Make a Table Top for Your Vintage Crock

I snagged this vintage crock over a year ago at an antique store in Tomball. I will tell you right now that I paid way too much for it, but I couldn't pass it up. It's a #15! I never see those. At the time, I was redoing our playroom to make it look a little more stylish and a little less like a chaotic playroom since it's the first room you see when you walk into our house. I knew it would make great toy storage.

After redoing our playroom last Christmas, I gave it a year to see what worked and what didn't. I constantly change up the decor in our home, and the playroom is no exception. You should create spaces that fit the needs of your family. One of the things I wanted to change was to create a sitting area for adults. We spend a lot of time in here but didn't have comfortable seating for grownups. Since I spent quite a bit on our playroom the first time I did it, I didn't want to spend any money this time. I relocated the wingback chairs that I bought off Craigslist a couple years ago from the living room to the playroom. Until I can find the money to reupholster these chairs. they have inexpensive slipcovers.

The crock was (and still is) being used for Lego storage, but I wanted it to be even more functional. I decided to add a top to it to create a side table. Who doesn't love pieces that serve 2 purposes and look awesome? I was able to use scrap wood in the garage so this upgrade didn't cost me a penny (let's just forget that I paid a ton of money for this crock). You can find the tutorial below or, if you prefer video and hearing my weird voice, head over to Instagram and look for "Crock Table Tutorial" under my saved stories.

I started by measuring the diameter of the crock, which was 16.75". I wanted to use 1x4's for the look I was going for, and I had a few pieces lying around in the garage. A 1x4 actually has a width of 3.375" so I needed 5 pieces to make my top.

Normally, I would have just cut 5 pieces at 18", but I told you I was trying not to spend any money. I had a limited amount of 1x4's in the garage so I needed every inch I could get out of them. On my miter saw, I made 2 cuts at 14.5", 2 cuts at 17", and 1 cut at 18".

I applied a line of glue to each piece. When gluing, rub the 2 pieces against each other a bit to distribute the glue. After gluing all the pieces together, I clamped them together.

I added the weight because cheap 1x4's like this are notoriously warped. It was a miracle that all 5 pieces actually laid flat and lined up without any weird gaps. The weight helps keep the top flat while under pressure from the clamps.

While the glue was drying on the top, I created the base for the top. I didn't want the top to slide off the crock so, by creating a base that is a little smaller than the inner diameter, the top wouldn't be able to move around too much. I already had this 15" circle lying around so I just used that. Normally, I would just use plywood, but I had this on hand. The inner diameter measured 14" so I trimmed this circle on my band saw to fit my crock.

1x4's have rounded edges, and I wanted a flat surface to make contact with my band saw blade to cut the circle so I ran the top on my table saw. Since I was going with the grain, I was able to use the fence and just trimmed off an eighth of an inch.

For cutting the top, I used my band saw with a circle jig. The jig was set at the radius of the circle I wanted so, for a circle of 16.75", the radius is 8.375". There are lots of ways to cut a circle: band saw, jig saw, scroll saw, or router. I spun around the boards on my circle jig to get my circlular top.

I like to round the edges of my table tops so nothing is too sharp, especially when the table is in the playroom around kids. I used my router with a round over bit on both the top and bottom of the tabletop to give it a smooth edge. I sanded the edges with a corner sander and then sanded the top with 80-grit followed by 220-grit to give it a really smooth finish.

I glued the bottom circle so that it was centered on the tabletop. After the glue dried, I stained the table with a custom mix of Old Barn Milk Paint's water-based stain. I used 75% Rustic and 25% Weathered.

I love the way it came out! It looks great in our playroom and does double duty. We store Legos inside and the table can be used to hold Mama's coffee (or wine) or to play games.