This table was in pretty rough shape, the top was missing, the varnish was flaking, and the wood had greyed in the weather. There was some discoloration I suspected was mold.

I had a scrap of particleboard left over from an arcade cabinet I helped a friend build, which happened to be a good fit for the top, so I decided to combine the two and put them up on my local Buy Nothing -type group. I sanded off the finish, posted a picture asking if anyone would like it once I fixed it up and what color they’d like it painted (normally I restain them but I wanted to get this one done quickly to clear space, and I didn’t love how the wood looked (it had a lot of those zigzaggy joints they use for cheap lumber).

A couple people were interested, one picked white, and I painted it up. The paint is the only reason this isn’t a completely zerowaste project. I needed more white paint to get this done, and I was in a hurry so I didn’t want to wait for asking around on the group. I felt like it was worth it if it gets the table back into service, and out of my basement.

I laid out a dropcloth and set the table upsidedown first so I could get all the spots underneath the joints, then I flipped it and painted it standing upright.

Some of my yellowjacket buddies came to check out what I was doing but we managed to coexist. Nobody got stung and nobody got sprayed with paint.

I turned it four times so I could see how each side looked in direct sunlight, and made sure I hadn’t missed anything.

While it dried, I used some white acrylic paint on the sanded edge of the particleboard, to seal up the material. Once that was ready, I flipped the top so the good side faced down, flipped the old table base so it was upside down on top of the upside-down top, measured the distance to each side and adjusted till they were even. Then I drilled through the existing holes in the base, just through the plastic veneer on the particleboard, and drove six drywall screws through.

The finished version is solid enough, and the recipients were happy with it. It’ll do it’s job for a good many years yet.