Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Decisions, Decisions

To quote the band Gomez, "at least I've got options."

You see, last year, after more than seven years in this house, I finally put a table in my kitchen. I'm embarrassed to admit it, but as a single girl, I usually just eat in the living room, often in front of the TV. Then I fell in love ... with a cool, used butcher block-like round table top at a local restaurant supply warehouse. They wanted $50 for it, which seemed a little pricey to me, but it was so solid and in great shape. Plus, it easily fit in the back of my Rav4, so I assumed it was destiny and brought it home. I thought I might go the "diner" route and use a black metal base to finish it out. After all, it was a cheap option, readily available, and I could always paint it. Here's what that looked like:


Then, just a week or two later, I stumbled upon an oak pedestal base at an out-of-the-way antique shop. It was languishing on the porch and they let me have it for the bargain price of $25. So for $75 total I would have a pedestal table that was less than half of any I had found online, and it was smaller, which was a bonus because my cottage kitchen stretches the definition of "eat in." The metal base was out. This was definitely the way to go:


Now I just needed to paint it. I used a gray primer and then tried several different colors of aqua before finding the right one. Next up I distressed the table a bit with my palm sander to get the wood and the primer to show through in spots. After that, I rubbed in a gray-tinted glaze, wiping most of it off. (Confession time: I didn't want to buy more paint and didn't have any gray, so I actually just mixed some of my gray primer with a glaze base and it worked fine). I finished with a coat of poly. I'm usually too lazy impatient to seal my painted pieces, but I knew that a kitchen table would get a lot of wear, so I took the time. Here's the result of all my hard work:


I know, right? Even I was surprised by how much I loved it. If you're an observant reader, you might have noticed that I just used the past tense to describe my feelings for my table. That was no mistake. I still really like it, but now I'm thinking maybe we should just be friends. You see, a new table came on the scene this week. It's a teeny, tiny bit bigger, has an apron (which makes it look more finished) and really cute curvy legs, not to mention the tiniest casters ever (Confession #2: I'm obsessed with furniture on wheels).

I won this amazing pedestal table in an online auction for $80 and I'm definitely in love. This find was a little harder to get in the Rav (it involved sweet-talking a biker into letting me borrow his Swiss army knife to undo a few bolts and take it apart before it would fit), but nothing comes between me and a great find. I'll end the suspense now and show you a picture:


Of course, I don't need two tables, so I'm planning to sell one in my antique booth and keep the other. At this point, I'm definitely leaning toward keeping my new find and selling the painted table. Then I'll paint the newcomer, most likely the same hue as it's predecessor.

So what do you think? Am I crazy? Are you secretly pulling for table #1 to stay put? What color would you paint my new find (or would you leave it unpainted)? Inquiring minds want to know.

2 comments:

  1. I LOVE the one you have now, but love the new one even more. Time for a change, same or similar colors on the new acquisition - and send the other one off to be sold for someone else to enjoy like you have. Good Luck!!

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  2. Hmm... First of all they are so similar! You are crazy! 2nd I think I like the first. Who knows? You might jazz it up and I'll think it's cooler. I do want to watch you use your sprayer.

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