Family Room Update- Coffee table

After we purchased the new couch, it was clear that we'd also need a new coffee table.  While we love our leather coffee table, it was just too short- something I hadn't thought of when ordering the couch!  Plus the old table would be great up in the media room to store movies in (it has GREAT storage space!)

I decided to keep an eye on the sales, and wait for the right table to come along, since we weren't in a rush. Back in April, I came across this on Joss & Main... and Mike loved it too!

It fit all of our criteria:
-A bit rustic, to go with the room...  It's made out of reclaimed wood & iron.

Legs of the table

Drawer knobs

-Will hold up well to heavy use... the weathered texture of the reclaimed wood means I don't have to stress about it getting scratched.

Top of the table

-Storage... the lower shelf & drawers are perfect for magazines, coasters, remotes.

Here it is in front of the new couch...

And the Family Room now looks like this...

From the doorway

Reverse- from the side of the fireplace

Here's a quick comparison shot (including the couch update)

Next up is getting rid of that green loveseat.  We took advantage of a Memorial Day sale, and got something for there ordered and being delivered later in the month!

Dining Room Table- Watermark removal

We bought our dining room table back when we first bought our old house.
It was a great deal- something like $350 for the table (with three leaves), the hutch, the buffet, and two chairs.

In the 11 years since, it's gotten a lot of use...
& has some scars to prove it!

There are a couple of marks from water or heat (I have a table pad on it most of the time, but somehow it still happened!)

I'd tried several methods to remove them... mayo, lemon oil, etc.  None of them worked for me.

A few months ago, I read this post on Young House Love about buffing a piece of furniture with a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser.

It sounded like a great idea, and I figured it was worth a shot, with nothing to lose since I've been keeping the table under a tablecloth.


Here's the step-by-step:

Looking better after the Magic Eraser!

1- using a slightly damp Magic Eraser, scrub the table top.

I made sure to go in the direction of the wood grain, just in case the Eraser left small scratches (happily, it didn't!)

I had to use a bit of pressure on the white water marks, but they did come up!

The water marks were removed, & the scratches were minimized.  However, there was a film left behind, so I took a damp rag and wiped it down.




2- Old English wood stain... I use this a LOT- on the wood banister, my bedroom furniture, plus any other antique furniture I pick up at yardsales!

Using an old rag (or a paper towel) pour on & rub into the wood.  This stain fills in scratches & they pretty much disappear from view!

Note that there are 2 colors of the Old English stain.  Even though this wood is a medium tone, I used the darker stain.  I think you'd use the light for oak.



3- The table was looking really good now, but after letting it sit for a while (so any residual stain would dry) the wood itself seemed a bit dry.

Which leads me to Scott's Liquid Gold...
This stuff is great- It really brings the wood back to life!
It's similar to Pledge or other furniture polishes, but adds so much more moisture to the wood.


Here's the finished table...

Reverse shot

Now I need to go back and use the Old English on the table legs & chairs!

If you look in the background of that last photo, you can see a box in the background, on the floor of the family room- more on that delivery here!

Close up of the stain & polish I used.

Pumping Iron

These pieces of wrought iron were originally balcony railings! 

We were living in our old house at the time, and loved how they would look on our slate patio.  So we decided we to them into an outdoor table & buffet.  Mike removed the bottom bars off all three pieces, and then bolted two of the frames together to form the table.  The other frame we left single- to be the buffet.   

The big question was: What were we going to use for the tops? 
Mike's father came up with the idea of  concrete.  We figured these would hold up well outside, and they did!  Mike & his dad built molds & poured the concrete.  Everything turned out really nice!
  

Hard to see with the chairs in there!



The buffet in the background

One thing we didn't plan on was how we were going to move them (we weren't thinking that far ahead!)

They were HEAVY.  I mean HEAVY...

As in five strong men, a hand-truck & a dolly couldn't get them onto the moving truck!

Mike's brother had the quote of the day with "Only my brother would be trying to move cement!  And why do I have a feeling that my dad had something to do with this?" 

Needless to say, the table tops didn't make the move!

Let me pause here to say- we owe our friends & family BIG TIME for helping us with the move!  We had a seemingly endless amount of furniture & boxes... plus a baby grand piano... and in the pouring rain!


SO grateful for these guys! 
(Plus my brother- don't know where he went off to during the photo op!)

Now back to the yard furniture.

So, here we are left figuring out what to top them with... again. 

I'm hesitant to do another round of cement. 
Not that we're planning to move anytime soon- but I would like the option of moving it around to different spots in the yard without hiring an elephant!



I've considered glass, but worry about safety with the kiddos.  Perhaps we'll wait until we're selecting the stone for our new kitchen counters & see if we can get a deal for ordering it all together.  I love a good deal!
Any ideas are welcome!  Just keep in mind that it needs to be all-season (or at least able to be left outdoors for the spring & summer).



Before

After

In the meantime, as much as I liked the patina that was developing, I wanted a more crisp & clean look.  

Being topless (ahem- the tables) gave me the opportunity to re-painted the iron. 
I also touched up all of our other wrought iron yard furniture, while I had the black spray paint out.



So, another project stands half-complete.

I have dreams of hosting lawn parties (or more likely kids' parties) and creating brightly colored table skirts to go behind the iron.  Party planning- my second passion!