One Month, One Project–Distressed Coffee Table

Since switching out our giant leather sofa for the IKEA Ektorp chaise sofa, I had been on the lookout for a round coffee table since our old rectangle one was too large for the space. I fell in love with the Metropolitan Round coffee table from Pottery Barn, but was not willing to fork out $350 for it… so instead I perused Craigslist for months and months. This is where I tell you that persistence pays off people. I scored that very same PB coffee table on Craigslist for $35!! Sure, this one came with scratches and cobwebs but since I was planning on redoing it anyway, that worked just fine for me.

My inspiration was this distressed coffee table from The Painted Hive.

Because I wanted to re-stain the top, I stripped the orangey varnish with Citrasolve and then sanded gently so as to not sand all the way through the wood veneer. I have had previous experience with redoing PB furniture so I am familiar with their wood veneer – you want to be careful to not sand down to the particle board underneath.

I stained it with Minwax dark walnut stain and rather than coat it with poly, I opted instead to wax it with a few coats of Miss Mustard Seed’s furniture wax. The finish is soft and buttery and beautiful. I can’t say how it’ll hold up to two kids, but so far, so good. My girls have gotten accustomed to using coasters, so that helps.

I used my faithful Annie Sloan chalk paint for the body of the table so I wouldn’t have to sand or prime. The base is Old White and the rim just under the stained wood top is French Linen. I distressed the finish with a fine-grit sandpaper and then waxed with MMS furniture wax.

It fits the space so much better than our old coffee table, and I love how the lower shelf adds extra storage for books and magazines. I find it so funny how coordinated my furniture used to be and now it’s such a mix of everything: different wood tones, different textures, no matching furniture sets. It feels more collected and more cozy for sure.

Here’s a view of how it looks in the whole room: it really works well in the smaller space left since we have the chaise. Not bad for $35, especially considering I got $50 for my old one ;). One of these days I’ll post about that great board and batten entry you seen in the background – Mr. home.made. built that for me over a year ago! That plate wall definitely needs to grow too but I have hopes to fill that wall with a piano, so I’ll probably wait to work on the wall until then.

So there you have it, my project for the month of November. I’m debating over what to do next month but I can tell you that all of my options involve paint – it should be fun!

One Month-One Project Series

It’s been a busy past eleven (sheesh!) months since I last blogged… grad school will do that to a full-time working girl. But oh, how I’ve missed this little corner of the interwebs and diy projects and such so I’ve decided to squeeze my way back into blogging with a new concept: the One Month-One Project Series. It’s a low commitment commitment (pretty sure that’s not proper English) to help me progress on home projects by knocking out one project a month. Additionally, these projects are on a budget since we’re paying for this grad school thing as we go and it’s not cheap! (Thanks Dave Ramsey.) Here’s what I’m working on for November:

This round coffee table will soon have a home in my living room, but not before a quick makeover. I actually bought this off of Craigslist back in April or May and it’s been collecting dust in my garage all this time! I was able to get most of the work done on it this weekend and I can’t wait to show you the end result…

So here we go! Can’t wait to knock out some projects!

2015

So… it’s been all quiet on the blogging front as I decided to simply enjoy my holidays this year as opposed to the usual making things and taking photos, editing said photos and writing blog posts.  I put up old decorations, I hung the same wreath I’ve had the past three Christmases, and *gasp* I didn’t even take everything down until this past weekend.  The Flow Blue vintage dresser was the last piece of furniture in my garage for me to work on, so I have had a break from projects and you know what?  It’s been kinda nice not having the nagging feeling of “I’ve gotta get this finished or work on that”.

While looking through photos last week, I realized that over the past few years, I’ve filled up a lot of photo albums with tutorials and projects and progress updates and crafts and while it’s all been fun, it’s a lot of time and work.  While I still enjoy all of the creating and decorating, I’d much rather share snippets on Instagram and go about my merry day than create an entire blog post about it, link up to linky parties, etc.

My lack of blogging mojo isn’t helped by the fact that I’m also embarking on a new adventure this year… going back to school for the first time in 16 years.

*aaaack*

Yes.  In a little over two weeks, I will officially be a graduate student.  Suffice it to say that I likely will be replacing my crafty time with studying and homework.  I’m scared sh*tless to add student to my profile of 37-year old full-time working mom of two very busy chicks but it’s now or never, and I finally got the cojones to just do it already.

Lest you think there will be no projects going on at the home.made. casa, I can assure you that while my plate will be full, my to-do list won’t be going away.  I still have trim to paint, cabinets to paint, curtains to hang, closets to organize, etc.  DIYers gonna DIY.  I can’t promise a lot of updates other than instagram, so follow along there if you’re interested.

So there you go.  It’s gonna be a wild year.  I don’t know if I’m more excited or frightened, but either way, here we go.

Bring it, 2015.