When I was growing up, board games were a big part of our family nights.

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Under my dad's tutelage, I became quite a skilled little Rook* player. I learned to bid cunningly on a great hand and knew the best strategy to use when playing with a silent partner. As I grew older, my mom and I played Scrabble* every time we visited, and we were always thrilled with a game in which our score topped 300.

When extended family come together now, we play endless board games and those times have become the stuff of memories...and legends!

Like the time when we all gathered around mom and dad's table at Christmas...and my then 7-year old son Kyle soundly defeated us all at cards ~ all on his own ~ will go down in our family history as a great victory! It's a great memory for my son!


Nowadays, it's a little sad to see favorite board games relegated to a dusty shelf...while family time consists of watching a movie (where nobody talks to each other) or sitting on the couch....together, but each on their own device (where there's no interaction)...or worse, everyone dispersed and doing their own thing.


So when I was deciding to repaint an old round table I had sitting in my garage, I knew it would make an amazing game table.

The table got a new black base and antique white top.

I found a checkerboard image online and printed it out on multiple sheets of paper, taped those together, and transferred the image to the top of the table using this method I used to paint antlers on an old nightstand.  You could also use a checker stencil* like this one.

this is just part of the image

Thank you to my wonderful hubs, Mr DIY, for finding the center of the table for me!!! I was working in my dark garage, so the 'how to' pics aren't that good..sorry!

I hand-painted the black squares...I could have cut out the black squares from my template and then rolled on the black paint, but I decided I'd rather hand-paint than hand-cut! It's easier on the hands.



Once I'd painted all the black squares and it dried, I went back with a ruler and a Sharpie and traced around all the edges.



Now it has a nice, crisp look.

I waxed the table with both clear furniture wax* and dark * for a vintage, been-around-awhile look and buffed until it shone.

I'm pairing my DIY Checkerboard Table with 4 Pottery Barn style chairs*.



Won't this make a fun game table? Checkers or Chess anyone?




Of course, any game can be played on this table...or it can even be used as a dining table.




And...when you can't find your Checkers or your Chess set...




you can always play Taboo*!



I hope you found this Checkerboard Table tutorial helpful!

If you're looking for a fun game, any of the above are highly recommended by me, Mr DIY and our 3 children! If you love strategy games, check out the ones I mentioned at the beginning of this post...Mr DIY and our 2 teenage sons love those, as well as Carcassone* and Settlers of Catan*. Keep in mind many of these games come in a Jr Edition if your children are younger.

Happy Game Night!


bringing beauty to the ordinary,