Winter projects: DONE

3.16.09

My sister in law Karla told me once she always had to have a January project so she didn't get bored after Christmas was over. I copied her idea. I turned an unused doorway (by our south door) into bookshelves in January. I LOVE how they turned out! This was an easy project that only took one weekend. It opened up all kinds of space in our family room because we took out the old bookshelves and made room for a loveseat.






Then February came and winter still wasn't over so I decided to start a new project. We got rid of a couch we bought at DI when we were first married. It was 80's, very ugly and full of potato chips. It served us well for 10 years, but really, I was tired of looking at it and sitting on it. We moved more furniture around until we had an open space where our table used to be. Suddenly I needed a new table.

And since I love ya all, you get to hear the long version of the story!

I went shopping for dining room sets. I really loved the counter high table and bar stools that are poplular right now, and I decided a small one would work perfectly in our dining nook that no longer had furniture in it. They were priced anywhere from $200 to $800 (and up), but I was starting to get a little bit fussy about what I wanted. I love the tables that have brown wood grain tops and black bottoms and legs. I wanted it to be small to fit in our nook. I like the square shaped ones but the space isn't wide enough to walk to the bathroom by it, so I decided rectangle would give us more space to walk by.

I found one table that would have worked well, but I didn't like the barstools that came with it. The furniture people wouldn't sell just the table. The same thing happened at several furniture stores.... I decided the furniture stores must make their money on the CHAIRS, not the TABLES. They will sell you any chair or stool you want, but if you want a table, you have to buy the set it comes with. No mixing and matching.

WHAT THE HECK FUN IS THAT????

So I got fed up with the furniture people. I decided I could build a table just as easy as any of them, dangit! And then I could pick any stool I wanted to match it.

So that's exactly what I did. I bought a bunch of wood. I cut it, I screwed and glued it all together, I painted it, and what do ya know, it ended up to be a table.

Then I bought the exact barstools I wanted to match. HA! I REALLY SHOWED THOSE FURNITURE PEOPLE! I never could have done it without borrowing Trisha's clamps for a month though. Thanks so much Trish & Jon!

I am totally happy with how it turned out. I love it. We haven't eaten at our old table now since the new one was finished. We even crammed 6 people around it on Sunday just for fun.

I looked outside today and even though we still have a little snow, I see some little tulips and dafodills trying to poke up out of the ground. I think this will be my last winter project. Until next year.