Refinished Table

Hello All! I hope your week is going well. We've been really busy lately, so I've been a little absent, but I'm trying to catch up! Thanks for all your comments, I promise I'll respond to them soon (make sure you're not a no-reply blogger)!

We've been working on a few things around the house to maximize the space we have (our house is small). So we've been moving some furniture around and trying to get creative. One thing we wanted to do was create a more usable eating area. Our house does not have a separate dining room, and we've had a dining set from Ikea in our house, which I love, but it just didn't work perfectly for the space. We decided we wanted to make more of a nook area with an L-shaped bench and a pedestal table to be able to use more of the space.

My parents found these two old restaurant tables at the Restore near them (for $7 total!!), and Handy Andy said we could make them work by putting them together and covering them with wooden planks to give it a nicer look. Have I mentioned that my husband is handy? Oh, I have... :)

Here's what we started with:

Handy Andy used a board to fasten the tables together from the bottom. We chose some tongue and groove wood flooring for the table top (the box was about $50). Andy started by putting two planks on each end of the table going along the shorter side. Then he nailed planks going the long way between the end pieces.

After the top was finished, Handy Andy nailed trim along the sides of the table to finish it off. It's not quite finished yet, we're going to distress and sad the top to give it a weathered look. Then we'll seal it with shellac. But here it is for now...

I absolutely love this table - it is so beautiful! It'll be fun to distress and finish. Total, we spent about $60 on this project, which is a great price for a piece that perfectly fits our needs/space and is so beautiful!

Handy Andy has also made one of the benches for the table. He will made one more longer one, and then we will sand and finish those off as well. He made this bench with materials he already had!

Well that's part of what we've been doing around here lately. I hope you're having a productive week!

Thanks for stopping by!

Extreme Home Makeover - Handy Andy Edition

Handy Andy and I bought a house about a year and a half ago. I knew Handy Andy was handy before this, but it was after we bought our house that I really saw the full extent of his handiness.

Our house was a hole when we bought it. A hole. After we closed on the house, we spent two weeks cleaning, painting, reflooring, cleaning, replacing the furnace (it went out 2 days after we closed, that was fun - in February), and more cleaning. I'll share more pictures of it later, especially since Handy Andy is in the middle of residing it right now. But, I wanted to share a snapshot before-and-after of one angle of the living room for you. Just in case you are in need of some inspiration.

Yes, I promise you, that is the exact same room. Can't you tell by the grimy door that still needs to be painted?

Anyway, we've (mostly Handy Andy) done a lot to the house to make it this beautiful. The short list includes paint, new floors (hardwood, carpet and tile), custom base and window trim, re-insulated attic, new tile counter top (and back splash - in progress), counter top extension (the washer and dryer used to be in the kitchen), new appliances,  and a double-wide opening cut in the wall between the kitchen and living room. Again, this is the short list. I'll keep sharing bits and pieces of our hole-turned-home as I go, just to keep reminding you of how truly handy my Handy Andy is.

Thanks for reading. I hope you are inspired to make something beautiful! :)