Beautiful rug was made by a friend.  She doesn't make them anymore but you can check out her blog here: wanderers hearth

As you can see the table used to have a glass top. I had dreams of a black metal framed table with a gorgeous stained wood top. I gave myself my budget and started searching the internets. My budget for the whole table start to finish was 80. Which meant the frame had to be cheap because the wood would not be. The ones online are well over $150 so this was going to be a challenge.

I finally settled on this table. I got it from a guy on craigslist who was probably the biggest pot head EVER. He had it listed for $50. I offered $30 he said ok. For some odd reason when I went to pick it up, I completely forgot to stop and get cash so all I had was $20 and he was more than happy to give it to me ha ha!

SO I loaded it up. Mind you, the evening I picked it up, I was watching my friends little boy while she was in the hospital on bed rest with her last pregnancy. He had a tendency to get carsick in my car. So I used that as my excuse of why I forgot to get cash because I had to stop on the side of the road and clean up vomit all over my car. Plus I now had a naked kid in a carseat with me. He was either too high to care or just felt bad for me. Either way it worked in my favor.

I got the table home and realized it was a table for little people. Sitting on the floor it went to the middle of my shins. I instantly ran to home depot because I knew this wouldn't work for me and purchased some casters to attach to the bottom. Sadly since this was such a fast project I have no photos of that process or a price point. They were super easy to attach though and once I added them it added a good 4 inches to the table and I was pleased.

final choice

My personal shopper at home depot

The board before I glued them.

Originally I planned on having a reclaimed wood top for the table. But after visiting a local wood shop and pricing it out I realized that was not at all in my budget. I told myself I would just do it at a later date if I loved the table enough. So I went back to home depot with my measurements and pieced together some finished boards and asked them to cut them to the length I needed. Grabbed some wood glue and headed home.

The next phase of this project still makes me laugh and had I not spilled soda on my computer I would have the photos to prove the hilarity in it hall. You will just have to take my word for it.  When I have a project in mind I do not like to take my time on them. I NEED them done as soon as I start it or it will drive me crazy unfinished. The thought of waiting and doing it like any real craftsman would just wasn't an option. I laid wax paper of the glass top of the table, put glue on the side of the boards and pieced them together. Laid it down on top of the table the way I liked it and hoped for the best. The guy at home depot tried to convince me to buy clamps for the next part because the wood needed to be held in place while the glue dried or it would now dry flat and even. I humored him and walked over the the isle that sold the clamps. Saw the price of them and left without them as fast as I could. CLAMPS were not in my budget- so what is the next best thing? FLOWER POTS AND CINDER BLOCKS!

You heard that right. For 48 hours I had two cinder blocks and two 15 pound giant outdoor planters full of mums sitting on my coffee table weighing the boards down until the glue dried. While a couple of the boards are not 100% flat in some parts, for the most part- I have to say my plan worked!

After this, I let it sit for a few days until I decided what I wanted to do with stain. As I mentioned before my original plan was to have a black metal framed table and reclaimed wood on top. Looking at my living room I realized how much the black frame would stand out and decided to leave it silver. This meant I needed a good stain that would match the silver and not be too match to my mantle boards. Sadly I do not remember what color I chose, but it was a nice grayish Minwax stain.

I have to say it turned out pretty great and I get compliments on it quite often. I love looking back at these pieces and smiling at the process that was to get them where they are now. To me, that is way better than buying it from the store and being in the pore house ;).   I hope you enjoyed this post. Stay tuned for more!