January Sanctuary - Day Sixteen

Big project today. With the shift to a beach theme, I needed to rethink my coffee table. I had a traditional cherry wood coffee table with glass inserts. Not quite my style anymore. I needed some inspiration, and came across this table online. I loved the bold color, the unexpected use of paint chips, and that it's made of re-used pieces.

My inspiration from this page.



The before. Two traditional cherry wood end tables.



Supplies including the best toffee decaf latte ever.

I cut 6 inches from each leg using a handsaw. The end tables were too high to serve as a coffee table.
Left: After cut and sand. Right: The before.
I used a power sander to roughen up all the surfaces then vacuumed and cleaned each table.

I painted in the park just steps from home.
This is after the first coat of primer. Looks terrible, doesn't it?

After the first coat of white semi-gloss spray paint.

The advantage to painting in my nearby park - seeing the sunset against palm trees.

5 hours later, the tables are on their final dry phase.

Fast recap. It took me:

• 5 hours
• 2 cans of primer
• 4 cans of white semi-gloss
• 2 calls to my Dad in Illinois (thanks Dad!)
• 5 trips to the hardware store (thankfully it's just two short blocks away)

Later this week, I'll add the paint chips and mod podge to seal the tops. This was a major project and spontaneous given I just found the inspiration photo last night. I hope it all comes together the way I'm envisioning.

Park Perk: It was fun to talk with neighbors that stopped by and people walking their dogs. Everyone was so nice, helpful and encouraging! One neighbor who I just met helped me carry the tables back home - how nice!


"I am always doing things I can't do, that's how I get to do them.”
                                                                                               - Picasso


Click here for an update showing the addition of the paint samples.