By the time we hit the two year anniversary in our house, we had already owned three sofas. After settling on our third (and final) sofa, it was time to figure out what to do with the rest of the space. With only one flat wall, our options seemed somewhat limited.
This is how our living room looked a few days after we moved in. Almost nothing in this picture is still in the living room today.
We liked each of the elements separately, but overall the room looked empty and felt a little cold.
Once the hardwood flooring was in, we knew it was time to address the tables. The ones we had were a little too modern for our taste.
We searched a lot for tables that we liked; tables that felt a little more rustic and comfortable. After returning from countless shopping trips empty-handed, we decided to tackle our first building project: a coffee table.
With a little help from the internet (Ana-White.com) and some trial and error, we were able to build tables that matched our taste.
One challenge with this design was cutting the Xs on either side cut to the correct length and angles. (Not pictured are the handful of failed X pieces.) Once we had the cuts right, and because they were purely aesthetic, we secured them in place with Gorilla glue.
Initially, we tried to give the table an aged look by soaking steel wool in tea and rubbing that on the wood. The look ended up being more gray than we wanted, so we scrapped that first table and built a second table, staining it with "Jacobean" stain. The original coffee table did not go to waste. It's now part of our workbench.
After we built and stained the coffee table, we were so pleased that we built two matching side tables.
Once we finished building and staining the tables, we bought a leather armchair and new throw pillows to break up the matching sofa and oversized chair. It's a far cry (and a big improvement) from where we started, and we try to change out some of the decorative elements to keep things interesting.
Sometimes we toy with the idea of building a new coffee table...just for fun, but then we settle into our comfortable living room and realize that what we have is perfect for us.
