Table Rehab: the BIG Reveal!

So, last year I decided to cover my tables with wrapping paper and Modge Podge. Great idea, right? Sure, if you plan on leaving them that way and you don't have picky kiddos who pick holes and pull up pieces of the paper. The little holes and torn places wouldn't have been such a big deal if I had continued to use the tables for station activities and computers, but I decided to get rid of my desks this year and use tables, so now I needed the tables for my students' workspace! Should be simple, right? Grab the Goo Gone and a scrapper and get to work! Easy Peasy, right?

Wrong! As you can see from the picture, Goo Gone didn't work. It seemed no different than just scraping the paper off dry, which is what I tried next.

My daughter, Rylee, helping scrape the table.

Again, no luck. At this point my goal was to just get the tables smooth enough to recover with chalkboard contact paper and hope for the best. I couldn't quite get the table smooth enough with only a scrapper to suit the purpose of a student work space. I mean, this is where handwriting, directed drawing, and coloring would take place and any bump or ridge just wouldn't do!

So, my next step was to try sanding the bumps and ridges off.

I loaded up the tables in the back of my truck and carried them to my dad's shop to use his air compressor sander. The sander would have worked eventually I think, but by this time my dad was helping me and he said he had a better idea.

My genius Daddy :)

He does a little bit of auto body work (mainly painting) and he wanted to try using some of his extra strength paint thinner-remover-stuff (sorry I can't remember the technical name) to see if that would release the glue enough to scrape it off. So he brushed it on and we let it set for a few minutes, then got to work scraping.

Photo courtesy of Rylee

Praise the Lord! It worked! We finally got all of the paper scraped off and then my dad went over it with the sander to get of the left over glue, and "Voila`!"

A nice, clean, smooth table! We worked and got the other tables cleaned off and moved them back into my classroom.

I ABSOLUTELY LOVE the way that tables changed

the entire look and feel of my classroom! It actually looks and feels like a kindergarten classroom. I can't wait to get the rest of my room put back together and share my classroom with you! 

Hope you enjoyed reading about my table rehab. 

What is something that you have fixed up to use in your classroom?