They had me at free.

I am not one to turn a blind eye to a free listing on Craig's List, so when I found this table listed- in the town where I live- for zero dollars and zero cents, I emailed the seller faster than you can say, "I am addicted to free wood furniture!".  That afternoon, this beauty came home with me.

She's amazing, huh?  I think it's pretty clear that she had been used as the family's craft table.  It is a light weight pine table (I think from Ikea).  It had been finished with a honey color stain and had some type of poly on top.  And, on top of that was the finger paints, markers, etc.  :)  This baby was well used!

I have been keeping a close eye on Craig's List postings for a new table for my craft room/office.  I had a very large and very nice table in there that has been functioning quite well.  But, aside from the table being a touch too big for the room, it has has one major flaw:  it is super high maintenance.  It's made of very soft wood- teak and some others, so you cannot even write on the table without leaving behind a permanent note in the table top.  Not great for a surface that needs to stand up to sewing and crafting and general creativity.  And, the wood has absolutely NO protective finish.  Any moisture for any amount of time on the surface of this table leaves a permanent mark.  So, really it's not a good fit for my office/craft space.  But, this little table seemed perfect!

I got started that very day with sanding off the old finish.  This step always takes longer than I think it should.

 

 

 

 But, after several days of working for a few minutes after work between walking the dogs and making dinner, she was looking much better.

 

And, the legs were, too.  They got a couple coats of a light blue paint I had sitting around from a bedroom two houses ago.  From there, I used my Minwax stain in Jacobean, and couple coats of polycrylic to make sure this girl is up for the task of being my craft room table.

 

 

 

And then comes my favorite part:  getting her all set up and staged for photos.  

 

So, it turns out that after all of that, I have decided that she is a little bit too small!  I did some sewing, and I managed to get by, but I could have used more room.  And, when the sewing machine is fully set up with the sewing platform thingy (you can really tell what a serious sewer I am by the fact that I don't know the official names for any parts of the machine), it's a tight squeeze with the lamp and my laptop.  But, it's fine for now, and I do love the way she turned out.

So, after all of that, I am on the hunt for a craft room table again, haha!  I guess the silver lining, though, is that the smaller table means that I could fit this wicker chair in the corner.  It had previously been in an unused corner of the basement, and it's my new blogging spot.  It's comfy, and I just love using this area of my house in a way I've never used it.  These are the exactly types of little changes that I love to make around here to keep things fresh.

Oh, and I almost forgot:  a cost run-down.  This makeover was brought to you courtesy of zero point zero dollars, because I had all of the materials on hand.  And, that makes this thrifty DIY'er very, very happy.
xo,

Emily

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