DIY “Murphy” Art Table

Every day. Every meal. I would end up having to clear off so much kid’s stuff from the dining room table so we could sit down together for dinner. (Or we push it to the side and just eat next to it, let’s be real!) And I got to thinking how nice it would be if the kids had their own table to beat up.

There’s really no room in our main living space for a designated craft table, and I kinda wanted the option to hide it all away when we have company in the dining room.

A little while ago, I picked up this big empty frame for free and I spent days thinking of all the things I could do with it. I settled on a hideaway “Murphy” style art table.

I still had two extra bar-stools I bought and painted when our new house was still being renovated and I thought my island would have enough room for three. Oops.

When I held up the frame to the stools, it was the perfect bar-table height. I decided I could use it as the legs for my table, and when folded up, it could be a big framed chalkboard.

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The opening of the frame ended up being a very easy to work with 2 ft. by 3 ft. So I headed to Menard’s for some supplies.

• 2×3 table top
• 2 10ft pine trim pieces (4in wide, 1in thick)
• Two long hinges – there was an empty space where the 2 ft. hinges were at the store, and I thought I was in a hurry, so I settled for smaller ones.
• Hook latches – to keep it in place when it’s folded up on the wall.

It was pretty cheap. I already had all my paint, stain, screws, and tools.

First, I painted one side of the table top with chalkboard paint. One layer, sand, second layer, finely sand.

Next, I stained the other side and all the edges in minwax ebony to match our floors. That one took two coats as well. I sanded down the edges of the table top quite a bit so the wood didn’t swell and warp when it got warm.

Then I ignored it for weeks and got busy with other projects while it sat in my dining room, unfinished.

Story of my life.

Eventually I got inspired to finish it.

So I built my frame for the shelf part that hangs on the wall. I cut 4 pieces to two feet and two pieces to 3 ft. 2 in.

When I’m working on projects, I like to have my two cordless drills so I don’t have to keep switching back and forth drilling holes and driving screws. I love pre-drilling holes to make them look all neat and tidy.

I’ve got my miter saw in the basement so I got my exercise in going up and down the stairs quite a few times.

I also cut two pieces of a 1 inch square piece of wood I found randomly in the basement to two feet and used them to mount my shelf to the wall.

I attached my hinges on both sides of the table top, one attached to the frame and one attached to the shelf so it folded up in an “N”

When The Daddy finally got home from work (and I convinced Sunshine to give me back “her bed”) he helped me hold the shelf up against the wall so I could figure out where I needed to put my two wood pieces. I had already marked where the studs were, so it just required leveling them at the right height.

Once I got my wood pieces screwed into the studs, I drilled through the top and bottom of the shelf into the wood pieces to secure it to the wall.

Next, I took it apart again. I ended up deciding to paint the shelf the same color as the walls so I just painted it in place. I reattached the table top and did some white touch up paint on the frame. It had been jostled around a lot in the process of building this table so it had a few marks.

When everything was reassembled, I closed it up firmly and marked where I needed my holes for my hook latches (so it wouldn’t fall down on the kids).

Side note: my house is 120 years old and not level at all, so next to the windows the shelf actually ends up looking crooked. It’s really the window trim that is not level!

Once those were in, I added one shelf and procrastinated on the other. I ended up just drilling a hole and using the extra shelf clips I had laying around. 

Now look at this beauty:

The kids are really enjoying it so far. And I’m so proud that I planned and built this from start to finish all my myself! Even if it took about month long (or so…) break just sitting unfinished in the dining room.

Tell me about your latest project in the comments below!