Last summer we had a TON of tree maintenance done. One white pine needed to be taken out completely. The trimmers dropped the tree and trimmed up the limbs, leaving the trunk for us, as we requested. We cut it up into manageable stumps and then split them. Except for one lone section. It was too pretty to split. The bark was amazing. I saved the stump because I imagined doing something with it. So far that hasn’t happened. A couple of weekends ago, while taking a break from yard work, I eyed the stump again. I still love it, but the gild was off the lily. THEN a very serendipitous thing occurred: a couple of my cohorts here on The Curb posted some great ideas to get the gild back (specifically, this and this). Those tutorials got me wondering if I could find even more cool ideas for my stump. Of course that meant….to the internets! Here’s what I found:
Pictured above is an image from a tutorial from Martha Stewart. Even though the bark of these tree-stump side tables and coffee table has been left raw, they look incredibly refined. Shiny enamel tops offer protection and interest. For a store-bought alternative, check out West Elm’s natural tree-stump side table ($199).
Martha has a tutorial for a larger table too. Here’s one with a faux-bois painted 24″ round MDF top. Besides a tutorial on how to make the table, Martha has included a video on how to create the painted effect. See both by following this link.
These Lamps from Egg Collective are kind of a table/lamp/artwork hybrid.
& Made made these stools for a London cafe. A skinny slab of a stump and funky found or purchased legs make for a wonderful dichotomy.
And for something completely different, how about a wine rack stump? A few practice holes into a scrap chunk of wood would be necessary to get the angles right.
So what’s my vote for my stump? I’m kinda leaning toward a version of the first idea from Martha.