Welcome Back Kotter End Tables

Hello friends! It seems like it has been forevah since I was on here and really a week away from the blogosphere is like, well, forever in blogger terms but I am truly appreciating that my loyal readers are hangin' in there with me even with only one post a week. I love you all. :)
  
We spent the weekend in Ohio with family for my nephew Will's 3rd birthday and it was so good to be back there and see everyone. We also got to be a part of Will's baptism on Sunday as well by being Will's Godparents, such an honor for the hubs and I and another special part was that Annie got to help the minister baptize her cousin with the water. So touching, I had tears in my eyes. Such a great weekend and so nice for the hubs, kids and I to go somewhere together as it is a rarity around here with the hubs hours. He had a Saturday off for the first time in nine months.....heavenly. :) And didn't want it to end.......

Ok back to business!



When the hubs and I were dating, he lived in a town home in a golf course community not too far from where we live now.

It was the ultimate bachelor pad.

To give you an idea, the first thing you would see when you walked up the main stairs to the bedrooms was a huge framed Caddyshack movie poster. 

And golf clubs.

And dirty laundry.


And I am pretty sure the previous week's pizza still in the box.


Yes, it was the envy of all married guys in the tri-county area.

And as cool as it was...well to the male folk that is....there was definite room for improvement.

The Welcome Back Kotter end tables that I am referring to in the title were some of the above improvement to which I am also referring. And the funny part of this story? I thought these tables were garage sale finds of my mother- in- law.

Nope.
The hubs bought these.
On purpose.
At a furniture store.
Probably for full price.

Which made me laugh even more.
I love the hubs so much but an interior decorator he is not.
As evidenced in the aforementioned end tables.
Now don't get me wrong, I am not a furniture purist but these end tables are end tables in the most basic form.
They have four legs and they hold things.
And they are kind of ugly.

For years.......seven years to be exact.....I have looked at these bad boys and wanted to do something with them.
Like put them to the curb for the garbage man......

But I would go to furniture stores and see how much end tables cost, sigh and justify that no one really looks at end tables anyway. Their sole purpose is to hold lamps, remote controls, cups, food, magazines....good heavens, end tables have a big responsibility! Then come home and be resigned with our humble little craptastic Sanford and Son end tables.

So I have had an enlightening if you will of late in the painting furniture department as most of you know. I have turned several pieces of furniture in my home that was destined for furniture hall of shame into pretty awesome key pieces.


For example:

From this......

To this.....

And that's all I am gonna show ya because I don't wanna come off as all braggy.

The whole point is that I am showing you at home that you too can do these things for cheap.

You no longer need to be a slave to Pottery Barn, Ikea or Target.

You can take craptastic roadkill furniture or awesome sauce garage sale junk finds and turn them into focal points in your home.

So here is my starting point:

My end tables.

And this is what I did:

- sanded one of the tables. I was going to do both but the finish was so bad on top of them, I didn't even need to sand the other. I did a light sand with the power sander, so nothing over the top.

- then I primed each table with one coat of primer.

- I painted the tops of the end tables with the same color I used for my kitchen table re-do: Espresso Brown by Rustoleum. I used only one coat and liked the look of it. Very rustic  = very easy for me. I really wanted it to look distressed and not at all perfect because these tables are in the room that is lived in more than any other in this home. Meaning I didn't want to invest hours of time and scads of money to have these tables look like they did before this whole project started.

And they will look bad again.

I can guarantee it.

I have kids and I will never ask anyone in my house or company that comes over to use a coaster.

That's why I won't buy my end tables at PB because if I spent $1000 on an end table, I would indeed ask you to use a coaster.

Or maybe I would just shrink wrap the end tables.

Or possibly just lay the 10 -100 dollar bills on the floor where the end tables would be and let the kids rip them, spill water on them, accidentally crumple them.....you get the idea. :)

- Then I painted the legs the cream color I painted the kitchen chairs above.

Just for those keepin' score so far, thats no money spent on this project, since I am using all of the products I used for the other furniture overhauls.

And here are the ever important after pics:

See the tops?

 That is exactly how I wanted it to look.

There is some warping....see it toward the front of the table?....that was there before I started and I couldn't get rid of that.

But you can only see it when the lamps are on.

Which in the winter months is pretty much all the time but I will be knee deep into seasonal affective disorder that I won't even notice. :)

The paint makes these tables look a little less 70's shag carpet love den and a little more beachy cottage.

Look how nice this room looks!!

All clean and model home-like!!

Yeah here is the low down on that......

I took some of the normal "schtuff" outta the picture to make it look, you know, prettier.

Below is how my family room usually looks when it is clean.

Toys, crayons, books etc.

You know, like we live here or something....the nerve....;)

And yes, this is even very clean for OCD me.

There ya have it!

A totally free makeover so my end tables are less Welcome Back Kotter and more Mike and Molly.

Or more Modern Family and less Love Boat.

Or less TJ Hooker and more Keeping Up With The Kardashians.  

I could do this all.day.long.......

Have a good one!!