Item: This project is a store-bought special with two basic ingredients.  One: the versatile Lack table, $12.99 from Ikea.  Two: paint chips from your neighborhood Ace, Home, Lowe’s or paint store.

The Lack table is a blank canvas for all kinds of creativity, illustrated well in the posts on Ikeahacker. This is just one more way to jazz it up, and I’ve found it can add some instant life to a new dorm room and makes a good diy project for the tween set. Sleepover tonight, anybody?

When collecting the paint chip, you might want to bring a decoy to the store, someone who can create a distraction. Perhaps your partner-in-crime can knock over the ShamWow display while you stuff your pockets with paint chips.  When  you get them home, note that they can be cut into any shape, especially the samples from Benjamin Moore or Behr,  which come in a strip.  The paint chips I used for this table are square, made by Ralph Lauren Paint.

Arrange the paint chips on the Lack, use white glue to adhere and then put something weighy, like cookbooks, on top to press until dry.  To seal, brush or spray on multiple coats of polyurethane.