furniture repair-man-man-man

if you've been following along on instagram

then you would know i found this sexy piece of 90's furniture

90's? you ask

all i can remember about 90's decor is honey oak...and wallpaper

but this is a solid oak HEAVY coffee table

and made by lane - which from my limited knowledge of furniture - i knew LANE was a big name

and after a quick google search, most of their coffee tables are in the $370 on up range

but i definitely paid nowhere near that amount.

let's back up real quick

we have a couch, a chair and an ottoman + two end tables

i really wanted to ditch the end tables and invest in a largeish coffee table so there would be more table space in front of the couch - and not all lined up against the wall

so i had been casually looking online - target and ikea - and most were in the $180-240 range

and i knew these were part wood/part particle board = no bueno

i'm all for ikea - but not for pieces that you could be propping feet up on or placing drinks

they just don't have the longevity!

so anyways

bills and i were out looking at clearance halloween candy and fall decor - because it's basically christmas, right?

so i had an itch to look at a couple of consignment stores to see what kinds of coffee tables they had

bill was on board - and after striking out at our first stop

and almost walking out the door at our next

i was ready to call it a day, when i spotted a cluttered corner on the way out of Annie's Attic (in middletown)

it looked like they had a couple of coffee tables piled with christmas decor

a quick inspection later - i was in love.

i'm standing about it - thinking how perfect this probably is

when i ask bill to check the price

i was pretty sure he was about to say $200

at the very least $150

to my astonishment

he said "$90"

whaaaaaa?  90 dollars??

upon further inspection, it was actually $85 because they mark them down the longer they sit on the floor

so like a hyper chihuahua

i dash to the very busy checkout and ask for assistance

bill starts removing the decor cluttering the coffee table

i give them my money and we load up the coffee table

i honestly couldn't believe this huge, heavy, solid oak coffee table had been on the floor long enough to be marked down

it's a bit dated in stain, and there was some definite wear and tear

but nothing that couldn't be fixed

and fix we did!

i took to pinterest right away

paint the whole thing?

what color?

stain the whole thing?

what color?

i decided on a hybrid approach - paint the legs and stain the top

the color would have to come to me once the paint selections were in front of me.

but first thing was first

the beast would need to be sanded

we contacted bill's brother who had an electric sander - but before we ran over there to borrow it, i tried my hand at...uhm...hand sanding

annnnnnd that was sooo not happening.

i barely scratched the thing.

not wanting to disturb our neighbors, we tried sanding indoors....where we spent hours on sunday cleaning.  i do not recommend.

and for your information - a fashion scarf makes a quick respirator mask

or you can spend a couple of dollars at lowes (on your second trip out for the evening trying to gather supplies)

and annoy your husband by looking and talking like bane from batman

i don't know why woodford decided to sleep in the middle of all this? 

but we called it quits for the night once the top and most of the sides were done

the next day bill tried his best to sand the legs - which were pretty difficult since they're rounded

i told him to do his best, but since we were painting those, it didn't matter as much

and then i got to PAINT!

bill and i decided on "needlepoint navy" by sherwin williams for the legs

i decided on the "gloss" so it would be wipeable and have a nice sheen.  i'm absolutely in love with this color.  it's rich and bold without being bright and crazy

next - staining!  i've never stained anything before, so was a little unsure of how to pick a color or how to go about it

we decided on two coats of "driftwood" by minwax - hoping to achieve a reclaimed wood appearance

the guy at our local store let us know, that if the stain didn't do what we hoped to bring it back and he could doctor it

i loved how the wood does it's own thing with the stain - the variations in color and how it absorbs it - makes the finished product look so cool

i tried to take a good picture this morning - but kept getting pictures that looked like this

for whatever reason, the table photographs really orange?

but doesn't look like that at all!

the best i could do:

it's definitely greyish in person and achieves that reclaimed wood look i was hoping for

the last step we have is to seal the top - which bill is planning on doing on lunch

SO

Brand new lane coffee table?  $350 ish
Brand new target/ikea coffee table?  $ 180ish

Rehabbed solid oak Lane coffee table?

table $90 (with tax)
paint (with leftovers) $15
stain (with leftovers) $15
Sandpaper and masks $15


grand total

$135

dang it feels good to be a gangster.

ps, did anyone get the title reference?