The transformation of a table

Years ago when Michael was just little we knew we wanted a train table for him to play with.  So we went to, where else, Toys R Us to check them out!  After seeing the $100 + price tag we knew we had to make it work some other way.  We decided to buy the train track set and get a table from Goodwill.  When we got home we put the train track together so we knew how large the table would need to be.  Then we began searching for the perfect sized table.  I think we spent about $15 at Goodwill and got a really ugly 90's coffee table.  We didn't like it so we did this to it:

 
Then Robert screwed down all the train tracks:

We all loved it for many years and it met our needs for a long time...until Katelyn came around.  She started to climb onto the table and rip the train tracks off the table, breaking the tracks and making everyone, especially her brothers very upset.  So in frustration I removed all train tracks from the table and against Robert's wishes I gave it a fresh coat of paint.


We were given a huge roll of paper so I talked Robert into attaching it to the table and our fun train table became an awesome art table.

This was fun but the kids really wanted roads to drive on...they even began laying out the paper and drawing roads...That is when I knew it was time for me to paint it again!  And this is what we have now, an awesome art and car driving table:

Originally my plan was much less detailed but once the boys got in on the planning, well, it became pretty detailed. It has a school, 3 houses plus and shoe hotel (Michael decided he needed a hotel not a house), pond, store, airport with a runway, helicopter landing pad, Firestone store (so they can get their cars fixed), 4 parking lots and they even insisted on two stop signs and a swing behind the school.  It turned out so great! 

I think our $15 table was a great buy!  You want one?  It's pretty easy (time consuming but easy) to make.  We began by planning it all out on paper. We then drew it onto the table measuring a lot to make sure things were mostly straight. (we measured their cars to see how wide the roads needed to be too.)  I used regular craft paint to paint it all up. Then topped it with a few layers of clear spray paint so it cleans up easier and can take the rough car driving.  It took about 8 hours to paint everything but I think we all can agree it was totally worth it!