As the time for spring clean-up in the yard approaches, be on the lookout for items from nature that you can use in your home. It doesn’t take long when browsing design magazines to come across a common item incorporated into home décor…tree stumps!
I love the interest and little bit of quirkiness of stumps as accent tables. I knew that I could easily make my own, for next to nothing, rather than dish out hundreds of dollars (seriously!) for one. I kept an eye out curbside for stumps being thrown out, but I never saw anything that was the right size. So, we went to the wood lot where we buy our firewood and the guy was willing to let me look through the pile that hadn’t been split yet. I chose 2 that were about the same size (about 15″ tall).
After bringing the stumps home we rinsed them off and sprayed them with bug spray and let them sit for a few days. Then, I washed them off again just because I didn’t want any pesticide residue on them. You do want to make sure that your wood is nice and clean and doesn’t have any unwanted visitors living inside it.
I wanted casters on them to add a little height, but also because these things are heavy! The rollers have been invaluable when I need to move them around for cleaning or whatever.
I like the look of the bark left on, so all I did was sand the top a bit and rubbed 3 coats of paste wax on. I wanted it to repel water just in case a sweaty glass was left on it. The darker portion in the picture is where I had just applied the wax, but as it dried the wood went back to the original color.
If you don’t like the look of the bark, it can easily be stripped off and with a light sanding and maybe some sealer the wood is beautiful on it’s own. I’ve even seen them painted white, or whatever color you desire.
These are so handy and are the perfect spot for the remote and a drink. In a pinch they also work well as extra seating. You could even make a grouping of them in slightly varied heights for a show-stopping coffee table arrangement. And, they would be very cool for extra seating on a patio or around a fire-pit.
We paid the wood lot guy $5 for both stumps and the casters were about $6 for 2 at Home Depot. I think less than $30 was a great investment for this project!