Thursday, February 18, 2010

Dropcloth Table Skirt

Our office area is a work in progress--but I've actually made progress on it, so that is an improvement! The picture above is from the very end of the construction phase of our house addition. We now have our family room furniture clustered around the rug in front of the fireplace--which left all that room behind the couch (around the other rug) for an office area. Up until now our office area has been (mostly) hidden inside an armoire in our formal living room. There also was a corner of our master bedroom that was overrun with scrapbooking items. However, I'm still not completely sold on the idea of having everything out in the open, so we didn't want to spend very much money on our office area...just in case I change my mind!
Instead of buying nice wood desks, we bought two folding tables at Costco for about $30 each. Functional, not too horrible looking...but they did nothing to hide all our stuff. I don't like seeing clutter and this is a lot of clutter! Well-organized...but still clutter! See those white bookshelves on the right--we built those using plans from Knock Off Wood. They're knock-offs of the Pottery Barn Cameron Two Shelf Bookcase.
Lots and lots of stuff--none of which I want to look at on a daily basis!! So, I decided to skirt the tables. I bought a beautiful brown damask on sale at JoAnn Fabrics--got it home and realized it looked horrendous with my area rug!! Not good! So I looked around at what I had at home and realized I had an extra dropcloth leftover from my dropcloth curtain project. A bit beige, but the price was right! (I think I originally paid about $9 for it at Lowes.)
It worked beautifully! I sewed (just straight lines--nothing fancy!) two panels for each table because my husband wanted a place where he could easily reach in to get things or put his legs when he's sitting at the computer. (I didn't really understand the need for a leg spot since he usually sits like a five year old with his legs curled up under him, but whatever, I humored him.) Then I hotglued the panels to the edge of the tables. I used a LOT of hot glue--so far it is holding on really well!
The area definitely still is a work in progress and needs some wall decor and prettying up, but I'm thrilled to no longer be seeing all that clutter under our desks/folding tables/cheap solution! I know it is a bit beige right now, but I think wall decor will help break up the beige factor--plus my Pottery Barn area rug has lots of big flowers--you just can't see much of it in these pictures.

More pictures to come after I make more progress! I'm linking this to Jen's Weekend Wrap-Up Party and Kimba's DIY Day.

10 comments:

Unknown said...

oh I think they look so good!

Jen @ tatertotsandjello.com said...

Sarah!!! I love that. What a great idea! You are so clever!

XOOX
Jen

Jodee said...

Wow! You are sooo creative! Those turned out great!

Rachel Berry said...

Wow, what a difference a little cloth can make, I love it! And that room is HUGE!!! I'm jealous!!

:)Rachel

Unknown said...

I get excited when I learn of new ways to use everyday things people just having laying around the house! What a great idea :) You could even paint on a little pattern if you wanted!

Julia said...

I've been thinking of making a similar project for my home. You have definitely inspired me!

The Weathered Cottage said...

looks so good! We're building that same bookshelf tomorrow!! Yours looks awesome ;)

Marianne said...

Great idea, you can hide so much underneath these.

Angie Holden said...

I really like that!! Awesome job!

Jen @ tatertotsandjello.com said...

Still love it Sarah! Great project!!!

Thanks for linking this up. I love it!

XOXO
Jen