We have been blessed with a lot over the last few months... among those things were the news of a baby on the way and a new house with an awesome back yard. In that back yard sat an old juniper stump that longed for a purpose.

It was decided that this sad old tree would become a side table for our baby boy's woodland themed nursery! The first step was to chop her down and strip off all the bark.

As you can see from the above pictures that I had a little help ripping off all of the bark, Wendy was very excited to be involved in the project. The real helper was a borrowed pressure washer that did wonders removing most of the bark. All of the nooks and crannies needed a little extra attention with a flathead screwdriver and hammer, but after a little elbow grease it was smooth as could be.

Now for the hard part... getting it level and looking presentable. I used some scrap wood to get the stump leveled as best I could and then nailed some 1/2 X 4 scraps to the top of the stump long enough to overhang so that I could attach the top.

Before staining the top, I used a belt sander to rough up the edges to give it a more rustic feel. I then stained the top with Minwax Dark Walnut and covered everything with polyurethane.

The glider that will accompany this side table is on its way, and after its arrival the nursery will be complete!