Coffee (Table) Love!

I heart coffee. I know that’s no surprise but I just wanted to get it out there. So anything that goes with coffee is an automatic for me…like donuts, funny mugs, and TABLES!

As chronic movers (we’ve moved12 times in 10 years), we’ve never before acquired a coffee table…but seeing as how we’re real grown ups now with a real house (I realize how incredibly immature that sounds), we need a coffee table.

Yes, I said NEED. Note: we don’t yet have a dining room table to eat at or a place to pile up the thousands of magazines I still need to read through. (Yes, I realize how ironic a stack of thousands of magazines might seem to you given that my hubby is a firefighter.)

So, on a day when I wasn’t even looking for one, I spotted this super fugly coffee table at  thrift store for $17.50.

Yes! Only $17.50. Sure it was fugly, but at that price, who was I to complain? I figured we can use it until we find the one we really want.

So I took ‘er home. I’m afraid that the before-and-after effect will be less dramatic because, well, I forgot to take a before shot. I know! Bad blogger! But here’s shot of the top the I snapped while I was sanding it down:

I also pried off weird wooden appliques that looked like shells and used a chisel to scrape off bits of remaining glue and sanded it all down nice and smooth.

I used all the tools suggested by Chris over at Just a Girl blog (her painting furniture tutorial is here)

I used the paint she suggested, too (even though it was spendy, but she’s right…it was worth it!).

I rested the table on paint cans so I could get all angles of it and so that it wouldn’t stick to the ground. After a good TSP cleaning and a light sanding, it was ready for primer. I used Kilz.

After two good coats of the Benjamin Moore Metal & Wood Enamel (and overnight drying), she was ready to be capped with her custom-cut glass top.

What’ya think? A little cottagey for our taste, yes, but it was only $17.50! Plus, the bright white paint and the reflective glass top really lighten up the room.

Now those of you with eagle eyes surely spotted the curtain fabric hanging behind the couch. I just pinned it up quickly to make sure I love the fabric in person as much as I did in my head when I purchased it online.

See the selvage edge? I’ll get to sewing them up soon. In the meantime, one more look at my revived thrift store coffee table:

Now I just need someone to bring me coffee! (hint, hint)

Have a great weekend!

Teresa