Our upholstered furniture will be coming later this month (see this for more details)…and although I’m behind (not surprisingly) in my preparations, one of the tasks on my to do list is to come up with an option for this Round Pedestal End Table.
This is the table that was suggested by the decorator (official decision maker) for our family room.
However, she knew right away that I’m too cheap to spend $889 on an end table and that I plan to augment our upholstered pieces with what she delicately called “resourceful finds.”
I thought the table was “okay” but had no real love for it… I actually liked the shape of this one a little more…
I guess that makes it worth the extra $10 ($899 and not available in the suggested color).
…Um, NO. Can’t do it.
I’m sure people with beautiful rooms spend this kind of money on an end table…and maybe I need therapy…but I just can’t.
NO disrespect to the craftsmen…everyone deserves proper compensation for making a beautiful product. There are definitely things I splurge on, and things I don’t. For example, we live in a “vinyl house,” disdained by architectural purists for it’s lack of well, architectural purity… But we love it, it has the features we want, it fit our price range, and we are capable of maintaining it based on available time and resources. (But I digress…)!
I’ve been giving my thinking cap a workout looking at less expensive end table options. The decorator tables above are 28” in diameter. That’s the smallest size I’m considering.
Big box hardware stores offer these precut round wood boards in various diameters:
A 24″ board will be around $18 at Lowe’s; a 30″ round is available from Home Depot for under $40.
I have to say, my brain is seriously spinning around this option. All I’d need is a suitable table base.
I came across this Baluster Base for $359 from Ballard Designs.
This plaster base is comes in a variety of finishes (including black). Add their glass tabletop, and voila! Instant table…Um, instant at $850… BUT…I could add the (painted) big box table round and have a table for a lot less.
The Ballard base briefly inspired me to think of flipping two $15 bird baths to make a table base something like this… 
(fused together, smoothed out, and painted, of course)…
To be honest, I have other projects in progress so I’m not really interested in investing the time it would take to make that work right now. Still…fun to consider it as a DIY option.
Another thought would be to repurpose the pedestal base from an unloved table…like this dining table recently offered on our local Craigslist for $30.
I could actually get two end tables out of this one, again using the pre-fab table rounds. Since my tables would be painted black, I wouldn’t have to worry about the woods matching. Hmmmm…
And while on Craigslist, I also found these options:
Although I don’t think the legs in the first three are an option for our room, any of the table tops could be repurposed (that clover top is pretty interesting)…and the table in the last photo is definitely good candidate.
It has most of what I’m looking for, and would be a simple paint project.
No decision made yet (surprise, sigh)…but time is ticking, and I’ll have to make one (a decision OR a table) sooner rather than later.
