A DIY wood table riser from a salvaged desktop with a cozy modern farmhouse style. Nothing gets thrown out around here if I can help it and it drives Mr. Frugalista crazy. My motto is that pretty much anything can be repurposed into something with a little creativity.

Such was the case with the top of an old boarding house table that was split in half. It was headed for the burn pile when I uttered the words he dreads hearing most...

 "Wait, I can make something with that!"

Wooden Display Pedestal From A Salvaged Desktop

...and with a little elbow grease, that's exactly what happened. The smaller piece was the perfect size for a wood riser on our dining room table. Now I need to come up with an idea for the other half.



Here's where we started with the broken top on an old boarding house table. It was removed during the Modern Farmhouse Desk Makeover repurposed as a worktable for my new office.


This is the smaller piece I used to make the table riser?


But first, the edge on the broken half needed some work so the profile matched with the other three sides.


Of course, to qualify as a wood riser the board also needed some feet.


But it's that sweet stenciled grain sack stripe that gives the riser the modern or country farmhouse charm.


It's going to get a lot of use on our dining room table between now and the holidays. But it'll also be used as a seasonal centerpiece year-round.


With Canadian Thanksgiving around the corner, I'll incorporate some real mini pumpkin tealights like I made last year. I'll also go through my fall decor bin and add a few ticking stripe pumpkins and sweater pumpkins in the mix too.

For the holidays I'll set the Retro Christmas In A Jar on top with other vintage decorations.

So let's get into the nitty-gritty of how it was made, shall we?

Here's How We Made It

This post contains affiliate links so you can see what products I used or recommend for this project. As an Amazon Associate, I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you.

Step 1 - A Routered Edge

The first thing the salvaged board needed was a nice profile along the edge. To do that we used a 3/8-inch with 1-inch shank 2-flute flush router bit (now that's a mouthful) on the router. First, ran it along the edges on one side of the board and flipped it over to finish the profile on the other side.

Step 2 - The Old Paint Layers Are Outta Here

Next up, the layers of paint needed to go starting with a 60-grit sanding sheet on a quarter-sheet sander. To get the remaining paint the sanding sheet was switched to 120-grit. Last but not least, to get the wood as smooth as a baby's bottom the sanding sheet was switched to 220-grit.

But even with all that sanding, there were some white spots on the wood, assuming old paint in the deeper gouges. Because I plan on staining the board, they had to go.

How To Remove Old Paint From The Deep Gouges Of Sanded Wood

After a little research, I learned you can get rid of these white spots with hydrogen peroxide. So I tried it by saturating cotton swabs and soaking the spots for several minutes. Next, I sanded the spots lightly with a sheet of 220-grit sandpaper while they were still a little wet and it worked! You can't tell those white spots were there now.

Step 3 - Staining The Wood Table Riser

The hardest part of this wood table riser project was deciding what finish to give it. The original plan was to keep the natural wood and protect it with food-grade hemp oil. But like what often happens, I changed my mind.

We don't have any light wood in our dining room and our table is dark walnut so I opted for a contrast with a whitewash instead. But still wanting to see the wood grain I thinned White Magic VooDoo Gel stain with water to a milk-like consistency. Applied with a slightly damp car detailing sponge, my favorite application for stains and topcoats to eliminate brush strokes.

Step 4 - Grain Sack Stripes For Farmhouse Style

To add the Modern farmhouse touch, the top needed some grain sack stripes down the center. You can make the stripes with painter's tape or do it the easy way and save yourself a lot of time with these awesome grain sack stencils from Funky Junk's Old Sign Stencils


Instead of opaque painted stripes, I made them look more transparent by pouncing the graphite paint color on with a stencil brush. After it dried I went over the grain sack stripes with 220-grit sandpaper to smooth the paint and give them a distressed finish.

Step 5 - Adding Feet To The Table Riser

Now we're ready to give the wood pedestal tray some feet. I had small wooden legs in my stash but they didn't have any dowel screws to attach them to the board. I could have used a strong glue but I knew the riser would get a lot of use and felt better knowing they were attached with screws.


To do this the feet needed dowel screws. If you've never done this before, I've included instructions below that I hope you find helpful.

1. Mark the center of each foot and drill a small pilot hole. 
2. To ensure the screw is the same depth on all four feet, place a piece of tape on the drill bit to the depth you need in the foot.
3. Thread the dowel screw into the pilot hole with vice grips because those threads are sharp. 
4. Check the depth of the screw against the side of the riser to make sure it sits below the top. The last thing you want is the screw to pop through the top of the table riser.
5. On the bottom side of the riser measure equal distance in both directions to find the center point for your feet and mark it with a pencil. Repeat on the remaining three corners.
6. Place a piece of tape on the pilot hole drill bit to gauge the depth so you don't poke through the top.
7. Attach the feet and voila!

I'm so glad I caught the broken desktop before it ended up in the burn pile because it made such a sweet farmhouse table riser.