My oldest daughter acquired an old bongo drum that was going to be tossed into the trash. It was missing pieces and it wasn't cost effective for the music department to repair it. She saw it as a table. So did I.
Fast forward two years. Life came before re-purposing the old bongo drum. My oldest daughter graduated college and became a music teacher. I started up an Etsy shop. My youngest became a pre-teen (ugh).
While turning the loft from a storage room to a studio, I found the old bongo drum. I decided I was going to bring the dream of turning it into a table to fruition. In this tutorial I'm going to tell you how I did it...
Materials:
- Bongo Drum
- 17.5" prefabricated table round
- Screw eyes
- 1/8'' x 50 foot paracord
- Three different colors of paint (I used flat beige, flat brown, and glossy black)
- Tissue paper
- Small roller and paint brushes
- Terry cloth paint rags
- Drop cloth
First, I had to decide how I was going to fix the table round to the bongo. A lot of ideas swirled around in my head from a super strong adhesive to screwing it on with L brackets. Then the obvious hit me like a percussionist hits a bongo drum...
I found six screw eyes and screwed them into the bottom of the table top. I don't have pictures of this part because I was so excited to get on with the project. But, I put the table top on the floor and the bongo upside down on it. I centered the bongo then traced it on to the table top for reference later. Next I took a ruler and marked out 6 dots a distance of 1" outside the circle. These dots directly relate to the black hook eyes on the bongo itself.
Once I was satisfied with the screw eyes, I set the tabletop on the bongo right side up and centered the top using the circle I traced. Then I offset the screw eyes so they would be half way between the black hook eyes. I did it like this to mimic how a bongo looks in real life use. The tabletop is tight and does not move at all. Just make sure you pull that paracord tight and secure it with a good square knot.
Next, I wanted the table top to resemble old leather. I searched through several paint treatment tutorials and found one for walls I thought would be perfect. The tutorial is by Ronald Layman and it demonstrates perfectly the finish I wanted to achieve for my tabletop.
I did the process exactly how Mr. Layman demonstrates in his video. However, I used some paint I had on hand instead of glaze. It still came out beautiful. I may even do it on a feature wall some day.
After I finished painting there was some paracord still hanging on I needed to trim. I tried wrapping it around the straight cord to see what it looked like. I liked the effect but did a survey with family and friends. I got voted down so the paracord ended up being trimmed and left straight.
Here's the table all finished and ready to give to my daughter. I know she's going to love it!
