Au Natural Side Table

Yup, we made this bad boy.  Well us and nature.  Last memorial weekend, we were camping in North Idaho and I asked my husband's Uncle Ronnie if he would keep his eyes open for a 2ft tall stump that would work for a side table.

I saw this one on the West Elm website and loved it instantly but sure as hell wasn't gonna pay 200 bucks for a stump I could get locally and finish ourselves.

So how does one make a stump side table you ask?  Well you ask an Uncle or Father-In-Law who is familiar with indigenous types of lumber to keep his eyes open for suitable stumps that would make a good side table.  You don't want anything less than 19" in my opinion and you can cut down anything too tall.   Giving your finder a payment of Busch Light is highly recommended and aides in the search efforts of said stump.

After you have your stump in the back of your truck or car, bring that puppy home and let it sit outside (preferably a warm environment) or garage and just let it sit for a good month or so.  We let ours sit for 3 months but it was still pretty soft when we got it and you want all the sap to dry out and all the critters to vacate before bringing in to your house.  You don't want rotten wood  or some scary ass spider to become a permanent member of your home.

After it's good and dry, grab a level and see where it's at.  If you need to trim a few inches off of it now's a good time to do that.  I know it's not easy to level a stump with a chain saw unless you live with Paul Bunion like I do, but a saws-all would work too.  Just go slow, be careful, and wear eye/ear protection.

Now comes the fun part, SANDING!!  Just kidding, this part sucks.  I'm not gonna lie.  It's dirty and dusty, and takes a while unless you have a heavy duty belt sander.  Just keep your sander level and make sure you start with a rough grit and finish with a fine grit.  After your done, wipe your stump down with a slightly damp paper towel to get all the excess sawdust off.

Now to finish off the stump you can do it a couple ways.  I wanted the stump to look as natural as possible with not a whole lot of sheen to it, the "wet" look as I like to call it.  My husband and I decided to go with a satin finish and instead of brushing it on, which is a bit tedious, we went with the spray can polyurethane.  Really easy and what's great about with this project is that it will get into every little nook and cranny that a brush may not be able to reach.  And clean up is a whole lot easier!  You could use a brush and paint it on, which is fine, what ever you feel most comfortable with.  You could also go all out and buy epoxy and pour that stinky stuff on which would give more of a finish like a bar top.  That stuff is tricky to work with but it is by far the best protection for wood.  But, in my totally unprofessional opinion it not like the stump is by a sink or anything that well get it wet on a daily basis so you don't really need the heavy protection of Epoxy. Unless your like me and you leave your coffee cups on multiple surfaces until your forced to do the dishes because you've been drinking coffee out of a princess cup for two days, then you may have a good chance for unexpected spills and nobody likes to clean coffee stains out of wood so maybe epoxy is a good idea in my case.  But my hubby just put 5 coats of poly out of the spray can and we called it good.  I like to live on the edge.  I'm dangerous like that.

So, go forth.  Be "green" and find your Au natural side table.  Oh and wear a mask because if you spray on that poly without one you may fry a few brain cells.