One Time At Goodwill.....

I know there are a lot of people out there that are amazing thrifters. I'm not one of them! I'm very hit or miss about going to Goodwill or Restore, which by the way are the only thrift stores I know of in my area. I'm sure there are more, but I don't know where they are. See? Really great thrifters would know where all the thrift stores are and go on a daily basis. I'm not consistent about going and probably go once every 2-3 weeks if I'm lucky. It really depends on how busy I am and whether I'm working on a project or have room for more stuff!

I drove by my local Goodwill on Monday and something told me to go in. I hesitated, then remembered it would only take me a few minutes to go in and check. I figured I wouldn't find a thing, but I was so wrong! I'm not very lucky with furniture at Goodwill. It probably has a ton to do with me not going very often, but on this particular day I came across 2 great end tables. Now, I have to digress for a minute and tell you that right now in my garage I have 3 other end tables that need to be worked on, however these just called to me. They were $7.50 each...how could I walk away??? They were solid wood, sturdy and a shape I was drawn to. I also scored an amazing globe for $8 and a very cool double card catalog with awesome copper library pulls for $12. I left there with four really neat things for $36 including tax and my 5% discount. I think that's the first time I've used that discount card! I never buy over $25 at Goodwill!!

Here are my bargain end tables after I brought them home.

Excuse the dust and hand print! I started to sand the one table a bit before I went "DUH! I forgot to take pictures!" You can see in the picture they were shiny, stained tables, but what you can't see are the drips all over them. Whoever stained and varnished them did a drippy job.

I started sanding them by hand in hopes that I wouldn't have to strip them. Not sure what I thought, but I really did hope the varnish would just slide right off...LOL

I stripped the tops of the tables twice. I didn't do the edges on the tops. I like the look of the edge being painted and the very top stained. It's a bit harder and takes a steady hand, but it's one of my favorite looks. After a bit of sanding I stained the table tops with Kona stain by Rustoleum. I let the stain sit for awhile and wiped it off. I was not happy when I wiped the stain off because it didn't take! WHAT?! I stripped AND sanded the tops! I took a break and watched a bit of the Olympics then decided to go back and take the orbital sander to the tops. I gave them both another good sanding and tried the stain once more. The stain took a lot better, but still not as much as I had wanted. I forgot to mention both times I applied a pre-stain wood conditioner before I stained.

I bought these tables together, but they are actually not a set. They were sold as a set, but both are a teensy bit different. So teensy I didn't notice until I stripped the tops. The wood is different along the outer band and one table is about 1/2 inch taller than the other. They still work great together because the differences are so small and they're the exact same shape and style.

I love the wood on top!

In this picture the one at the front of the picture is done, the one at the back is not. I coated them both in clear wax, then distressed along the high spots. I put dark wax on the top, but decided to only put clear wax on the rest of the table. The color is Annie Sloan Old White.

Here's one of the tables all done and posing for some pictures. I didn't see the point in moving them both outside for pictures when they're the same. Plus it was about 95 degrees not counting the intense humidity. I was conserving energy :-)

I think it's a beauty now!

I adore the shape of the tables!!

I think the wood on the top is gorgeous. I'm really glad now that the stain didn't get too dark.

After I finished taking pictures it was time to move them inside. You can see on the next picture what the family room looked like before. The tables I had before were never supposed to go in this room, but I hadn't found something I liked until my Goodwill tables. The problem I had when I moved the tables in were the lamps. They were a bit too modern for the new tables. That meant a trip to Home Goods where I picked up a set of lamps, then brought them home only to take them back 30 minutes later and buy the set I wanted in the first place. Hmmm, will I ever learn to go with my gut?

Here are the new lamps. I love, love, love them!!! I like how the light reflects off them during the day and then at night when they're turned on.

I'm very happy with my $15 end tables. I think I will have to make a trip to Goodwill more often!

I've been a bit distracted by another project over the last 10 days or so. It was one of those, "OH this will be a breeze!" projects that turned into a major headache. This was such a headache that I honestly thought the Hubby and I were both going to chop it up for the fire pit. Here's a sneak peek of the project and my next blog post. It's finally done and installed....thank goodness!!!!