Not many things in my home stay the same for long periods of time, some things get changed regularly, others may take years to get an update. With the exceptions of sofas and two leather chairs, almost everything else is fair game for a makeover, especially if it can be painted. Years ago I had a vintage door in my office, leaning in a corner. It had a no purpose, I just love old doors. Since Mr B wasn’t on board with my whole, let’s-replace-all-our-perfectly-good-but-hollow-core-doors-with-something-old-and chippy-but-solid-and-with-character idea, I just left it until inspiration hit. And soon inspiration hit me. A table!! Let’s make a table! And when I say, ‘Let’s” I mean, “you, Mr B!”  As long as he didn’t have to hang vintage doors as uh… um…….well, doors, he was happy to do it.  I wanted the table to be built from the whole door, and I didn’t want a plywood bottom or sides, just the door, other than that, he had free rein.

I lovingly stripped most of the paint off the door before turning the project over to my hero. (That’s a big, fat lie.  I hatefully and grudgingly stripped that paint off, I mean who loves stripping paint??)  I did leave some of the original paint on one side, and after some thought, decided I wanted the stripped side to be used as the top and visible sides. Mr B is a marvel at looking, and thinking and planning before starting a project. Unlike me, I am the person who eyeballs for level, guesses at measurements, and jumps right in with a can of paint and a paintbrush before learning a new technique. I have no patience for owners’ manuals, instructions that come with those little baggies filled with a bazillion parts, or thinking about a project ahead of time. I have a vision and I go for it. Which is why many of my projects must be rescued by my rocket scientist (he really is one) husband.

He made the cutest door table ever. In the history of door tables. He even added casters so I could move it around my office whenever we needed to use the sofa bed for guests. I used it for years as my “coffee table” in front of that sofa bed. (“Coffee table” is in quotes because I don’t drink coffee, but calling it a “Barqs Root Beer table” sounds stupid.) Mr B cut pieces of plexiglass for the top and bottom. Plexi instead of glass so that we he could drill a hole in it for the door knob, which I HAD TO HAVE. I mean, what good is a door without a knob??  The piece on the bottom is so a basket of books or magazines could be moved easily.  It provides a level surface while not obscuring the fact that it’s a door, so it’s functional as well as allowing a hole for the knob, which I HAD TO HAVE. Did I mention that already? Function is great, but let’s face it, form gets my vote every time.

And then I decided it would make a great side table for my chair. My chair is where I sit in the morning to drink juice and read the paper. It’s the chair I sit in to read books, or browse through magazines. Mr B sits in an identical chair close to me where he reads the paper and has his morning coffee. There’s an old sewing chest in between and another small table next to his chair, handy for coffee. But I needed a table to hold my books, magazines and of course, my root beer. So the door table came to live in the family room. It’s been there for years.

When I started to change my style to all neutral several years ago, the kitchen and family room stayed much the same. I wanted to change those rooms, but hadn’t made the leap into selling  packing up my collection of antique and vintage blue graniteware. The thought actually filled me with dread. I’d been collecting it for years and some pieces were valuable. All that money spent. But if I truly wanted to make that change, it had to go. I never liked the blue with the oak cabinets and all the brown in the family room.  Mr B and my bestie, even my son, made various comments; “Don’t do it” “What’s wrong with the blue?” “But I like the blue.” I tried to embrace the blue, I really did. I even added more blue things to the rooms hoping it would help. In my heart of hearts I hated those two rooms. They didn’t feel right.  I  wanted  needed a change. So my graniteware collection got packed up and anything blue I could live without went to a yard sale, friends or was donated. I started painting some things white. Immediately the rooms felt better. More like the me I am today. I didn’t miss the graniteware. The little door table stayed the same. No need to change it, there wasn’t anything wrong with its natural finish. Until a couple of days ago. It needed an update. I had a plan.

If you read the post about the orphan table you are already wondering what went wrong. I am happy to say NOTHING went wrong. In fact, everything went exactly as I’d planned. I love when that happens. A couple coats of paint, some scraping and a bit of sanding and TA DA! (I really wanted a post where I could say Ta Da!) My little table looks great. You can see some bits of the original paint, it looks so good! I’m in love. It’s staged with a few of my favorite books but no one, including me, knows how long those things will stay. Nothing ever stays the same for long. I like to tweak and change things up. So what you see on that table today may not live to see tomorrow. But one thing is for sure. We’ll be sitting in our respective chairs tomorrow morning, starting our day with the paper, sharing conversation, sipping a glass of juice, and for one of us, a cup of coffee.

When creating your sanctuary don’t overlook or underestimate the power of paint. If something isn’t “you” anymore, if it doesn’t quite go, a coat or two of paint may mean the difference between reviving a piece and buying new. Create the home you see in your heart. Start with paint. What could go wrong???

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save