With the help of a richly carved corbel, Country Home’s Shopgirl created a space-saving table perfect for the hallway.

Here’s how you can do the same.

The Corbel Traditional Bracket in solid maple from Enkeboll Designs ($183) is the base for the table made from medium density fiberboard ($20), bendable plywood ($8.50), embossed wallpaper border ($10), and paint and installation supplies. The project totaled $261.

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First, cut a rectangular piece of 3/4-inch MDF the same size as the top of the corbel and glue it onto the top. Next, cut two tabletops out of the MDF using templates (see Tip 1) and a jigsaw; sand edges. Then cut a piece of bendable plywood to match the smaller MDF piece and attach it using wood glue and nails, creating the skirt.

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Prime everything. Glue an embossed piece of wallpaper to the skirt, and prime everything again. Attach the corbel to the smaller MDF and give it a coat of polyurethane. Paint the larger MDF in a marble fashion, dry, then polyurethane. When dry, sand lightly and recoat. Attach the smaller MDF to the larger using 1 1/4-inch screws.

Tip 1: Cardboard Cut Out
Making templates is a must to create tabletops that are perfectly matched to your corbel. Using cardboard, measure for the size of your finished tabletops by accommodating for the depth of the corbel on the smaller piece. Our templates are half-oval in shape with straight edges measuring 22 and 25 inches.

Tip 2: Mount Up
Attaching your table to the wall is as easy as 1, 2, 3. Fasten L-brackets to the underside of the table, one on each side of the corbel. Find a stud to mount the table to, or use appropriate wall hangers, and finish by screwing the L-brackets to the wall.

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