Industrial Kids Table

This guy has been repurposed from a train table to an industrial kids table for my son’s new submarine and sea creatures themed room.

My sons aren’t as interested in trains anymore, but it was a special piece because my brothers made it, so I decided to make it more of a general play table with some storage.

I started by popping off the train stuff and sanding it a little. I was using BB Frosch chalk paint powder so I didn’t have to sand too much, but there was some crazy wood and super glue spots we had to smooth down. Loved my little sanding helper. 🙂 He was going to help me paint as well, but the sanding wore him out.

I used the gray paint (+BB Frosch chalk paint powder) I already had from bubble wrap wall painting project. I started with the dark gray and then did a thin layer and brush strokes of the lightest gray to give it more of an industrial/metal look. The best part about the industrial look is that it doesn’t have to be perfect!

For the galvanized buckets, I stole those from my garage stash (bought at Lowe’s) that I had painted with chalkboard paint to label and used a chalk marker to relabel them. The hooks are from Target – that was the only place I could find them short enough so they wouldn’t go through to the table top.

I started with the center bucket, traced with pencil and then used a drill to start a hole in the center and then twisted the hooks in place. Then repeated on either side and it was done!

My son loves the buckets and it makes for easier clean-up, while introducing a few more sight words with the labels, right? And if you don’t know what Squigs are, check them out. My kids love them and they are great for fine-motor skills and creative play!