"New" Coffee Table

While looking for lamps and other hidden treasures, I stumbled across this Broyhill gem in a local resale shop. Yup, you heard me, a heavy solid oak, Broyhill coffee table for $40. Granted more than I would normally pay, but stable enough for any "children" dancing or climbing on top!


You can see from the picture that the original finish was pretty shot, but it didn't matter to me because "honey oak" and I aren't close friends! Someone had tried to repair the damage by using a dark gel stain applied over the dings and scratches, but it didn't really help the cause! After attacking the surface with the palm sander to rough up the finish, I primed the entire surface with Kilz, my primer of choice. That stuff will cover anything!


As a result of my "blurfing" (blog-surfing) I have fallen in love with the look of two tone paint. My favorite look is the lighter color on the table base and the darker top. Now where to get the paint... Best place to look is in my supply room/dining room. Being the cheapskate I am, the bottom color is my ceiling color and the top is the color of my accent walls. (Can you tell I had extra paint??) After getting all of the paint on and finishing the surface I decided it needed something else. I know, big shock that I wasn't happy... (I rarely like my projects the first, second or third time through.) The problem came with the need for an accent on the table top that was subtle, but would break up all that brown and wouldn't compete with anything on the top of the table.


After checking out all of my Cricut cartridges, I found a simple swirly design that I cut out of transfer tape. Using an almost dry brush, I dabbed on yet another color of wall paint into my "stencil." Repeated four times on the edges of the table, the design gives me just the right look without screaming "LOOK AT ME!" My next step was to bite the bullet and take the palm sander to my table. I figured better for me to break it in now than stress when something happened to the finish later.


Notice the finished coffee table is still lacking a little something. All that work and it still wasn't finished...


After much deliberation at Anthropologie, including 2 trips to the back room for the sweet and very patient clerk, Mom and I settled on these knobs. The original knob had a silver center, but my spray paint addiction reared its head! Notice the centers are now a chocolate brown to go with my other accents. Check out the difference from the original Anthropologie knobs and the tweaked version. Subtle, but in person it makes a difference. Let me know what you think!





Alas, as I write this post, I've discovered that I don't have a picture of the finished table with the knobs. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, but since I'm sitting 987 miles from my living room, I can't just snap a picture. So, as soon as I'm back home, I'll update this post with a pic!