project. If you don’t have a table that you want to repurpose, you can buy a piece of round wood at Home Depot.
I cut my tube to 27″ tall, which seemed like the right height based on the tabletop. Then I covered the tube and the tabletop with drywall tape. After that, I got right to work by spreading on a layer of Joint Compound. I tried to get it mostly smooth but wasn’t too worried since I knew I’d be sanding it down.
Once it dried, I sanded the bumps and applied another layer of Joint Compound. Then I covered everything with 3 coats of Polycrylic. When it was fully dry, I attached the tabletop to the tube with construction adhesive. All in, it took me about 3 nights to complete since I only worked on it when the kids were asleep. It was more straightforward than I expected. I’m including a little video below of the whole process.
