Sunday, September 28, 2014

LEGO (Duplo) Table

Finished product. Total cost was less than $40
One thing people need to know about me, is that I rarely come up with an idea on my own, but I can copy Just about anything. As the quote reads: "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery". Be flattered that I copy you and if you don't want me to copy you, don't splatter your awesome creations all over Pinterest, because I am there and ready to pounce! With that said, I always give credit where credit is due.  

Several months ago, I saw a  "pin" of a super cute LEGO table on a blog called Fussy Monkey Business.  A super talented gal makes all sorts of awesome creations. I just knew I had to make one of these. I am sort of obsessed with these vintage  "high - low" tables that pop up every now and again. I have painted two and every time I ran across another one, that LEGO table ran through my mind. I came across the perfect table a few weeks ago and picked it up for a cool $15. 


The weather has finally turned minutely cooler and I was anxious to get back in the garage and paint. The LEGO table was the first thing I tackled. Mountain Man was at the cabin, so I took it to work with me one day and asked one of our kind hearted maintenance guys to cut a hole in the top. My excitement turned out to be a mistake. NOTE: If you ever make one of these, be sure you are wise enough to have a basket picked out BEFORE the hole is cut. duh! Finding the right basket or container was my biggest challenge and am still on the look out for just the right one. I love, love, love painting things red but I didn't want to be too much of a copy cat :o) and make it identical to Fussy Monkey's, so I bought a sample jar of Valspar, Boo Boo Blue and did a homemade chalk paint.  That cost $3 so my total cost was now up to $18 and some change. I went to Toys R Us and bought a 15" x 15" LEGO building plate and almost fell over when I saw the price. $18.99 + tax! I suddenly remembered why my kids didn't have many LEGOS growing up. We simply could not afford them.  As I walked up and down the FOUR isles of Lego merchandise, I felt like a bad mother, that I deprived my kids of something special growing up. So many cool things to build! 


Suddenly, a little voice in my head reminded me that thanks to my sentimental husband, we still had a bucket of LEGO Duplo building blocks in the attic that my son received as a gift over 26 years ago. My daughter played with them as well. My LEGO table quickly turned into a Duplo table and I decided to surprise my daughter and grand baby with it for his first birthday. I swapped the LEGO plate for Duplo (same price) and dug the blocks out of the attic. Due to my eager beaver decision to cut the hole before I had a basket, I bought (and returned) several baskets trying to find one that filled the hole just right but ultimately settled on a plastic bucket from my craft room (I love shopping at home!). It is a blah semi clear plastic so I wrapped the top with some yellow duct tape to give it a little fun color. 

Mom and Dominic are both very happy with it. If he becomes a LEGO enthusiast when he is a little older, it will be easy enough switch the plates out and SHE can buy his LEGOS!  Thank you for the great idea, Fussy Monkey!

Happy Birthday, Dominic! Grammy and Grampa love you and your mama a bunch.