Good morning my lovely blog followers! Can I just say that I looked at my site stats and had 23 views yesterday alone…SAY WHAT! I was laughing when I told Reid because I was convinced it was just my family that had any interest in my babbling 😉 That may seem like a very small number of views to some of the well-establish bloggers but I was quite surprised and grateful for all of you that take the time to read my posts! Since I am new to the blogging game, I would love all of your feedback and input!
Alright, time to get this coffee table post started! As you know, we recently completed a remodel of the main area of our house, light grey walls, white backsplash, white cabinets and updated or refurbished furniture! It’s all coming together perfectly. The one thing that was driving me crazy (okay let’s be real there’s always more than one thing) was our old brown couches in the living area. They have served us well but it was time to step our lounge game up! After years of begging, my lovely husband agreed to look at leather couches. Leather is a big step up in price but for our hot mess of a family, totally worth the extra splurge. Our puppy Willie lives in a mud puddle, our older lab Daisy sheds more than Chewbacca and Auggie is a baby and well..you get the gist. So far, I am VERY pleased with how little maintenance leather requires! Now if only I can keep the dogs from creeping on our neighbors from the ledge of the leather couch…Am I asking too much? The point is, with the new leather couches came the need for a coffee table to match the theme of the main hang area. As usual, I stalked Pinterest and came across this design from the one and only Ana White. That lady is a furniture building goddess! The plans to the X-coffee table are found here.
What you need to know for our specific version:
Reid made 45 degree miter cuts on the top to frame it in for a more finished look. You can see in the Ana White plans that she went for a more rustic unfinished look which is gorgeous as well, it just depends what you’re looking for. The lumber used for the top of the table were 2×6 stud wood from Home Depot. 1/8 of an inch was taken off each side of those pieces in order for the wood to have nice square corners.
The bottom part of X-coffee table is two 1×12 common boards and the supported sides are 2×2 while the ends are 2×4.
Metal L brackets were used on the corners of the table and sprayed with Rustoleum oil rubbed bronze paint. Make sure to sand the metal well with 220 grit paper before spraying so that the paint will adhere.
Stain: One coat of Minwax oil based Special Walnut was painted on with a soft bristle brush and wiped off almost immediately, this particular stain is very dark. The next layer was Minwax oil based weathered oak; let this sit for 5 minutes then wipe off. The stain will look pretty dark at this stage, if you prefer this go ahead and leave it as is. We were looking for some slight grey undertones so Reid slowly blended in white paint with a clean painters rag. It was then sanded down with 220 grit sandpaper with an orbital sander. Let sit for 24 hours for the stain to fully dry. Finally it was finished with 3 coats of Minwax polycrylic clear satin sheen and hand sanded with 220 grit paper in between coats.
And voila! You get a gorgeous looking coffee table for under $100!
Here’s where I come into play…Decor! Auggie and I had a lot of fun cruising up and down the home aisle’s yesterday! I am always on the lookout for a good deal. I found these baskets at Target, just really simple grey plastic baskets for $12.99 a pop. I was looking for something to blend well but mainly hide all of Auggie’s books and toys. Quite sneaky I am 😉 I love the look of hardback books stacked on a coffee table. (Magazines are superb as well!) Since we love all things about music and have an array of instruments around our house, I thought what better books to display than musical ones. Next up, flowers! I don’t know what it is about fresh flowers but they have a way of making your day a little bit brighter! The white vase holding the daffodils is from West Elm. The mini blue vases I got as a gift a while ago and was excited to be able to put them to use with some faux flowers from Hobby Lobby. One of my favorite spots for vases is West Elm. If you are looking for some fun vases to add some zest to your room this would lead you in the right direction.
Moving on to the left side of the table we have the canisters. The white canisters are actually for coffee but I really dug the look of the white with the wood to tie in the table. The white bird with a wooden rocker to match the theme is the dream! Also found at West Elm. I found the succulent in the bronze holder for under $5 at Target, they had tons of great options for plant terrariums. I think greenery always adds some warmth. The tiny hedgehog may be my favorite touch..he’s actually a pepper shaker found at Target. Oh yes…and I’m sure you are wondering where are Good Morning mugs are from (I am obsessed!) I found them at World Market a few years back and I was still able to find them here.
Grey leather couches are made by Ashley Furniture but I found them on Wayfair for waaay cheaper! Throw pillows are all from Target (all on sale right now), and 5×7 accent rug is Threshold brand from Target.
I hope you enjoyed this post….I am happy to answer any further questions. I’m really trying to work my magic on Reid building me my dream farmhouse dining room table but batting my eyelashes and using our stinkin’ adorable baby as bait only gets me so far. He told me he would consider it if he could buy his mega-expensive Fender electric guitar. Now talk about compromise!
If we’re lucky…you’ll be getting a dining table post sometime in the near future.
I have posted more thumbnail photos of the building process as well as some family updates down below. As for now, I am going to go enjoy this beautiful sunny weather! Us Washingtonians have to take advantage of any Vitamin D we can 🙂 Thanks for checking in, looking forward to sharing more with you soon!
Sincerely,
The Smith’s
