The big pie in the sky plan this weekend was attempting to get to some garage sales on Saturday and the flea market on Sunday to start shopping for The Olde Farmhouse event.
But with my son not feeling up to par, I knew it was a stay at home kinda weekend.
One more setback sealed that deal…
The back of my truck was stuffed to the rafters with my old fence wood lottery win. There would be no more additional shopping with this going on!
Nice problem to have, I know. My wood stash was scary low, so this came at a most awesome time.
But as always, one thing leads to another. I had no place to store it.
We drove around with the wood inside the truck for a day, but every movement the truck made, the wood would scratch against the windows… it had to come out… pronto!
I set my son up with a huge pot of homemade chicken soup, then made my way down to the workshop to sort this one out.
I have not been blessed with a large workshop. When you’re trying to work AND store in a single car garage, you really have to overthink everything.
The only wasted space I could really note was below this green folding table. (the top is now white as you’ll see below)
The table has become imperative for workspace, so it’s stayed. But it’s always difficult to position, because it was either too close to the wood storage, or too close to the main work isle.
So… 2 brainstorms in one, here we come!
Wood storage cart under a farm table workbench
How to make a wood cart with casters
1. Cut down 2x4s to size, and screw together a frame.
2. Add casters.
3. Build up the sides for wood storage stability.
First up, I screwed together a simple frame with 2x4s and casters underneath. This would become a ‘cart’ of sorts, to store the wood on.
Here is my first draft that needed to be tweaked after the plans got further along. The entire top needed to be flat, so flipping the cart upside down solved that problem.
Next, I made some ‘sides’ for the cart. This would help hold the wood in place and give me a ‘handle’.
But wait… I jumped ahead… did you notice the cool table legs?
How to turn a folding table into a farm table
1. Attach a 2×4 to the ends of the table, for more ‘base’ to work with.
2. Screw legs with casters attached, into the 2×4.
3. Add a plank trim along the sides to cover the leg joins.
I desired the table to also roll. But the metal legs couldn’t accommodate casters, plus their cross bracing underneath the table created a storage issue. Removing the metal legs would have required the entire table to come apart. No thanks.
So I added a 2×4 along the side of the table, screwed legs into that, then added trim.
The folding legs could then easily collapse inside the table and be out of the way, yet still be intact should I ever desire to use it like that again.
Neighbour Jake and I brainstormed this idea. I was going to cut the pipes, but this was easier! 🙂
This (#hackfest) was very easy to do! The pipe legs stayed in place while the wooden ones were built.
Here are the metal legs still down.
And here they are up, under the table.
Pretty cool, right? Now it looks like an old farm table with a little cart thing to match!
You may be asking, “Why two pieces? Why not add shelves under the table?”
Two reasons.
#1. I desired the weight of the wood to be on its own. This would make the table much lighter to push around.
#2. The length of the wood planks were longer than the depth of the table, so now the wood can be pushed farther away from my work area, with the table closer.
This has solved all my space issues. Now I can position everything where it will benefit me most!
Isn’t that crazy awesome?
I ran out of 4″ deck screws (for the legs) so I couldn’t complete the other side. And it still needs trim board along the front and back to hide the green. So… I’ll take a nice shoot of this once it’s 100% complete.
And… finish unloading my truck… this is only over just half! Ho boy…
Guess I’d better hurry up and build something BIG.
Read all Dream Workshop updates HERE.
This was a great way to gain some storage for the fence wood and also gain a wonderful work space. The old fence wood is a great find and I know you will find many uses for it.
Better do some wainscoting or a wall treatment somewhere – that’ll bring down your stash quick! Nice haul…
Wheels rock. It makes it so much easier to move things. I can see some of those old fence boards being “decorated” with some of your new stencils. Rustic wood with stenciling – a match made in heaven!
This is too funny! The life of a junker 🙂 Nice score on all that gorgeous wood!
Hi Donna … great project. I store wood under our work tables too, but not on a rolling cart … GREAT IDEA. I try to put rollers on all my work carts or tables. So easy when needing to move stuff around. Love all the weathered fence boards. You will have so much fun with those.
Enjoy and thanks for all the inspiration.
This was the perfect solution…love how everything is moveable…that’s going to make things much easier! And what a great folding table hack…you’d never know that wasn’t a farm table all along! I wish I had the room for something like this, but my old wood fencing remains behind the shed til the warmer weather when we can do something with it.
Wow – that is really cool and I love what you did to the table for the legs! Perfect storage area. Hmmmmmm now I have to look around my garage and see what else I can do – I finally have a nice workbench but everything else is catch as catch can – old metal shelves and just a mish-mash of this and that. I’m retiring in 13 days (and 1 hour) and can’t wait till it gets warm enough to work out there and clean things up! Thanks for sharing!
OMG!I want to use all that wood. So MANY projects running through my head.
I cant believe I just discovered your blog. I am from BC, Canada too!
~ Ashley
Well, hello there neighbour, and welcome! 🙂
Wow! You really hit the jackpot with that stash of old wood, and what a great storage solution too. Thanks for hosting Donna. Hope you get out to do some serious junking this weekend:-)
What a wonderful work table and the storage is priceless. You continue to amaze me with the way you come up with these ideas then create from your ideas. I would love to have that stash of wood to work with, lucky, lucky you. I can’t wait to see what you create with the wood.
That sure is a bonanza of old fence wood. What a great stock pile to work with!! It all looks so pretty under your work bench it will almost be a shame to use it, that’s almost of course, because I’m loving your rolling storage cart. That farm table has lots of storage space to use up with so many possibilities.
Hi Donna, you never cease to amaze me. That was so clever and lucky you for the wood score ! Great job, and what a nice neighbor you have, to help you out like that. Can’t wait to see what you come up with next time 😀 with anticipation, Diena