Days and Nights of the Round Table...

When I sold my house, my rickety redwood patio table went straight to the dumpster instead of the moving truck. But now we had a large deck and no table.
We settled on looking for a round glass table that could seat 4-6 and started searching on CL for patio furniture in November (go figure).

We found a listing on CL for a patio set that someone wanted out of their storage unit, stat! Incredibly, they were only asking $50 for the dining table, a smaller side table and 4 cushioned chairs. Everything was in great condition, but the table had an attached lazy-susan in the middle, which I didn't really care for. And, we had no use for the 4 chairs which were bulky and looked like they came off the bridge of the USS Enterprise. Besides, I had already purchased 6 nice, trim chairs earlier in the summer just after the 4th of July when they were marked down 50%.  We loaded everything up and figured we would make it all work somehow.

Table after we removed the center lazy susan

Well, we paired the 4 unwanted chairs with my husband's old square glass patio table and sold that set at a garage sale for $50, so our table was basically free. We were able to remove the lazy-susan, which now left the white frosted glass top to be dealt with.
My first attempt of spray painting the underside of the table with black outdoor furniture paint didn't turn out well, so next I painted the top of the table with an outdoor rated hammered metal textured paint by Rustoleum. This was some pretty crazy paint and a little tricky to work with (save some brain cells and try not to breathe while painting with this!) but it gave me an interesting matte textured look once it was completed.

What I learned from this project:

1. There are a number of interesting paints with different textures that I had no idea existed. Go to the hardware store and check out what's out there!
2. Shop off season: we likely got a great deal on this table since it was November and not a lot of people were in the market for a patio set close to Thanksgiving.

Irons and Woods...

I already owned a coffee table but it proved to be too small for our new living room so we started shopping around for a replacement. While shopping in a home store one Saturday, dreaming of just pulling up stakes and living on their second floor, we saw a coffee table and matching étagère with a metal base and wood plank top that was perfect. Perfect, except for the price. Each piece was $700 and even at that price the bookshelf was still too small for our living room.

One day my husband found a listing on Craigslist by someone who was selling some reclaimed white cedar planks. They were weathered and dirty, but in sound condition. We bought five 10 foot planks that were almost 2" thick and about 9" wide for a total of $85. Then he made detailed drawings of the two pieces that we saw in the home store and took them to a welder his brother had used previously. The welder charged us $600 total to fabricate a 4' x 2.5' iron table base and a 7' tall bookshelf frame. He did an awesome job!

   Once the frames were completed, my husband         trimmed and sanded the boards so that the planks  would fit snugly. He polyurethaned the boards with
   a matte finish which really warmed up the wood and brought out the grain. Since the frames were raw iron, I spray painted them matte black to give them a more finished look. So, for half the price of the furniture store items we were able to get two custom pieces that exactly fit our living room.

  

Now that our new coffee table was in place, I posted my old coffee table on Craigslist and sold it for $75.

P.S. We also found the multi-colored area rug that's under the table on Craigslist for $50.

What I learned from this project:

1. There are craftsmen out there to help you realize your projects if you can't do everything yourself.

2. When to just step back and let my husband do his thing - he managed this project all the way.

3. Now he wants to learn how to weld.

Lighting the way...

Do NOT buy lamps that
look like this, please.

Sometimes you get lucky enough that your Craigslist find is just perfect the way it is - no alterations needed. That's what happened with a pair of lamps I found for my guestroom. There are lamps aplenty posted on CL, but many are ginger jar 80's bad.

Be patient and don't expect to find the perfect item right away. On a Sunday during my search,  I traded emails back and forth with the seller. He was selling an entire living room of furniture for a house he had staged.  I was happy to buy a pair of lamps at his asking price of $25 each. They had all the characteristics I was looking for - tall, contemporary style, and white drum shades.
The espresso color worked, so I didn't even need to paint the bases. What? I don't get to paint?? Crap.
So, what did I do? I set them on their nightstands, plugged them in...and I was done. Sometimes it's as easy as that.

What I learned from this project:

1. Nothing.

2. Ok, actually, I learned I get a little disappointed when I don't need to alter a Craigslist find.

3. BUT WAIT...

After a year or so, I got the itch to give the room a little color jolt. I replaced the comforter and hung a photograph of some tulips over the bed and then thought it would be fun to repeat a bit of the coral-y pink from the photo in the lamp bases...so, I painted them (with a free sample courtesy of Valspar from Lowe's, btw). I also repainted a small dresser that was in another room and use it as a bedside table, but I'll save that for another post.

What I learned from this project:
1. The pink color paint required 3 coats to give me a nice smooth finish, since paints with red tones usually have less pigment and provide less coverage.
2. This pop of color really livens up the room.
3. I needed to alter my Craigslist find after all!



Deluxe redux...

Just outside our bedroom was an odd little alcove at the top of the stairs. It was about 3 feet wide and we didn't know what to do with that space at first. Put a plant there? A chair that no one would ever use? A kegerator?

Mid Century Mad Men

When my girlfriend saw it she suggested we use the space for our CD player. It would be out of sight, but still accessible. I loved that idea and started casting about for something to set it on. I didn't have to look far, since I already had a Craigslist acquisition that wasn't really working in a different room of the house. Mid century modern is a hot look right now,  but there are a lot of pieces on CL that can be had for a song. Earlier, I had been looking for a couple of small storage pieces for my dining room and found a CL listing for two small mid century dressers that were going for $10 each, an incredible deal! 

When we went to pick them up, the guy was so happy to be rid of them he actually gave them to us for free! But, in reality, they never truly fit the space in the dining room. We sold the taller piece after a couple of months, but the shorter dresser was a perfect fit for the space outside the bedroom. Also, its 3 drawers were ideal for storing CD's. The wood finish was a little beat up, but with some high gloss apple green paint slathered on it - this mid century dresser now sported a 21st century look.

What I learned from this project...
1. It pays to look around your house and see if something you already have will work better somewhere else.
2. Pay no attention to the guy at the paint counter when he says "We don't get many people who pick this color."