Monday, November 30, 2015

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.

Wood and White Coffee Table

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

Cottage Country Living Room with Brown Leather Sofas | 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.

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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.

Wood Stained Coffee Table

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.

Coffee table Wood and White

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.

Coffee Table Redo

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.

Round Coffee Table with Chaise Sofa

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!

Monday, November 2, 2015

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!