The Car Table

So my awesome friend moved away and I absorbed many items that she didn't wish to take with her on her move across the country. One of the items I was left with is this:

Its a Kidcraft table, perfect for toddlers. It has two chairs and 4 plastic bins to fit into the base where the bars are. After fixing up the top that was broken and lifted right off, filled some holes and gave it a good scrubbing I was ready to begin. 

I felt a little limited with this table because of its size and all the ideas I wanted to do with it. For a train table it needed to be bigger, I could do Legos but our toddler isn't ready for small plastic things yet (He is the reason they have warnings on toys for children under 3). So cars its was. Surprisingly Pinterest wasn't useful for this project (Don't worry, I have many more projects to come from there).

So first step after it the repairs was to paint it with primer it to give me my platform!

I was a bit excited to start on the top since that is main focus so I got out some painters tape and a ruler and got to work. It took about 2 days of taping since I ran out and had to get more, but once it was done I was able to paint the roads (below, left) then added more tape for the yellow dashed line (below, right). 

 

Now the fun could start. I wanted this table to be so unique and fun. I Googled around for ideas but once I was into it, this table was all mine and It was going to reflect our family and what my son would recognize. I dug into my huge stash of scrapbook paper, and started cutting. Most buildings were done with a simple ruler and I free handed any non straight lines. Once every building was assembled I purchased some Mod Podge (Purple label for the hard coat to handle all the use this would one day get). A few layers later and here is my finished top.

I'm in love with how it turned out. The parking spaces fit hotwheels, There is an Exchange (with an EGA and the green shirt all marines wear) and Commissary to represent our lives on Camp Pendleton. I still have the two little chairs, the plastic bins and the base of the table to work on, this is a big project but I have enjoyed every bit of it. Crafting is like meditation to me and after an hour or even 15 minutes I can feel my happiness increase and any stress just disappear.
I'll complete this post once I finish the table which hopefully will be before our monster birthday party in December so it can be utilized at the party.