Monday, February 2, 2015

The Coffee Table

Recently, I convinced myself that we needed a coffee table.  I had no place to put my tea (earl grey, hot) while I was watching Star Trek. I couldn't literally put my feet up after a long day of work. I knew the cat was suffering from not having another piece of furniture to hide under. Getting a coffee table would solve all of these problems and more, I was sure of it.  I was obsessed.  I started looking at home decor and design websites.  I popped into every store in town that might have something.  

After a few weeks, I found exactly what I wanted.  Hand made from reclaimed wood, it was technically a bench but would be perfect for our space.  It was beautiful.  It was expensive.  The price tag is what shook me out of my obsessive stupor.

I still wanted a coffee table though. Time to come up with a solution.

When we moved, we had to chuck our old and broken ikea bed. But the bedslats were still good, and I insisted we bring them with us in case we needed them for our next frame.  We brought them with us, but as it turns out we did not need them, so we were stuck with a bunch of odd 2x4s.
The beginnings of our masterpiece.
It was time to make our own reclaimed wood coffee table.With 9 dollars worth of screws, a handsaw, a drill and some clashing ideas, Dan and I designed and put together our own coffee table. While this was my initial idea, for the most part Dan was in charge of constructing the actual table (but he was removed him from handsaw duty).  I served the role of human clamp, literally holding things together as pilot holes were drilled and screws, screwed.
I took over this job for obvious reasons.
We're really pleased with the result.  The only regret is having such slap-dash pictures.  It would have been nice to properly document how we put it together, as well as the mess that went along with it.  I already have some more plans forming, but no more woodworking projects until the snow melts.  It makes for too much sawdust in our apartment.

The finished project.  It has already held many a cup of tea successfully.