Rustic console table

Well here am I all refreshed from a week in Cuba. Yup you heard right lol, I escaped the frozen north and went with my hubby and some friends to the land of Che, rum and tummy upsets. I say that last part because 3 of us got sick - no idea why but hey - at least you're on holiday so you can lie back and do nothing while you recover and not feel guilty.

Apart from we didn't lie back :( We had booked a trip to Havana and this being on my bucket list of places to visit, nothing like a small tummy bug was gonna stop this chick from going :)


Before I post pics of my latest project, I need to ask for help ................ Does any one know how on earth I can make this blog look nice and lovely??? You know like some of the other makey blogs out there. You gotta be honest - this one is like looking at a piece of moldy lettuce! So if anyone has any tips I'd be immensly grateful (bearing in mind I'm still trying to wrap my head around an abacus - thats how technological I am!)

Begging over, and back to the reason I live lol - with furniture refinishing, you rally are at the mercy of the things you can find out there in second hand land. Some of it just doesn't cut it for what you want to do.

I've been a log time fan of Ana White and her amazing "heres some fantabulous furniture anyone with a brain cell can make" website of free furniture plans. We actually made the Octogon picnic table last year for my aunt as a gift (when I say we - I mean my hubby and fil made it - I sanded and stained).

And thats pretty much why todays project isn't so much over a makeover - but more of a 'make'. I love console / sofa tables - but boy are they expensive!!!!! (no seriously - I mean it!) I also love chunky, made out of 2x4 type furniture. So with the lack of sofa tables on the local buy and sell sites - we decided to make our own!

Here's the wood we went to get yesterday (poor guy in Rona thought I was really high maintenance when I was turning my nose up at nearly every 2x4 he was trying to put in the truck)

And after following the plans here  from the lovely Ms Whites site- this is what I (um sorry I mean we lol) made.

I added 2 faux drawers fronts just to make it a little more interesting - totally just leftover bits of 1x3 that were laying around. I didn't even have to cut them- they were the perfect size!!!! Tell me when that ever happens!

My lovely husband cut all the wood as I shouted out the sizes and angles etc. Finally got to use my Kreg Jig properly for the first time too. (Amazing piece of kit) Then when it was all put together (took us about 4 hours - basically making sure everything was square / level / square again), he got a call and had to go off back to work. Which is fine because then I get to do the frilly stuff.

This frilly stuff entailed a Minwax Windsor Oak finish, and then antique walnut in a graduated effect on the board edges for the rustic look. I touched up the edges a little more with some black acrylic paint and then finished with 2 coats of Minwax polyshades in the maple colour. (Don't ask me why I chose all of those finishes!!!! I like to play around and see what turns out!)

It's tough to see the proper colours, because our shop doean't have its door on yet and just has a big orange insulated tarp - which in turn gives everything an orange glow, the second picture is more like the true colour.

This table is super long - over 6ft - and boy is it heavy. It's the first project done entirely in the shop - and because my helper husband is now not here - I can't move it into the house for staging and better pictures! Sigh - oh well I have friends coming over tomorrow - I'll grab one of them to help me :)

Hopefully I was paying attention, because we bought enough wood to make 3 of these. I want to finish the other 2 in a off - one white, with espresso shelves / top, and the other in the lovely turquoise of the tv cabinet. But I have to make them first. Which means chopping wood. With the mitre saw. When I spoke to Mr me earlier his last words were "Don't chop your hands off babe". 

Awesome, thanks for that, I'd never have thought it ;)

Hope you enjoyed todays 'make', I can't wait to stage this one properly and see how it looks in situ :)