Whoohoo I’m blogging again! This week marks one year since I launched my blog! Reflecting on the past year brings back so many memories, emotions and seasons of growth. One thing I decided as I hit this 1 year milestone this month, was that I wanted to start creating content that was valuable to you. I love sharing my vision and my ideas but I also want to be a resource for you. As you all know, we have slowly but surely been trying to furnish our new home. Let me tell you, starting with a blank slate is rewarding, but it’s a slow process and to be honest, it gets expensive.
Recently our new living room furniture arrived. You can find my blog post here with all the details on our new sofas and chairs. There are a few key pieces missing from the room design, one being the coffee table. I have spent months looking for the perfect coffee table and unfortunately am falling short in the “its perfect” department. Our living room is quite large and because we went with two traditional sofas, and two accent chairs, I think we need a large coffee table like the one shown above by Amber Lewis in her Canyon Cool Project .Because I can’t find one that fits all of my must haves, we have decided to DIY.
I love the joints on this one from McGee and Co – We plan do something similar, this character is my favorite part!
P.s. coffee table above is over $2000
Why don’t you just buy one?
Well, go big or go home? I’m going home. The coffee table’s I have been finding that I love are either a little too small, or they are uber expensive. Either way, they just weren’t going to be the “one” for our space. So in my attempts to provide content and resources for you, I decided to give DIY a shot. I wouldn’t say this is my first DIY project ever, but it definitely is one where I am working with larger tools.
Lucky for me my father in law loves wood working and has a work shop. I love that we can spend this time together and that he can teach Alex and I the things he knows. My mother in law has been joining us for the project too!
Must haves
When searching for a coffee table I had a pretty lengthy list of must haves.
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I want it to be large, minimum 60 inches x 40 inches (large coffee tables are pricey )
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I want it to look like an antique and vintage- but not like a farmhouse table ( again old school wood is expensive )
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I want it to be durable to hold up to my kids (typically in my experience, durable also means paying more)
So friends, the goal is to achieve all of these things for a sliver of the cost!
Inspiration pictures
Here are my inspiration pictures for the coffee table we are working on creating. You can follow the steps and me on instagram here. We just got started today but I plan to take you along for the ride and share the process. When I am finished I will come back here with a step by step tutorial for you all.
Oh, and did I mention, I think we are going to be able to finish this table for less than $250! Stay tuned!
Very Similar to this at Shoppe Amber Interiors 🙂 Did you know this one above is $4800 Shipped?
lets see if we can make something similar for less than $250
I love the color of this one (it cost $4200) and the vintage feel. Since I don’t want to pay for vintage, let’s DIY and age some new wood! Distressing is FUN!
I went back and forth between a lower shelf or a beam/board and settled on this but ours will have TWO 🙂
Where are we at in the design phase today
My goal is to complete this project by Labor day. It’s August 27th and I think we are in great shape for that. Yesterday we talked out our design and drew it on some paper. Today we all headed to Home Depot to pick up our wood. I learned a few things about lining up the joints and making sure you have smooth edges when attaching your pieces of lumbar. We plan to make this entire coffee table (to look like a mix of the above photos) with a total of 4 pieces of douglas fir wood that cost only $20 each.
I sure hope you’ll check out the progress on Instagram and follow me there. I can’t wait to get this piece completed so I can started decorating for fall:)
xo, kayla
