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.