DIY Train Table

Monkey #1 is super into trains right now, but I just can't fork over the $100 for a train table that I know I could make for WAY less. I tried looking on Craigslist to see if someone had one I liked for free or super cheap, but they all had glass components. So I asked my friends on Facebook if anyone had an old coffee table (no glass) they no longer wanted. My friend Britt had the exact kind I was looking for! Hers was just sitting in their garage collecting dust and said I could come pick it up. Gosh I love that girl!

Here it is in all it's glory:

No glass, storage underneath! One leg needs to be fixed, but otherwise completely useful!

I went to Wal-Mart and picked up some green fabric that looked a little like foliage/flowers. I bought 2 yards, but only needed about 1 1/2. I started in one corner of the table and began hot gluing it down.

 I glued the underside of the lip, and used an old pencil to push the fabric into the glue.
After the whole table was covered and glued (cutting off the excess fabric), I took an X-Acto knife around and cut/tore off the uneven parts.

All covered:

Then I broke out my black acrylic paint. I know this is supposed to be his train table, but why not let it do double duty as a race track/road? So I painted a road around the sides.

 *Yes, I was doing this at about 6:30 in the morning so my coffee was ever present in this task.
Then I added the yellow painted lines for lanes.

I know, it looks a little messy, but I did go back and fix the smudgy areas.


Here it is all set up:

I couldn't wait to show it to him, so a little bit after he woke up I brought him outside (don't mind his messy hair, lol). But he wanted to play with his cars on it first.

Lightning McQueen takes off!

There was a convoy...

All the cars crashed into a pile and Lightning McQueen was the only who survived.

He loves playing on the table so much! And Monkey #2 just loves to dance on it.

Total cost of this project: $4.