Pretty, cheap space filler

For those of you thinking that you don't want to read a post with way too many photos and grammatical errors, I apologize.

I have a problem in this rental house that I've never really had before. Don't get me wrong. It's a great problem to have. Too much space. Add in the fact that this house had all beige walls when we moved in and it seemed like a big, empty doctor's office. I did paint some of the walls which of course makes a huge difference. Now it's a big empty doctor's office with color on the walls. I knew I needed some texture and pattern to fill up this space and a great way to accomplish that is with decorator's tables. I have three in my house...



I did not pay for any of these. One, I found on the side of the road and carried it in my 3 inch heels to the back of my SUV. I traded a smaller table with my mom for another and then, I mentioned to my mother in law that I wish I had 20 round tables and she promptly told me that she had one that she wasn't using.

I am willing to show you my very unfinished tables because I love and trust you. However, if any of you real, live, professional designer types are reading this, please stop now and go dust your majolica or make sure there's no fingerprints on your leaded glass cabinet doors. I don't need anybody telling me "you can't do that". Which is exactly what a fabric lady told me about my table fabric (because I used a large dot with a small dot--oh stop the world). Well, FYI, if anyone tells me not to "do that" and it involves something with my house, I drop everything and immediately go do that thing. (paraphrased and adapted from Dwight Schrute)

Okay, now that we've sifted out the fluff,

If you don't already have a round table somewhere you can look on craigslist (at any given time they have at least 10 listed in my area), or at a yard sale or ask around. I would not pay over $30 for one. And, these can just be old ugly small dining tables. I like the 36-44 inch tables but, my sister has a 30 inch and it's nice too. Here's what mine look like naked and look how much room there is to store junk underneath! I just said naked. I hope I don't get weirdos on my blog now. This is so not what they are looking for.

Now for the fabric. I LOVE fabric of all types. The more pattern the merrier! You can use 4 different fabrics for each table. I like to try to use fabrics that I can use in more than one room of my house. I love to move furniture so, it's nice to be able to use these tables in many places. You really need to know how to sew or barter with someone who does for this project. I know that can be a pain but, it's so worth it. You can get away with only sewing the square topper. As a matter of fact, that's all I do and I can sew. I just have better things to do with my time like move furniture, spray paint frames, and build lego spacestations.

For each table you need:
(2) 54" squares of fabric that you love. These will be the front and back of the topper.
1/2 yard of fabric cut into 4" strips for the cording along the edge of the topper.
3 yards or more of the fabric for the skirt.

For the topper, always do a front and back. I didn't for my first one and I have regretted it ever since. Sad.
Then, I got smart and figured if I was gonna line it, it should be with something I can use when I get sick of looking at flowers or when I want to hide that coffee stain.
Look how fun!Look how sweet! You can even see the lining of the one in my sister's room. Love it!
And, embarrassing as it is, I don't even sew the skirt underneath. I just lay a big ole piece of fabric on top and kind of play with it until it looks like a skirt. Here's where the fabric ends--but, it's on the side so no one knows.

The one I did for my sister is only draped fabric too. She probably had 4 yards so it draped very nicely.And now, I am revealing way too much. Usually, I turn the edges under but, this is what it looked like this morning. Raw edges, a wire, and not to mention dirty, ugly carpet. But, it still looks good to me. Maybe it's not 100% perfect but, I'd give it a good 90%. If I waited until I could do a perfect job, it would never get done. Just remember, it doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful.