So when is a random coffee table from Ikea and Kmart, more than just a table? When you turn it into art.

Exhibit A: Black rectangular tables.

Randomly enough, we had these nearly identical coffee tables when we moved in together. Reese was considering sending hers to the trash heap because, seriously, why would we need two tables? But in the spirit of our efforts to reduce, reuse and recycle, we decided to keep both tables and try to do something with them.

Now, often times when either one of us says this, stuff just gets dusty in a corner. Time flies when you’re having fun, right? We considered painting them, but we were pretty sick of painting from our previous thrifty DIY furniture projects. Plus, the weather had turned cold and drying time would be forever. But luckily the Ikea catalog had a ready solution: cover it with fabric. Duh.

Exhibit B: The fabric

This fabric should look familiar. It’s the same one  Ricks used on her headboard. Because it was 99 cents a freaking yard, she couldn’t resist (way before her pre-Operation Do Better days) buying the fabric in the off white color and the black. She bought four yards of each, so clearly we still have enough for lots of projects. Pillows anyone?

All you need is some kind of all purpose adhesive and/or a staple gun, which cost about $10. We used a spray adhesive and a staple gun since we had both. Because of the table shapes it’s easy to get crisp corners and wrap the fabric around the table like a Christmas present.

The legs of the tables screw in to the bottom and we left them bare for contrast. Reese’s table had a wobbly leg so we ultimately ditched all of her legs — saving them for another upcoming project of course — and added the table top to our television stand.

About 30 to 45 minutes of work and less than $20 netted us two cool tables that bring color and pattern into our space without paint.  A quick DIY is a done DIY. Git ‘er done.

— R&R