My self-made worktable

I think I saw this in a scrapbooking organization special publication a year or two ago, or something like it anyway. The instructions said to buy wire drawer-basket sets as the base for a table, then put on melamine shelving as a tabletop.

Unfortunately, the fellow at Lowe's had no idea what I meant by a tabletop or melamine shelving. I told him I was trying to create a large worktable, and he suggested foot-wide shelving boards.

Yeah, I thought he was stupid, but I just let him run away and worked on a solution for myself.

In comes Rubbermaid buffet tables. :D I think that the one I bought was on sale for $35 at the time. The only problem was that when I unfolded the legs, the drawer bases wouldn't fit under there at all - and the whole point of making a table like this was that I would have drawers for storage of my crafting stuff.

Grrrr....

Then I realized that I could just use the table as the tabletop. Nothing said that I had to unfold the legs!! I just positioned the bases and slid the table on top. It was almost perfect. The problem now was that the slightest bump sent the table careening off the bases and onto the floor, and at about 30 pounds, that table could really crush a foot underneath and break some bones. I also didn't feel like taking the chance that a project I was in the middle of (paint, water, small pieces, etc.) would easily get knocked onto the carpet.

Bright idea - nonslip shelf liner! Since laying it in sheets over the open topped drawer bases didn't work, I decided to roll up a small amount and fasten it to the top rails of the drawer bases with cable ties.

Now the table / top doesn't slide around anymore. :D

Bonus: If I quickly need a buffet table for any reason, I can just take the top off my crafting table, unfold the legs, and use it anywhere I need to.

The quickly-deteriorating kitchen chair that I'm using at the table needs to be replaced with something that's higher though.