My Dad built me a cutting table about five years ago and I have loved it. It's a knock-off of Pottery Barn's Bedford craft table. But, better! It's huge and has lots of space. And, it cost about $250 (compared to PBs $1200). But, I learned a few things in the process.
I had read in a quilting book or magazine that the cutting height should be elbow-height. That was too tall for me. I was shrugging my shoulders when I would try to cut and they would get sore and tired. We had built the table 39" high. It's too high for me. I'm 5'4".
Another thing I learned is that bigger is not better! If you're thinking about building a cutting table, don't make it too big. If you can't stand on one side and reach the items all the way on the other side, it's too big! What a pain to have to walk around and grab something. I'm all about efficiency. Promise, I'm not lazy! Also, if you have to rearrange furniture someday and put your table against a wall, walking around isn't an option any more and then you'll really be cursing that too-big table. I'll be honest, my table pushes that too-big limit. But, I wanted to get it as big as possible with out being too big. So, I did! It's 41 1/2" deep (so if you are looking at the cubbies (and baskets), it's 41 1/2" that way. It's 58 1/2" long. That measurement doesn't matter quite as much except that, again, you don't want to waster too much space. Think about all the space you'll have in between the cubbies. Do you have other storage you can use in there? I put my garbage can in there and will be putting a barstool on the other side. I'll occasionally use this table for scrap booking projects.
Another thing to think about. If you plan on using baskets or something similar for storage. You don't want your cubbies to be giant and not fit any standard size baskets. That's just a waste of space. I picked a general 12 x 12 size for the cubbies because I knew I would have lots of basket options. I used to have fabric baskets in there and they fit perfectly, too.
We had painted it black. The first mistake was that we painted it. We didn't sand it properly, didn't fill in nail holes properly and we used yucky paint. Plus, I didn't realize how much the fabric dust would show on the black. So, the paint bugged me for five years. But, I still loved the table for it's space, storage and functionality.
Here is the before picture. As you will see in this picture, one of
the shelves is backward. It's because I was sharing the playroom space
and had to have it against a wall. I just had to crawl in there to get to some of the stuff. Not a huge deal, but it's nice to be able to access everything easily.
So, to remedy these problems, I had my Dad cut the table down two inches. It was a pain for him. I didn't have to do anything. :) But, I appreciate it. It really is perfect now.
Then, I took it over to my brother and sister-in-law at The Frosted Gardner to have it repainted. You may have seen them (actually, just my sister-in-law) on Studio 5. I had them paint it white. I want some new furniture for my sewing room (when we finally decide what to do with our house, I'll have everything in one room) and I was thinking I would get a stained wood. After seeing the new paint job on this baby, I'm doing everything in white. I love, love, love the way the fabric pops against the white. It really shows off the fabric and that's what it's all about...the fabric!
I asked them to distress it slightly and it's so cool! The black paint under the white really highlights the distressing.
 |
| I keep charm packs and jelly rolls in my big jar. I keep cutting tools in the medium one. And adhesives in the small one. The Ball jar holds all my pens and there's a little pin cushion there with some cute pins. Which, I never use. But, they are fun to look at! |
 |
| See what I mean about the fabric against the white? Yummy! |
 |
| The baskets are from Target. I got them a little over a year ago. |
 |
| I love that I can remove shelves because I can fit bolts of fabric in there. Or, my light box. Or, my 12 x 18 cutting mats. Or, some of my 12 x 12 scrapbooking stuff that happens to be just a hair bigger than 12x12. :) |
 |
| I need to find a new cutting mat. The green is just so not jiving with my decor. So, I flipped it over and like the gray, but there aren't any lines. But, I know I love Omnigrid and it's hard to switch because I worry that I won't like what I get. And, cutting mats are so expensive. Fiskers has a cute yellow and gray one I may try. |
 |
| There wasn't enough room to back up and get the whole table in the picture. But, this gives a general idea. The garbage can is from IKEA. |
 |
| Then, I had to test it out. Love the height. Love the color. My favorite piece of quilting equipment/storage - ever! |
 |
| Notice that I have empty cubbies and some of my baskets are empty. Empty space is a good thing! In this picture, you can see my bar stool on the other side of the table. |
