A Spool of Beauty

Out on a morning jog I found 2 old wooden spools. I looked them over, connected loosely with an old metal rod, and continued on my run. I played them over and over in my mind, "could I do anything with it?" And this is somewhat the image that came to mind. I knew my in-laws were needing a new coffee table for their downstairs to better match the media center I had built them 2 years ago. So I put to work before Thanksgiving (I know this is quite a belated post) to have it down prior to the holiday so that we could transport it down to them. I am in love with how it turned out that,.....I may just make the other for us!

Chevron Ruler Bedside Table

Before:

After:

This little gem was a pretty significant transformation.  Her shape had such grand potential, but goodness she was covered in some decade's experimental fashion. Stripping her down was the first step like giving her a good grand rinse; let's clean you off and see what we're working with. Once I determined that I wasn't crazy about the top, I knew just what that stack of antique rulers were going to be used for.

I made up my own stain and knew that I wasn't positive I wanted it all monochromatic, so I stained the top, and tested out some white-grey on her midsection. Unsure of my decision, she sat in the corner for a month or so while I determined to paint the whole bottom, the drawers, legs or no legs. Finally I determined to go with the white but dip dye her little legs the same stain color. From the photos it's difficult to see the stained legs in the shadows.

And I settled on these fancy 'key-lock' like pulls from Anthropologie to finish her off.  They add an extra element of class that she didn't need, but adorns her oh so well.

Cafe Table of Reclaimed Wood

Drove out to Sedalia to pick up some wood one Friday afternoon. Little did I know most of the pieces in the pictured pile were all nailed to each other.  I fit what I could in the back of my car and dismantled upon my return. I tend to favor pieces with nail wounds.  Scars always are adorned with a story.  So I think with wood, but with endless possibilities of new chapters.
Found these caster wheels at a yard sale and you would have thought I found a pearl in an oyster.  They are sincere heavy duty metal through and through. The stain on this piece gave me 2 rounds of trouble. Couldn't seem to get the hue I was hoping for and ended up creating an amalgam of color.
In the end, she turned out just as necessary and with a new story to be found.

Breakfast/Kitchen EAT Table for 4

Our landlord happens to have a similar niche for collecting old things.  He had this table and chairs down in our basement for quite sometime.  I also collected the 2 stools and had them saved for a rainy day to work on.  I had been low on inventory to work on and remembered there was a little table downstairs and thought to add the stools as a seating combo.  I had been wanting to try out a few new techniques; both taping to create a lettering stencil and the dip-dye method. Each item is all wood and I love the varying of colors the dye picked up in the different grains of wood.  Great little set for a cozy small spaced nook.