I had decided to make a new table from another curb find I had in my stash, I had gone as far as cutting down a door to be the top of the new coffee table.
When we left off I had decided to stain the top dark and lighten the piece up by painting the bottom white.
I was trying to figure out how to keep some of the natural grain on the veneer but still have the piece be light in color because my living room is so dark.
My original vision had the drawer fronts stained and the body of the piece white.
That’s where we left off.
First up, a good sanding on all surfaces.
I selected the “Olde Walnut” gel stain from my stash of paints.
I applied it to the door and loved the look, it really brought out the beautiful wood grain.
Without thinking twice I started to rub the gel stain on the bottom of the piece.
It looked beautiful!
There was no way at that point I was going to cover this piece with paint.
Just look at how the wood grain pops now!
This next picture shows the difference between the natural color (bottom drawer) and the “enriched with stain” color.
It made such a dramatic difference!
This is the view from the back. (sorry about the glare)
I wanted to preserve the factory stamped and stenciled numbers, so I left it plain and just added a couple coats of poly.
After adding 2 coats of polyurethane to the entire piece I was ready to take it upstairs to the living room.
Now for the finishing touches.
This is the original knob and backplate that was on this door when I found it at the curb.
It had to go back on to complete the look.
Can you believe somebody parted with this?
I love the way it looks. Too bad I couldn’t find all the original screws.
I’m still hoping to find them in the basement someday.
The chunky wooden knobs on the drawers were swapped out for these round metal ring pulls.
I had bought 6 of them for a dollar at a garage sale last year.
Somehow I think the dogs won’t be able to chew on these!
(That’s Sandy in the background on the couch, overseeing my photoshoot)
I then cut plexiglass to size to fit the panels. The one thing Mike insisted upon was a flat surface for eating!
I chose the place because it’s easy to pop out for cleaning underneath.
The real glass would have been tricky to move.
The curves on the front of this piece just blow me away!
The remotes and Playstation accessories fit nicely in the top drawers.
And several of my blankies can be stashed in the large bottom drawer!
So that’s my new coffee table.
It’s not the way I had envisioned when I first started to work on it, but I truly believe this is the way it was meant to be.
The total cost for this new coffee table? $9
That’s $8 for the plexiglass and $1 for the drawer pulls.
The gel stain and poly were a dollar each at Real Deals but I had already used them on several projects so I’m not counting them.
