Step 1

Measure your fire pit and cut your wood into pieces that will make a large square with plenty of room to cover the opening.

Step 2

If you want to keep this simple, just use wood glue in-between each plank and clamp to hold them tight until the glue dries.

If you do a lot of DIY projects you may have a biscuit joiner or a domino joiner. If you have one, use it to join the wood! And then add wood glue and clamp the pieces together until they are dry.

Step 3

When the wood glue is dry, unclamp and working on the back of your piece, find the center and mark it with a pencil.

Step 4

Screw a wood screw into your center mark. Make sure to not go all the way through the wood.

Step 5

Tying one end of a string to the screw, wrap the other end of the string around a pencil and pulling the string tight, slowly draw a circle. Make certain the circle is the right size to cover the opening in your fire pit.

Step 6

Using a jigsaw, cut around your pencil mark.

Step 7

If you decided to join your wood using only wood glue, you'll need to add two or three 1x2 pieces of wood to the back to help secure the wood. Check to make certain your 1 x 2 is positioned so that you can sit it on top of the fire pit and it remains stable and not wobbly!

Step 8

Now it's time to sand!!!

I started with my hand sander and 120 grit to smooth over the top and sides… (you can use a router to soften the edges if you have one.)

Step 9

Where some of the wood connected and on edges I needed to do more detailed sanding, so I used 3M Advanced Abrasives – 3M Ultra Flexible Sanding Sheets. They bend and contour so they're super easy on your hands and perfect for tight spaces.

Step 10

The 3M Ultra Flexible Sanding Sponge also bends and makes sanding contoured places easy. It's comfortable to hold and sands smooth.

Step 11

After the sanding it's time to stain! I mixed 2 semi transparent stains, one white and one dark gray. I wanted a beachy look and these two mixed together gave me a perfect soft blue/gray.

Step 12

Brush on the stain, leave it on for a couple of minutes, and gently wipe most of it off.

You could leave the top just like this because really, it's beautiful with the wood grain showing through. But if you want to add a game board to your table, there are a few more steps!

Step 13

To make the checkerboard pattern, first measure a square that is big enough to hold your Mason Jar lid checkers. Also, keep in mind there are 64 squares on a checkerboard: 8 rows with 8 squares each.

Step 14

The measurements depend on the size of your fire pit cover and the size of your checkers. I decided to use black on half the squares and leave the other half natural. Measure a row of squares and use a yardstick and chalk to outline the checkerboard. Then use ScotchBlue™ Painter's Tape to tape off one row at a time and paint.

Step 15

Use 3M Pro Sanding Sheets and Rolls to lightly sand the bold black squares and give your checkerboard a weathered and aged look.

Step 16

After the top is dry, put 2 coats of water based satin exterior urethane to protect the tabletop.

Step 17

To be sure water doesn't get through where the wood planks were joined, use Scotch® Tough Duct Tape to cover the seams on the back of the cover.

Step 18

Now your unattractive fire pit is covered with a table and a checkerboard in one!