So this is my livingroom and we really do live in it. Yes, I set the table every night because I cook almost every night (infact, my Fancy seems to think he has his own private chef, but I'll rant about that another day). One of the things you'll hear nightly in our casa is, "Do we really have to set the table, again...", then I answer him, "Yes, if we are going to eat dinner on the floor in front of the television set then I need to have this one concession..." So there! I know what you are thinking, you are so happy that you don't live with my neurotic self. Well at least I live in my livingroom! When I was growing up my grandmother had her sofas covered in (gasp) plastic, in fact the whole house had plastic everywhere, there were even plastic runners on the floor (and toilet seat) and we never ate with the good China or any China, ceramic or porcelain for that matter but on (yes you guessed it)--plastic! Just so you know, I use the good dishes and silverware EVERY night, one never knows...I also have a squishy couch that we sink into and comfy throws and we allow the girls on the couch (my pups), I just don't allow my Fancy's feet on the coffee table, that's like allowing him to have his feet on our dining table...
Yes, I did make that coffee table. It was really easy, I promise. I needed an oversize coffee table because my livingroom is really large (they always made these Spanish style flats with huge livingrooms) since I didn't have enough money to fill the space with furniture I made an oversize coffee table which diverts attention from the lack of furniture in the space (it's also great when you have a casual get together you can put plenty of vino and apps on the table). So, to start I went to Ikea and measured coffee tables to see if there was a standard. Once I had the measurements, I went to my local lumber yard and picked out wood and paid to have them cut it. I bought mahogany which is actually the color of pine (who knew?). They loaded the wood in my ancient Jeep Cherokee (I have to start it like Fred Flinstone with my feet). I bought some of this:
Only the best and strongest wood glue on earth! Read the directions! I didn't and had to sand like a maniac when it dried (trust me on this).
Then I also bought this:
And that's it! I got everything home and put the piece that was to be the tabletop on the floor of the livingroom (yes, I built it in the livingroom, if you have a garage, don't brag...) and glued the pieces that were to be legs to the corners of the tabletop (okay, I could have turned this over when it was dry and called it a day) BUT I perservered, when it was dry I flipped it over and then I used nails to hammer through the top into the legs. What kind of nails you ask? I used roofing nails. Why? Because they were the prettiest of course! (Yes, I live on the 2nd floor, and I hammered Mahogoney thick wood in my livingroom, my downstairs neighbor Eve is hard of hearing...). I then sanded the whole thing and started staining. Once it was dry I added a matte polyurethane (this was before I knew about the whole 'green' thing). When it dried, it seemed so plain, like a pretty girl absent of blush, so I looked for nailheads and found really cool oversized ones and just added them to the corners (too much 'blush' and she'd start to look like Crazy Baby Jane..)
And that my lovelies is how to build your own coffee table, this of course can work for benches and work tables too! Imagine the possibilites....
